Former National Security Advisor John Bolton said Tuesday on CNN’s “The Source” that Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean Ruler Kim Jong Un thought former President Donald Trump was an “easy mark” that he said they were “fully prepared to take advantage of.”
Bolton said, “I don’t think Trump is capable of making the decisions grounded in national security. His attention span is short. He doesn’t know much about world history or world affairs. He actually doesn’t think they matter very much. He thinks his personal relationships with foreign leaders especially the authoritarian ones are all that matter. And while personal relations and international affairs are important, when you get in a situation like we see in the Middle East now, they’re not significant.”
Anchor Kaitlan Collins said, “So basically you’re saying that you think that he thinks these relationships that he has with Putin or with Xi Jinping or with Kim Jong Un, that they would save him when it comes to actual policy and the dynamic of those relationships and that you’re arguing it won’t, it doesn’t do anything for that?”
Bolton said, “Well, I think the hard men of history like Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping understand what their job is for their respective country. I don’t think Trump understands what the job of the presidency is for ours. I will say having been in the room with him in meeting those people, having listened in on his phone conversations, I don’t think they are really friendly with Donald Trump. I think they think, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong-Un, and others, they think he’s a laughing fool and they’re fully prepared to take advantage of him. Trump’s self-absorption makes it impossible for him to understand that.”
Collins said, “So you think they’d be happy if he returned to the Oval Office?”
Bolton said, “Yeah, I think they believe he’s an easy mark.”
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