John Bolton: ‘In a second Trump term, we’d almost certainly withdraw from NATO’

Former Trump administration national security adviser John Bolton had harsh words for the former president Thursday, calling his foreign policy “erratic” and ineffective.

“Donald Trump doesn’t really have a philosophy, as we understand it in political terms,” Bolton said in a Thursday interview on The Hill’s show on NewsNation.

“He doesn’t think in policy directions when he makes decisions, certainly in the national security space. It’s all connected with how things benefit Donald Trump.”

Bolton called the deal with the Taliban that led to the U.S. withdrawal a “disastrous mistake” and said that his dealings with Iran fell short. He also said Trump threatens the U.S. relationship with NATO.

“In a second Trump term, we’d almost certainly withdraw from NATO,” he said.

Much of the credit Trump gets for foreign policy victories in the eyes of Republicans is misplaced, Bolton claims.

“Those who make these claims about what Trump did in his first term don’t really understand how we got to the places we did. Because many of the things they now give Trump credit for, he wanted to go in the opposite direction.”

Bolton, once a Trump ally and a member of his administration, turned on his former boss after leaving his post in 2019. He has since become a prominent critic of the former president and wrote a book detailing his experiences inside the White House.