John Bolton, who served as national security adviser to Donald Trump, gave his old boss a blunt reality check on Tuesday.
The former president frequently claims he “got along great” with the world’s dictators and autocrats, and that they respected him in turn.
“Trump has this impression that foreign leaders, especially adversaries, hold him in high regard,” Bolton said on CNN on Tuesday, noting that Trump often refers specifically to Chinese leader Xi Jinping, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“In fact, the exact opposite is true,” Bolton said. “I have been in those rooms with him when he’s met with those leaders. I believe they think he’s a laughing fool.”
Trump has claimed that Putin never would have invaded Ukraine had he been president. Bolton said Trump, if reelected, would have weakened NATO and made it even easier for Putin to attack Ukraine and win.
Bolton also said Trump’s vow to pardon most of the Jan. 6 rioters is “virtually treasonous.”
Bolton, a longtime conservative foreign policy apparatchik, was national security adviser under Trump from April 2018 through September 2019.
Like many Trump insiders, he capitalized on his time in the administration with a tell-all book bashing his former boss, who in turn slammed Bolton as a “liar,” a “dope” and a “sick puppy.”
Bolton has said he may challenge Trump for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024.