Former national security adviser John Bolton said world leaders view former President Trump as a “laughing fool” in the latest attack on the Republican presidential front-runner.
“I think they think Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un and others are idiots who laugh at him. And they’re ready to take advantage of him. President Trump is so self-absorbed that It’s impossible to understand,” Bolton said Tuesday on CNN’s “The Source with Caitlin Collins.”
In his meeting with Collins, Bolton claimed that Trump does not understand the role of the president.
“Well, I think tough figures in history like Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping understand what their job is for their respective countries. I don’t think they understand what that is.”
“And I don’t think, being in the room with him, meeting those people, listening to the phone conversations, I don’t think they’re really friendly towards Donald Trump.” he continued.
Bolton has been promoting a new version of his memoir, in which he reportedly said in the preface that Trump was “unfit” to be the nation’s commander-in-chief.
He told Collins on Tuesday that world leaders, including Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping, are worried that Trump will return to the White House because they believe he is an “easy mark.” He said he would be happy if he did. He said he was “delighted” that Putin would make good on his promise to Trump to resolve the Ukraine war “within 24 hours.”
“That’s impossible. And yet, come the end of the 24 hours, obviously it’s not going to be Donald Trump who failed, because that’s not going to happen. At one of the other two. There has to be,” Bolton said. “I think he’ll point to the next thing.” [Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky]. At that point, President Putin will be happy with the result.”
Bolton also stressed that Trump does not have the “ability to make decisions based on national security.” He said the former president only cared about his personal relationships with world leaders, especially authoritarians.
“So, faced with these decisions, Mr. Trump could go one way in the morning and go another way in the afternoon. We don’t have the ability to be consistent over a long period of time, except for one thing, and that’s very concerning,” Bolton said.
“In times of crisis, we need a resolute president who can keep his eyes on the prize and worry about national security, not his own image,” he added.
Since leaving the Trump administration in 2019, Bolton has become a frequent critic of the former president.
The Hill has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.
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