Messy

To listen to John Bolton, Donald Trump is smarter than many give him credit for. I’ve always found Bolton to be refreshing, somehow, despite his hawkish views, if only because he speaks eloquently and plainly, and maybe isn’t afraid to call ‘em as he sees ‘em without being a blindly loyal coattail kind of guy.

Still, I wish he wasn’t so ready to give Trump so much credit. That’s a hard pill to swallow. He’s making it sound like Trump was fully aware of the stakes in attacking Iran and that there was no influence from Bibi Netanyahu, but that seems a bit pie-in-the-sky to me.

Trump is a narcissist—he lives for compliments and consequently opens himself to manipulation from career politicians and hardened operators like Netanyahu and Putin and the rest of the rogues’ gallery.

I know the folks at MS Now and other left-leaning news outlets are alarmed by what’s happening in the aftermath of the attacks on Tehran and elsewhere in Iran, but in Bolton’s opinion, Trump is doing just fine and will somehow handle this potential planetary conflagration. I don’t share his confidence, and neither should anyone else.

Trump is way out of his league, and what’s been initiated in Iran may make the Iraq debacle look like child’s play.

The latest, already-cliched phrase is “war of choice.” Trump is hoping we’re so consumed by this that we forget about the Epstein files and everything else clamoring for a piece of him.

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