Everybody pursues their national interests. The only one who gets blamed for it is the United States. – John Bolton

FoxNews.com reports that

President Trump announced Thursday that former United Nations Amb. John Bolton will replace Gen. H.R. McMaster as his National Security Adviser effective April 9 — the latest in a growing list of White House staff shakeups over the past year.

“I am pleased to announce that, effective 4/9/18, @AmbJohnBolton will be my new National Security Advisor. I am very thankful for the service of General H.R. McMaster who has done an outstanding job & will always remain my friend. There will be an official contact handover on 4/9,” Trump tweeted.

The president’s announcement came after months of speculation over whether McMaster would resign or be fired from his post.

Bolton told Fox News’ “The Story” Thursday evening, “I didn’t really expect that announcement this afternoon, but it’s obviously a great honor. It’s always an honor to serve our country and I think particularly in these times internationally, it’s a particular honor.”

But on Thursday evening, a White House official said that the president and McMaster “mutually agreed” that he would resign from his post. The two have been discussing this for some time, the official said, noting that the timeline was expedited as they both felt it was important to have a new team in place, instead of constant speculation.

A White House official said the decision was not related to any one moment or incident, but rather the result of ongoing conversations between the two.

The official told Fox News that the move has been contemplated for some time, and was just about the “worst-kept secret” in Washington.

The president took his time to find a replacement for McMaster because he wanted the “right person.”

While Trump spoke to Bolton many times about the job, the deal was cemented in an Oval Office meeting between the two Thursday afternoon.

Bolton told Fox News’ Martha MacCallum that the process of his hiring “came to a conclusion this afternoon, but … there’s still a transition. I look forward to working with H.R. and his team and the other senior members of the president’s team on national security and I have no doubt there’s a lot of work to do.”

Bolton has previously served as a Fox News contributor, as well as in the in the Republican administrations of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, and served as a Bush lawyer during the 2000 Florida recount.

A strong supporter of the Iraq war and an advocate for aggressive use of American power in foreign policy, Bolton was unable to win Senate confirmation after his nomination to the U.N. post alienated many Democrats and even some Republicans. He resigned after serving 17 months as a Bush “recess appointment,” which allowed him to hold the job on a temporary basis without Senate confirmation. The position of White House national security adviser does not require Senate confirmation.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., criticized Bolton’s appointment.

“Mr. Bolton’s tendency to try to solve every geopolitical problem with the American military first is a troubling one,” Schumer said. “I hope he will temper his instinct to commit the men and women of our armed forces to conflicts around the globe, when we need to be focused on building the middle class here at home.”

Because Obama, Clinton’s, and Kerry’s Neville Chamberlain Style of Foreign Policy worked so well.

“I dare you to cross that Red Line! I double-dog dare you!”

Over the next several days, the Dems will be all over the Main Stream Media, having a temper tantrum over the President’s choice of John Bolton for his next National Security Advisor.

The National Security Advisor manages the daily creation and implementation of foreign policy and acts as a foreign policy advisor. Bolton will serve in an advisory role to the secretary of state and the secretary of defense, as well as the president.

That being the case, in order to put the upcoming Democrat temper tantrum over Bolton’s appointment in perspective, I believe that is important to remember the disaster that was America’s Foreign Policy under Barack Hussein Obama.

Before Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm) ascended to the throne of The Regime, he did something no other candidate for American President has ever done.  He campaigned in Europe, where he was treated like a rock star, by both the Europeans and the sycophantic Main Stream Media.  This set the stage for Obama’s Foreign Policy efforts as President.

There were so many issues that weakened America on the world stage as Obama pursued his Foreign Policy, it’s hard to know where to begin.  Come along as I try to relate a few high (low?) points.

1.  The World Apology Tour – Shortly after he took office, President Obama set off for the first of a two-part “World Apology Tour”.   After less than 100 days, he had apologized on three continents for what he viewed as the sins of America and previous presidents.

Per Karl Rove:

Mr. Obama told the French (the French!) that America “has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive” toward Europe.  In Prague, he said America has “a moral responsibility to act” on arms control because only the U.S. had “used a nuclear weapon.” In London, he said that decisions about the world financial system were no longer made by “just Roosevelt and Churchill sitting in a room with a brandy” — as if that were a bad thing. And in Latin America, he said the U.S. had not “pursued and sustained engagement with our neighbors” because we “failed to see that our own progress is tied directly to progress throughout the Americas.”

By apologizing to the world, then-White House Press Secretary Robert “Baghdad Bob” Gibbs said that Scooter had “changed the image of America around the world” and made the U.S. “safer and stronger.”

