Despite disparagement from John Bolton, critics maintain Trump is clear threat to democracy, given admiration for dictators

A former national security adviser in the Donald Trump White House has said that the ex-president “hasn’t got the brains” to helm a dictatorship, despite his admiration for such rulers.

In an interview with the conservative French outlet Le Figaro, John Bolton, 75, was asked whether Trump had tendencies that mirror dictators like the ones he has previously praised. Bolton not only disparaged Trump’s intellectual capacity, he also disparaged the former president’s professional background, exclaiming: “He’s a property developer, for God’s sake!”

Now a vocal critic of Trump, Bolton served as the former president’s national security adviser from April 2018 to September 2019. Bolton had previously served as US ambassador to the UN during George W Bush’s presidency, developing a reputation as a foreign policy hawk.

Bolton’s remarks to Le Figaro suggesting Trump is not smart enough to be a dictator will almost certainly do little to allay fears on the political left at home or abroad about a second Trump presidency.

After all, Trump has suggested he plans to be a dictator, if only for the first day of his presidency if he were re-elected.

  • proper@lemmy.world
    76·
    8 months ago

    We know he wouldn’t have been able to think of any of the stuff his administration has done, on his own. It’s the people propping him up that are much more intelligent and not to be taken lightly. Stephen Miller alone is truly evil.

    • chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.world
      481·
      8 months ago

      You can build a skyscraper with bricks made of shit. It won’t hold up for long, but it’s still gonna take a long time for anyone else to clean up all that shit once it collapses. That’s the conservative motive. It doesn’t matter if what they build can weather the storm, so long as they all get theirs before it falls. The clean up is someone else’s problem.

      • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
        111·
        8 months ago

        That’s what project 2025 is about: making sure that there’s enough COMPETENT fascists helping the Mango Mussolini end democracy this time.

        • EmpathicVagrant@lemmy.world
          7·
          8 months ago

          They already changed several states’ laws so the popular vote can be ignored by district and all electoral votes can be put wherever the electorate wants.