March 23, 2018 8:57AM # Bolton In, McMaster Out By [Christopher A. Preble](https://www.cato.org/people/christopher-preble) --- SHARE Americans who voted for Donald Trump believing he would be disinclined to start new wars should be puzzled by his decision to tap [John Bolton as his third national security adviser](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/22/us/politics/hr-mcmaster-trump-bolton.html). The rest of us should be concerned. Bolton has been one of the most reliably hawkish voices in American politics in recent memory. In 2015, he openly called for [launching a war against Iran](https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/26/opinion/to-stop-irans-bomb-bomb-iran.html). Earlier this year, he argued that the United States should [initiate a war against North Korea](https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-legal-case-for-striking-north-korea-first-1519862374). His faith in the utility of force, and his general disdain for diplomacy, is legendary — and apparently hasn’t been shaken by the wars of the recent past. Most Americans — [67 percent in a recent poll](https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2018/03/21/the_iraq_wars_legacy_15_years_on_136588.html) — believe that the Iraq war failed to advance — or, worse, undermined — American security. Bolton appears to agree with the mere 22 percent of Americans who think that that war made things better. Back in 2013, Donald Trump tweeted: > All former Bush administration officials should have zero standing on Syria. Iraq was a waste of blood & treasure. > > — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) [September 5, 2013](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/375705302382817281?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) (H/T [Vox’s Dara Lind](https://www.vox.com/2018/3/22/17153880/trump-john-bolton-tweet-iraq)) One has to wonder: what changed his mind? In fairness, H.R. McMaster was no dove. He appears to have been a decisive voice in [convincing President Trump to reverse himself on Afghanistan](https://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/22/trump-afghanistan-generals-241886). But McMaster’s cerebral nature simply doesn’t compare to Bolton’s made-for-Fox News bellicosity — which may explain why Trump tired of the three-star general. The circle of men and women who advise a president on foreign policy is never large. With Mike Pompeo replacing Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State (pending Senate confirmation, [which isn’t assured](http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/378353-rand-paul-to-oppose-pompeo-haspel)), Secretary of Defense James Mattis may be the only person with the stature to counteract the vocal and growing chorus who can be expected to feed President Trump’s worst instincts. ##### Related Tags [Defense and Foreign Policy](https://www.cato.org/defense-foreign-policy) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).