It’s interesting to ponder how much power John Bolton holds in his hands. It might not be too much to say that he is the only person in the world who might be able to determine whether or not Donald Trump is convicted in his Senate impeachment trial. In other words, if for some reason Bolton no longer wants Trump to be president, it’s quite possible that Trump will no longer be president.
Now, put yourself in the shoes of a real Iran hawk whose lifelong mission has been to effect regime change in Tehran. Imagine that you’ve helped put the administration on a course that will lead almost inevitably to that outcome, but you were fired before you could see the job through. And, imagine that you know that the job cannot be done correctly with the country this divided and led by a certifiable moron who has squandered every shred of credibility both at home and abroad.
Imagine, too, that the immediate alternative to this moron is Mike Pence, a man who was instrumental in convincing Trump to authorize the assassination that put everything on an irreversible course. Can you trust him to see through the program of regime change? Would he have more credibility than Trump with Americans and our allies and the global audience? Wouldn’t it be far better if he were to oversee the next steps?
Trump, after all, is completely unreliable in most respects. Bolton couldn’t convince him to do basic things, like fund the Ukrainians or maintain support for the Kurds. He’s done so much damage to our alliances in the region that only replacing him can salvage our position there. Finally, many reports suggest that Trump soured on Bolton specifically because he was tired of being pushed to take a harder line on Iran.
So, is it necessarily surprising that Bolton would suddenly volunteer to testify at Trump’s impeachment trial?
When Bolton turned on Fox News on Monday night, he witnessed Sean Hannity demonstrating some inside knowledge about the president’s thinking:
“Sean Hannity opened his Fox show on Monday night, spouting off on Iran in a nearly 10-minute monologue full of bluster. But what was really interesting was the detail Hannity offered about the US’ strategy toward the regime. Hannity, for one, insisted that the US ‘won’t be going with boots on the ground in Iran. That’s not going to happen.’”
“And then Hannity proceeded to list some targets the US might hit if Iran retaliates for the killing of Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani.”
Said Hannity: “They got three major oil refineries and we know where they are. They have nuclear facilities, we know where they are. We know Iran’s terrorist network — maybe even the mullah’s themselves.”
Everything seems to be in place to fulfill Bolton’s dream of a final confrontation with the regime that came to power by kidnapping and holding Americans hostage for 444 days. The only snag in the plan is that the country will never rally around a cause led by Trump.
It seems like the only thing to do now is put Pence in charge and things will be a ‘go.’
Sounds like wishful thinking to me, Hope I am wrong
seems anything but hopeful to me.
Lifelong militarist and failed neo-con von Bolton’s “I’ll testify!” motivation is quite inscrutable, but what you have laid out is certainly plausible. On the one hand, Trump clearly fired Bolton from his dream job and then they engaged in a tweet-pissing contest, so it’s likely there’s no love lost between the sadistic ignoramus and the career ideologue and warmonger. On the other hand, Der Trumper has actually ordered an incontrovertible act of war against Bolton’s lifelong enemy, the Ayatollahs, which is far, far more than any other prez has ever dreamed of doing.
But Trump’s War with Iran, I suspect, is going to be an extremely tough sell if one were to attempt to get actual legitimate and democratic authorization for it. Both houses of Congress had majorities previously attempt to strip Trumper of power to act against Iran, and the House is going to invoke the War Powers Act against Trump’s War. I suppose that the complicit war-cheering corporate media can generate pluralities in favor of some kind of action against Iran, but I wonder what would happen if they actually started reporting the truth: that Trump has already dragged us into an unauthorized war which will result in more deaths, both Iranian and American, and which could drag the global economy into recession. And over what, precisely? Militia attacks on soldiers in Iraq some years ago? The coming Iranian retaliation for Soleimani, I guess. Are independents really that stupid? It seems like an untransformable bag of shit to me, and wooden-faced nonentity Pence shouldn’t be any more able to sell it to the rubes than the cult leader himself.
Not sure what’s the point about goofus Hannity. It’s a given that we are never, ever going to put US ground troops into Iran, unless it’s some special forces in-and-out run. We haven’t remotely got the ground forces required to invade and occupy Iran, and there is no way we will have a single ally to aid us in a land assault. So Trump’s War will be strictly aerial bombardment, involving the destruction of vast swathes of Iranian infrastructure (ala Lebanon in 2006), to the delight of the sadists in the “conservative” movement and the corporate media. The only question is whether our blood-lusted generals will carry out Trumper’s inevitable order to use the tactical nukes he is chomping at the bit to unleash.
In any event, it’s a mystery exactly how von Bolton ever thinks he can accomplish his cherished regime change in Iran, since (non-nuclear) aerial bombardment alone has never accomplished such an end, and never will. So what is exactly the point of the bloody exercise, other than to terrorize Iranians and throw them back a century in economic development? Showing the world “Who’s Boss!”, apparently, no matter how many innocent people must die to accomplish that noble end. That’s “conservatism”!
I don’t trust Bolton to tell the truth especially when it is in the senate. Fuck him
The Gulf Arab states also have oil refineries. Tanker loading facilities as well, plus cargoes in ship holds.
This. Because if the US goes maximum reaction to yesterday’s pinpricks, the next Iranian strikes will be oil infrastructure on the other side of the gulf. And you’d better believe that that’s the backchannel message being passed by the Iranians right now. Considering the potential damage to the US and world economy, this is a “nuclear” level of deterrence available to the Iranians. Lets just hope there’s someone smart enough in the administration to understand this.
Bolton heads a couple of Republican PACs, with major donors like the Trump supporter Mercers. He will stay a partisan Republican, no way he pisses off the Trump supporters.
Pence is covered in Trump cooties, and he is not exactly Mr. Charisma, not much of an improvement for adding credibility to an Iran adventure.
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