Jordan Klepper Mocks John Bolton To His Face Over Apparently Conflicting Comments
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John Bolton’s comments on the importance of alliances immediately came back to bite him during a discussion on former President Donald Trump and NATO with “The Daily Show” correspondent Jordan Klepper.
Bolton, a Trump national security adviser who turned into a vocal critic of his onetime boss, acknowledged in Klepper’s new “Daily Show” special that the presumptive GOP nominee will likely try to withdraw the United States from the NATO military alliance if he wins back the White House from President Joe Biden in November.
Trump “doesn’t understand alliances,” Bolton noted in Monday’s broadcast of “Jordan Klepper Fingers the Pulse: Moscow Tools,” which explored Republicans’ recent pivot to support Russia and its President Vladimir Putin.
Klepper asked Bolton about the importance of “having an alliance with perhaps somebody you don’t agree with but connect with so that you can push together a common goal for geopolitical safety?”
“Well, I think NATO is the most successful political, military alliance in human history so before we give that up people ought to think about it a little bit more seriously than Trump does,” Bolton replied.
The bit cut to Klepper (as the voice-over) saying the stakes of the 2024 election “couldn’t be higher.” “The only way to stop an existential threat is through alliances, a unified front for the common good,” he added, saying choosing between Trump and Biden “must be a no-brainer.”
It then went back to footage of Bolton telling Klepper he won’t actually vote for either and will instead write in an unnamed candidate on his ballot. Bolton in April told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins he’ll write in the name of George W. Bush’s controversial former Vice President Dick Cheney, as he did in 2020.
Klepper mocked Bolton: “A wise man once told me that sometimes it’s important to make alliances with people that you may not agree fully with in order to have some sort of global stability. But maybe tell me more about writing in an unnamed candidate for president with a 0% chance of winning?”
“I don’t think either prospect is very appealing, frankly,” Bolton replied.
“Great,” Klepper said as the voice-over. “So, in the race between a current president and a former president, it looks like the winner will be the Russian president.”
Watch from the 6:50 mark here:
Klepper earlier in the segment asked Bolton what Republican former President Ronald Reagan would think of Trump’s GOP if he were alive today.
Reagan would be “appalled” by it, said Bolton. Trump has a “fascination with authoritarian leaders generally” but is not “smart enough to be a dictator,” he added.
“So is Trump, what’s the term, an idiot?” Klepper asked.
Bolton referred to former Trump Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s description of Trump as a “fucking moron,” but refused to say the curse word. Klepper filled in the gaps. Bolton said it was “pretty much on point.”
