Ex-Trump national security adviser warns 'incoherent' foreign policy risks disaster

Donald Trump promised to avoid "regime change" foreign policy goals when he ran for reelection, but according to his former national security adviser, John Bolton, he has engaged in a "much worse" policy, implemented "incoherently" and risking "disastrous consequences" for the U.S.

On Tuesday, Bolton published a scathing takedown of Trump's second-term foreign policy agenda for The Atlantic. In it, he echoed the frustrations of many Republicans about the president's reversal from his campaign promise to avoid "regime change" and "nation building" initiatives, while also ripping the haphazard execution of the "global buccaneering" plans he has pursued instead.

"But Trump has instead opted for global buccaneering: attacking Islamic terrorists in Nigeria, launching pinprick swipes at Yemen’s Houthis, and seeking a massive, elusive trade deal with China," Bolton wrote. "He has inserted himself as a would-be governing force into lands as diverse as Venezuela, the Gaza Strip, and Greenland. He has done so inconsistently and incoherently, unguided by theory or history, improvising at will, painting with real-estate salesmanship futures that bear little connection to reality and threaten potentially disastrous consequences for America if he fails."

Bolton argued that Trump's foreign policy agenda so far has been "much worse" than simple regime change plans. The latter, he explained, at least has a logical grounding: "If reforming the behavior of a hostile regime is impossible, replace it with one more friendly and, hopefully, more democratic. Do so when the likely benefits outweigh the likely costs."

After the military operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, instead of recognizing Edmundo González, whom Trump's last administration officially recognized as the country's rightful president, the White House let Maduro's vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, serve as acting president, effectively letting the regime stay in power.

"None of this provides the stability that Venezuela needs to encourage foreign investment in its oil sector and produce revenues that could revive the economy and thereby facilitate a transition to democratic rule," Bolton wrote.

Bolton was similarly unsparing about Trump's approach to Gaza and Greenland. In the latter case, he said that the plan to manage Gaza via a "Board of Peace" that Trump has near-complete control over would have made "19th-century imperialists blush." In Greenland's case, he dismissed Trump's "ploy" to take control of the island as "stillborn," the only accomplishment being to strain key alliances with Europe.

"His play at regime change against a treaty ally caused deep distress in Europe and undoubtedly weakened NATO significantly," Bolton wrote. "It also delighted the Kremlin, which goes to show how badly mistaken the entire episode was from the get-go."

He concluded: "Around the world, and in America, wonderment at Trump’s infinite variety of 'policy' choices is giving way to the realization that Trump doesn’t do 'policy.' Or philosophy. Or grand strategy. He does Donald Trump. Among regular Republicans still holding to a Reaganite (or Reagan-Bush) national-security paradigm, vocal dissent — long overdue — is emerging. It needs to grow quickly before Trump’s self-absorption causes even more damage. His incoherence on regime change is only one piece of evidence in the larger picture of his unfitness to be president."

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