A former national security adviser in the Donald Trump White House has said that the ex-president “hasn’t got the brains” to helm a dictatorship, despite his admiration for such rulers.
In an interview with the conservative French outlet Le Figaro, John Bolton, 75, was asked whether Trump had tendencies that mirror dictators like the ones he has previously praised. Bolton not only disparaged Trump’s intellectual capacity, he also disparaged the former president’s professional background, exclaiming: “He’s a property developer, for God’s sake!”
Now a vocal critic of Trump, Bolton served as the former president’s national security adviser from April 2018 to September 2019. Bolton had previously served as US ambassador to the UN during George W Bush’s presidency, developing a reputation as a foreign policy hawk.
Bolton’s remarks to Le Figaro suggesting Trump is not smart enough to be a dictator will almost certainly do little to allay fears on the political left at home or abroad about a second Trump presidency.
After all, Trump has suggested he plans to be a dictator, if only for the first day of his presidency if he were re-elected.
In my experience an incompetent person attempting to be a dictator is a lot more dangerous.
They’re almost always incompetent, though. Mussolini was a moron and his wife was the one with the brain. Hitler likewise was an idiot and bad at pretty much everything but riling people up with rhetoric and being lazy. Pol Pot was yet another moron.
Out of all the recent dictators, Stalin is probably one of the few who wasn’t a complete idjit but he made up for it by being a worse psychopath than the others.
it’s always interesting to me. Hitler hated Stalin. despised him with a passion.
before they got the russian military campaign fully underway, they were needing to secure oil. Everybody but Hitler wanted to go into the middle east. At the time, they were all using WW1 era cast offs. Germany could have rolled them like Snoop rolls a giant dooby. No mess, no fuss.
But no. Hitler hated. So, instead of going for the middleastern oil feels, they went for siberia. breaking the neutrality pact they had with Russia… and bogging down.
it’s probalby what cost them the war for a few reasons. One, they didn’t get the oil. Two. They got into a land war in Asia. one of the Classic Blunders.
I would say Putin was an intelligent dictator. I think he’s losing his touch, but I wouldn’t dismiss him until he’s in the ground.
Yeah, he’s definitely one of the few clever ones, which is highly unfortunate.
Raphael Trujillo maybe? He stayed in power for quite a while. But yes, most dictators aren’t very smart, they are just very charismatic and manipulative
Why are we listening to John Bolton?
This. He’s such a weaselly little bitch.
Yep, “Ex-Trump adviser” is a mild way of referring to the guy who gets a hard-on at the thought of war with Iran.
Its really getting tiring that we just listen to whoever says the words we want said. If John Bolton gets praised by anyone but the neo-cons, they have lost their minds.
Circa 1932 Germany a lot of political insiders thought the same thing about Hitler.
But Hindenburg and co all propped him up be more or less that. They just miscalculated how it would work.
1932 Germany wasn’t even a flawed democracy, people talk about Weimar republic as if it were really a republic.
Well, Trump may not have the brains necessary to be a smart dictator, he has more than enough people who are willing to help him out with his dictatorship problems. Some billioniares might be inclined to whisper things into Trumps ears and pay him with a spotlight in the media, stroking his overblown ego as a kind of “payment”.
In other words: Trump may not be a smart dictator, but he would be one of the more dangerous ones.
You don’t need brains, you only need brutality and followers.
Win or lose, he has already signaled that people will die.
I don’t think we should be testing this. In any case, most dictators were barely smart enough to keep the right people happy for long enough to hold power.
Manipulation doesn’t require exceptional intelligence. I’ve met people with major cognitive disabilities who are among the most deceptive and manipulative people you’ll meet. It doesn’t require intelligence, just the will and lack of moral character.
(For the record, I’ve also known many people with cognitive disabilities who are the most amazing, kind, and honorable people in the world. Because, again, it’s not a matter of intelligence.)
You don’t need to be smart to convince other dumbasses to do shit. He’s already proven that.
Hey member when the demented rapist made him shave off his walrus moustache because he didn’t like it?
HAHAHAh eat shit bolton you asshole
Given that every trump appointee has been a self serving swamp creature, its kind of irrelevant whether trump himself is an idiot. All you need is to create an opening for one of the ghouls and they will flood it.
So, back in 2001 the head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) managed to get weapons inspectors into Iraq which pissed off the U.S. because it undermined their justification of the invasion.
In response John Bolton told the head of the OPCW:
You have 24 hours to leave the organization, and if you don’t comply with this decision by Washington, we have ways to retaliate against you. … We know where your kids live. You have two sons in New York.
Oh, well I feel safe now.
Walrus man has determined a very possible next president is too stupid.
He’s got the ethics for it though
John Bolton is implying that John Bolton is smart enough to install a dictatorship. He certainly has implied such in the past.
John Bolton worked for Trump in the last administration.
Even if he specifically wouldn’t do it, surely he can see why there’s still reason to be concerned.
