Trump Takes Hawkish Turn in Picking Bolton as National Security Adviser
- Conservative advocate of muscular policy replaces McMaster
- Some Bolton positions conflict with Trump’s campaign promises
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President Donald Trump is taking a sharply hawkish foreign-policy turn with the appointment of John Bolton as national security adviser, ditching moderates and installing an inner circle that championed some of the policies he derided on the campaign trail.
The announcement that the mustachioed Bolton will replace H.R. McMaster next month came a week after Trump fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and named CIA Director Mike Pompeo to replace him. Bolton and Pompeo have advocated regime change in Iran and North Korea, while Tillerson has said he would keep up the diplomacy until the first bombs fell, no matter the crisis.