John Bolton, President Trump’s pick for National Security Adviser, is accused of skewing intelligence and cherry picking facts.
Bolton’s allies acknowledge that his bellicose personality can rub people the wrong way. But they said he is often more thoughtful and disciplined in private than in public, and they praised his formidable bureaucratic skills as essential to the White House post.
This sounds a great deal like how Trump supporters have defended the President’s controversial behavior. This idea of Good/Bad, Private/ Public personas is more than a little concerning to me.
More from the article:
Bolton took “isolated facts and made much more of them to build a case than I thought the intelligence warranted,” Hutchings said, according to the Senate committee report. “It was, sort of, cherry-picking of little factoids, and little isolated bits were drawn out to present the starkest possible case.”
People on both sides of the aisle have expressed concern about Bolton being tapped for NSA. Many say, “Bolton never met a war he didn’t like”. This combined with his history of pushing his own agenda, when the role of the National Security Adviser is to fairly present information to the President, is concerning.
Why this matters: Donald Trump is our employee and he owes it to us to surround himself with advisers who will give him the very best information on which to base his decisions. Our national security and the lives of millions around the world depend on it.
