White House national Security Advisor John Bolton listens as U.S. President Donald Trump holds a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, U.S., August 16, 2018. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Washington Post: A frustrated Trump questions his administration’s Venezuela strategy
President Trump is questioning his administration’s aggressive strategy in Venezuela following the failure of a U.S.-backed effort to oust President Nicolás Maduro, complaining he was misled about how easy it would be to replace the socialist strongman with a young opposition figure, according to administration officials and White House advisers.
The president’s dissatisfaction has crystallized around national security adviser John Bolton and what Trump has groused is an interventionist stance at odds with his view that the United States should stay out of foreign quagmires.
Trump has said in recent days that Bolton wants to get him “into a war” — a comment that he has made in jest in the past but that now betrays his more serious concerns, one senior administration official said.
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Update: Trump Turns On Bolton, Accuses Him Of 'Trying To Start A War' In Venezuela: WaPo (Zero Hedge)
WNU Editor: Here is the Washington Post using anonymous sources again. And (of course) buried near the end of the WaPo article is the admission that national security adviser John Bolton's position in the administration is safe. Bottom line, if President Trump was not happy with his administration's strategies and the advice that he was receiving, these people would have been gone a long time ago.
Update #2: President Trump is defending his National Security Adviser .... Trump: I 'temper' Bolton's hawkish instincts (Politico).
