Former Ambassador Michael McFaul Friday said he is "scared" by President Donald Trump's decision to name John Bolton as his new national security adviser, and he hopes that the government will be able to constrain him.
"Well, I'm disturbed by it," McFaul told MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
"I'm scared by it ... he is a man of convictions. He has very strong views. He has very strong theories about what should be done in terms of American foreign policy, and I think they're fundamentally flawed."
McFaul said he's most scared by Bolton's strong belief in the use of American military power to achieve either denuclearization in North Korea or regime change in North Korea and Iran.
"I think that is fundamentally flawed," said McFaul. "The use of American power to achieve that end will be a disaster. I hope that the rest of the system will be able to constrain him."
Some people join the government to be part of it, and are perfectly content, he continued, but others, like Bolton take jobs "to do things, and that scares me."
Bolton's views are different from Trump's, however, when it comes to Russia, said McFaul.
"My prediction is he is more concerned on Iran and won't waste his political capital with the president arguing about Russia," he said. "I think he will change his views on Russia because he wants to use all of his influence in these other two areas of interests for him. "
NBC Security Analyst Evelyn Farkas, the former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia/Ukraine/Eurasia also commented during the segment, saying that it's important to remember that Bolton is a "unilateralist" and not in favor of multilateral diplomacy.
"He has never been one to defend the international order, which has worked very well for us since the end of the second World War," said Farkas. "He will advocate more unilateral options ... he's skeptical about negotiating."
And when it comes to North Korea, they have every right to be nervous about Bolton, said Farkas.
"John Bolton is a guy who was effectively banned from the Bush era negotiations by the North Koreans, who called him a blood sucker and scum because he was very undiplomatic as a diplomat," she said. "John Bolton, not only does he advocate policies of throwing bombs but he's a verbal bomb thrower."
He said he also found it "embarrassing" that Trump could not walk down the hall at the White House to dismiss outgoing adviser H.R. McMaster, but instead called him to tell him that he had picked Bolton to replace him.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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