Republican lawmakers and former advisers are not being shy about their disapproval for Donald Trump's choice for deputy secretary of State, John Bolton, The New York Times reported.
Sen. Rand Paul has been especially vocal, labeling him "dangerous" in an interview Wednesday, saying: "I don't want him anywhere near the State Department."
In fact, Paul has been saying for a month he would not vote for Bolton.
Further, The Times reported Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., former secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former secretary of defense Robert Gates, and former national security adviser to George W. Bush, Stephen Hadley, have all expressed misgivings.
And if that is not bad enough, Rex Tillerson, Trump's choice for secretary of State, who would be Bolton's boss, has privately groused about Bolton, The Times reported.
At issue is Bolton's record is that of a hard-liner, a hawk who believes in a foreign policy of invade, topple and replace, and who was closely aligned with Bush 43's Vice President Dick Cheney.
Republicans of this decade would just as soon like to leave behind the foreign policy tactics and strategies of that administration.
"He's opposed to everything Donald Trump ran on: That the Iraq war was a mistake; regime change made us less safe in the Middle East, including in Iraq . . . I don't know how a President Trump could appoint someone who's diametrically opposed to everything Donald Trump ran on," Paul told Politico last month.
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