Bolton bolts

This morning came word that President Trump has fired National Security Advisor John Bolton. Did he jump or was he pushed? Bolton states that he offered his resignation last night. Bloomberg has a good account here.

I celebrated Bolton’s arrival on the job and am sorry to see him go. He is an exemplary public official and a great patriot. I wish President Trump had gelled with him, but I understand that he did not. In matters of foreign policy, he is a Churchillian: he prefers facts to dreams.

I don’t think anyone outside his immediate family admires Bolton more than I do. I have sought out Ambassador Bolton on a couple of occasions to speak with him and to get photos with him. I think a member of my family snapped the photo at the left below for me just after Ambassador Bolton addressed the departing National Review cruisers somewhere near Miami a few years back. In 2012 he took the time to make a memorable appearance before our chapter of the Republican Jewish Coalition. This is what I wrote then:

Former United States Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton appeared at a special event held by our local Minnesota chapter of the Republican Jewish Coalition at the Parker Rosen law firm in downtown Minneapolis last night. Announced 48 hours in advance of his appearance, the event was the most successful in the history of our small chapter. Ambassador Bolton drew a crowd to excess capacity. Included among the dignitaries who welcomed him were former Minnesota Senators Rudy Boschwitz and Norm Coleman as well as Minnesota House Speaker Kurt Zellers….

In this crowd, John Bolton is something of a rock star. We remember his successful work in the administration of the first President Bush to overturn the UN’s vile “Zionism is a form of racism” resolution. (See pages 40-43 of his memoir, Surrender Is Not an Option.) We remember the Democrats’ remorseless campaign of defamation against him to prevent his confirmation as our ambassador to the United Nations upon his appointment by the second President Bush. (I wrote about the role of the New York Times in this campaign at the time in “Déjà vu, all over again.”) We remember his stalwart representation of the United States at the United Nations following his recess appointment by the second President Bush. We love this guy….

That was my story then and I’m sticking with it now.

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