John Bolton’s Biggest Fears About Trump 2.0

Your all-access pass to FP

The Republican gadfly—and former U.S. ambassador and national security advisor—warns that Trump 2.0 will be even worse and more chaotic than the original.

By Keith Johnson, a reporter at Foreign Policy covering geoeconomics and energy.

Former U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton gestures with both hands while he speaks at a panel. Bolton is a man in his 70s wearing a navy blue suit, a striped tie, and wire-framed glasses.

Former U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton speaks at a panel hosted by the U.S. Representative Office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran at the Willard InterContinental Hotel in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 17, 2022. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

For five decades, John Bolton has been a fixture in the foreign-policy firmament of Republican administrations—an uber-hawk, a “bull in a china shop” of global diplomacy, and a consistently thoughtful and forthright proponent of a certain vision of U.S. power. He was a senior official at the State Department and the National Security Council in the administrations of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush.

Keith Johnson is a reporter at Foreign Policy covering geoeconomics and energy. Twitter: @KFJ_FP