Former National Security adviser John Bolton said Wednesday on SiriusXM’s “Julie Mason Mornings” that Russian President Vladimir Putin did not invade Ukraine during Donald Trump’s presidency because Trump was undermining NATO.
Mason asked, “What do we get wrong about Putin in this country? How do we misapprehend him?”
Bolton said, “I think a lot of people believed he would not carry through on some of the treats he made. I think that was underestimating his determination to get back into control and perhaps actual sovereignty over parts of the former Soviet Union.”
Mason said, “NATO is all the rage again. Everyone wants to sign up. Where would we be now ambassador if the U.S. had followed through with former President Trump’s idea of withdrawing from NATO?”
Bolton said, “I think we’d be in a lot worse shape, that’s for sure. I think one of the reasons Putin did not move during Trump’s term in office was he saw the president’s hostility in NATO. It was widely reported in American media, and to Putin’s mind, it’s a binary proposition, a weaker NATO is a stronger Russia. So I think Putin saw Trump doing a lot of his work for him and thought maybe in a second term, Trump would make good on his desire to get out of NATO, and then it would just ease Putin’s path just that much more.”
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