John Bolton imparted some words of wisdom for Donald Trump’s next national security adviser.
Trump is currently in the process of putting a varied team together for his second term, with his son Don Jr. implying that admission to the cabinet relies on blind adherence to the soon-to-be president’s “message.”
Bolton held the post of national security adviser to Trump before being fired in 2019, and shared his list of must-dos on CNN on Friday.
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Despite agreeing with comments that Trump is a “f---ing moron” earlier this year, Bolton was far more diplomatic in his advice to prospective White House employees.
“Well, I think the first thing is to remember that the national security adviser really should do whatever he can—he or she can—to put information in front of the president that is helpful in making decisions to make sure the president has the options laid out before him and can make the best selection of policy he wants. And then to make sure the president’s decisions are followed through," he told Kaitlan Collins.
“If the president doesn’t take your advice, then that goes with the job. You are the national security adviser and not the national security decision-maker,” Bolton said.
The former United States Ambassador to the United Nations then directly disagreed with Don Jr.‘s hunt for yes-men, hinting that the job description should require a bit more backbone.
“But most assuredly, what your job is not is simply to say, ‘Yes, sir’ when the president says something,” he said.
“You have to do what you can, and you are obviously dealing with a human being, but you need to do what you can to make sure that all of the information is available and all of the feasible options are laid out.
“If you fail to do that by saying, ‘Yes, sir,’ every time the president speaks, you’re not serving the president, you’re not serving the country.”
Bolton may have failed to say “Yes, sir” enough during his own time in the role considering his firing, having previously spoken about Trump’s suggested inability to tell the difference between what’s true and false.
“If it happens to comport with what everybody else sees. Well, that’s fine. And if it doesn’t comport with anybody else, he doesn’t really care, and he’s had decades of getting away with it,” Bolton said of Trump back in August.
