Power & Security, United States What Henry Kissinger Can Teach John Bolton About Keeping the President Happy
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September 8, 2019
By
John Gans, Director of Communications and Research | Politico
John Bolton’s long summer got even longer just before Labor Day weekend.
In May, President Donald Trump publicly and privately distanced himself from his hawkish national security adviser, particularly on Iran and North Korea. Every few weeks since then, the media have documented someone else—a TV personality, a retired general, a senator or two—who has the president’s ear on foreign policy and wondered why Trump has kept Bolton around at all. Then, last week, the Washington Post reported Bolton had been cut out of a briefing on the U.S. plan to end the war in Afghanistan by way of a peace deal he has opposed.
As a cruel summer turns to autumn, Bolton can take heart that many of his predecessors have spent time in the president‘s harsh glare. Some might be surprised to learn that even Henry Kissinger, who made the title “national security adviser” a household name, was in the doghouse with Richard Nixon 50 years ago.