Having the British call him “President Pantywaist” made us “safer and stronger”?

2.  Global War on Terror –  In a memo e-mailed the week of March 25th, 2009, in the middle of the World Apology Tour, to Pentagon staff members, the Defense Department’s office of security review proclaimed that “this administration prefers to avoid using the term ‘Long War’ or ‘Global War on Terror’ [GWOT.] Please use ‘Overseas Contingency Operation.’ ”  And so it began.

On Thursday, June 4th, 2009 at the University of Cairo, Obama addressed the Muslim World.  Here is an excerpt from the 6:35 a.m. speech:

Islam has a proud tradition of tolerance. We see it in the history of Andalusia and Cordoba during the Inquisition. I saw it firsthand as a child in Indonesia, where devout Christians worshiped freely in an overwhelmingly Muslim country. That is the spirit we need today. People in every country should be free to choose and live their faith-based lives upon the persuasion of the mind, heart, and soul. This tolerance is essential for religion to thrive, but it is being challenged in many different ways.

Among some Muslims, there is a disturbing tendency to measure one’s own faith by the rejection of another’s. The richness of religious diversity must be upheld – whether it is for Maronites in Lebanon or the Copts in Egypt. And fault lines must be closed among Muslims as well, as the divisions between Sunni and Shia have led to tragic violence, particularly in Iraq.

Freedom of religion is central to the ability of peoples to live together. We must always examine the ways in which we protect it. For instance, in the United States, rules on charitable giving have made it harder for Muslims to fulfill their religious obligation. That is why I am committed to working with American Muslims to ensure that they can fulfill zakat.

Likewise, it is important for Western countries to avoid impeding Muslim citizens from practicing religion as they see fit – for instance, by dictating what clothes a Muslim woman should wear. We cannot disguise hostility towards any religion behind the pretence of liberalism.

Scooter believed that by reaching out to the Muslim world through changing and softening our terminology as it pertained to the Jihad declared against the United States by Muslim Extremists, his administration would make huge inroads in America’s relationship with the Islamic World.  It actually accomplished nothing but to encourage our enemies, as evidenced by the increased number of attacks by Muslim Extremists here in our country during his time as President.

3.  Smart Power! – At her confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Secretary of State nominee Hillary Clinton said:

We must use what has been called smart power, the full range of tools at our disposal—diplomatic, economic, military, political, legal, and cultural—picking the right tool, or combination of tools, for each situation. With smart power, diplomacy will be the vanguard of our foreign policy. This is not a radical idea. The ancient Roman poet Terence declared that “in every endeavor, the seemly course for wise men is to try persuasion first.” The same truth binds wise women as well.

Excessive humility has never been one of Hil’s problems.

Of course, Smart Power led to Arab Spring, which replaced Moderate Muslim Dictators, with Radical Muslim Dictators, backed by the Muslim Brotherhood. Great plan, y’all.

4.  Afghanistan – When Obama took office, he announced that Afghanistan was the true center of extremist activities.  He then told us that the Overseas Contingency Operation would be making a hard pivot from the main focus being on Iran to the main focus being on Afghanistan.  From there, he decided that the mountainous country of Pakistan (pronounced by the president, Pock-ee-stahn) was where all the truly evil Extremists were hiding.  He had two problems with this strategy:  the mountainous geography and unfriendly government of  Pock-ee-stahn.  Obama was advised by his military advisors that the best strategy was to use unmanned drones to attack Taliban (pronounced Tawl-ee-bohn by Obama) strongholds.  While the drones were very successful in killing members of the Tawl-ee-bohn, they have occasionally killed civilians as well.   That did not endeared us to that country’s government. Obama subsequently pulled out the majority of troops in Afghanistan, only recently to have had to send troops back in again.

While no President can control the actions of other countries come in their own affairs, the position of President of the United States has not historically been referred to as the Leader of the Free World for no reason.

That position has historically been the Vanguard in the fight against despotism and tyranny.

Unfortunately, for lovers of freedom the world over, instead of being the leader that the world and America itself needed, Barack Hussein Obama instead was an example of the Peter Principle.

He rose to his level of incompetence.

As I mentioned earlier, Obama believed in a “Chamberlain-esque” Foreign Policy of appeasement, consisting of vague warnings, pay-offs, and drawing red lines in the sand.

It didn’t work.

President Donald J. Trump has shown over the past 15 months that he believes in and is a practitioner of President Ronald Reagan’s Foreign Policy of “Peace Through Strength.”

New National Security Advisor John Bolton shares that philosophy as well.

And, that upsets the Democrat Elite to no end.

Knowing that, I feel safer already.

Until He Comes,

KJ