And there are three. For the umpteenth time, the president of the United States, Donald Trump fired his National Security Advisor via Twitter. This time to fall is John Bolton, a cumbersome figure since his days as ambassador to the United Nations under the administration of John W. Bush. "It's not you who fires me, it's me who's leaving", comments the now former advisor to the President with annoyance.
Bolton has always been one of the fiercest supporters of the war in Iraq and of the American right to militarily invade nations in which men hostile to the United States are in power.
In March 2018, Trump had chosen Bolton to replace McMaster, a general never appreciated by the President, with the aim of disengage from the Iranian nuclear deal e corner Tehran with new sanctions. However, this policy has so far not achieved the desired results, managing only to increase tension in the Middle East, in the Gulf and on vital oil routes.
From then on, the misunderstandings between the number one in the White House and his security adviser multiplied. Bolton would have liked a more interventionist president in Venezuela and tougher on Russia. He was against themeeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. The latest disaster was the secret meeting with the Taliban to negotiate a peace in Afghanistan that Trump believed he could achieve and Bolton did not.
The rest was done by the personality of the now ex-Security Advisor, who alienated most of the other members of the Trump administration, starting with the Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo.
But it was the President himself who collided with Bolton, who considers the loyalty of his collaborators fundamental and saw in the Security Secretary a figure too cumbersome and independent, ready to argue with him during meetings at the White House and to criticize him (albeit covertly) in the press.
The fourth Trump-era security adviser is now Bolton's acting deputy, Charles Kupperman. But we can bet that the President won't be long in choosing the fifth.
