On Tuesday President Donald Trump announced that he had asked for, and received, National Security Advisor John Bolton’s resignation. In his Twitter post, President Trump cited that he, along with other members of his administration, strongly disagreed with many of Bolton’s suggestions. Bolton and Trump had strong disagreements on Iran and Afghanistan, with Bolton’s opposition of a now-scrapped meeting between the president and the Taliban at Camp David being a “precipitating factor,” according to a Republican familiar with the subject.
But the pair disagreed on other subjects. After his announcement President Trump mentioned he disagreed with Bolton on Venezuela saying he thought “[Bolton] was way out of line and I think I’ve proven to be right.” On Thursday Trump continued and said Bolton was holding him back, “in fact, my views on Venezuela, and especially Cuba, were far stronger than those of John Bolton.” During his time as advisor, Bolton has been a strong advocate of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó’s attempt to remove Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from power. Late last year he coined the term “troika of tyranny” to refer to Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela; and earlier this year, during a briefing at the White House to announce sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry, the NSC director appeared to disclose confidential notes implying the U.S. would send 5,000 troops to Colombia amid escalating tensions with Venezuela (or was it a clumsy bluff?).
President Trump said he would announce his replacement as National Security Advisor—which would be the fourth during the Trump presidency—next week. Some names have been thrown around, like Stephen Biegun, the lead envoy on North Korea, or Brian Hook, the U.S. special representative on Iran. But if there is something to come out of Bolton’s firing, it’s that U.S. policy on Venezuela might not change, and if it does it might just get tougher. As Senator Marco Rubio noted, if Trump changes the direction of Venezuela policy after Bolton, “it won’t be to make it weaker.”
