Trump too dumb to destroy US democracy, says his ex-national security adviser
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Donald Trump will not destroy US democracy if he wins a second term because he “hasn’t got the brains” to be a dictator and is just a “property developer”, according to John Bolton, his former US national security adviser.
In an interview with conservative French daily newspaper Le Figaro, Mr Bolton – who served as adviser to Mr Trump and as US ambassador to the UN under George W Bush – said that Joe Biden, the US president, was “making a mistake by threatening the country with an apocalypse if Trump comes back”.
Mr Biden recently warned: “Trump’s assault on democracy isn’t just part of his past. It’s what he’s promising for the future.”
Mr Bolton said: “People don’t believe [Biden]. Neither do I, because it’s not true! Firstly, regarding the possibility of overthrowing the (American) republic, let’s be clear: Donald Trump is not Julius Caesar!”
“The American Constitution and its institutions are strong. Trump attacked them by trying to call into question the result of the elections, and he failed. If he wasn’t able to steal the election when he was in the Oval Office, it’s not going to happen in November from Mar-a-Lago. The Constitution is very clear, there will be no third term.”
When asked whether he thought Mr Trump had Caesar-like dictatorial tendencies, Mr Bolton said: “He hasn’t got the brains! He’s a property developer, for God’s sake!”
Mr Bolton went on to reiterate his assertion that Mr Trump would probably seek to leave Nato if re-elected.
The former president last month sent shockwaves around Europe by claiming that he once told a Nato ally he would encourage Russia “to do whatever the hell they want” to “delinquent” members of the group who failed to devote 2 per cent of their gross domestic product to defence.
Most Republicans downplayed or defended remarks that seemed to invite Russian aggression, saying he did not ultimately abandon Nato while president and dismissed his claims as bluster or tough negotiating tactics.
“I was here when he was president. He didn’t undermine or destroy Nato,” said Marco Rubio, the senior Florida senator and longtime defence hawk.
Senator John Barrasso credited Mr Trump with pressuring some countries to increase their defence spending. “He kept us in Nato. He didn’t leave Nato. He made them do what they needed to do,” he told AP.
However, Mr Bolton disagreed.
“I think it’s very likely that he would leave Nato if re-elected,” he told Le Figaro.
“Trump, when he has an idea, comes back to it again and again, then gets distracted, forgets, but eventually comes back to it and acts on it. That’s why leaving Nato is a real possibility. A lot of people think it’s just a negotiating tool, but I don’t think so.”
“I spent many hours calling on Europeans to spend more on defence, as did so many other American officials. But we did it because we knew that the alliance would be much stronger if the European nations spent what was necessary instead of relying on the Americans,” he said.
Mr Bolton added: “That is not Trump’s aim. He is not insisting on European contributions to strengthen the Alliance but to weaken it and punish our allies who, in his view, have deceived us and forced us to sign unsavoury trade treaties.
“The truth is that, for him, the Europeans are not really our friends.”
