United States | Lexington

John Bolton, the world’s hope

The belligerent national security adviser has a historic opportunity to stick it to his critics

JOHN BOLTON is not well-liked in Washington. A warmonger and bully, the national security adviser is disdainful of the bipartisan foreign-policy world and the governing institutions its members cycle in and out of. That he oversees one of them is typical of the plate-smashing Trump administration. Yet few doubt that Mr Bolton is a wily operator. As President Donald Trump’s third national security adviser—and the first with previous experience of civilian bureaucracy—he has already demonstrated his mastery of the inter-agency policy process. His role in derailing, at least temporarily, Mr Trump’s planned meeting with Kim Jong Un in Singapore therefore demands scrutiny.

This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “John Bolton, the world’s hope”

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