Wait, John Bolton said WHAT?

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On Tuesday, John Bolton appeared on CNN analyzing the latest January 6 Committee hearing. The two cents he offered was worth much less, as he succeeded only in promoting a flawed defense of Donald Trump while spotlighting his own arrogance. Boltonโ€™s comments, cloaked in the authority of his experience as the twice-impeached Presidentโ€™s fourth National Security Advisor, amounted to Republicansplaining at its worst.

Although Bolton conceded that Trump โ€œdid unleash the rioters at the Capitol,โ€ the crux of his argument was that planning a coup โ€œtakes a lot of workโ€ and that Trump was incapable of pulling off such a feat. Instead, he insisted, Trump โ€œwas just stumbling around from one idea to another.โ€ Employing an awkward Star Wars analogy, Bolton casually downgraded Trumpโ€™s culpability by calling his former boss a mere โ€œdisturbance in the Forceโ€ instead of the orchestrator of an โ€œattack on our democracy.โ€

Of course, Bolton couldnโ€™t be more accurate to describe Trump as highly incompetent, impatient, and capricious. โ€œItโ€™s rambling from oneโ€ฆ idea to another; one plan that falls through, and another comes up,โ€ he said. Indeed, throughout his failed presidency, Trump executed so much of his hateful agenda after much bumbling, starting with the Muslim ban he rushed out in January 2017.

Trumpโ€™s ham-fisted nature contributed only to the coupโ€™s ultimate failure. Although itโ€™s clear he didnโ€™t plan the events of January 6 with great coherence and discipline, he nevertheless did plan for that day, as the January 6 Committee hearings have confirmed. As for the โ€œlot of workโ€ part that Bolton suggests is exculpatory, letโ€™s not forget that people of varying competence levels, from the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers to top government officials, contributed their efforts to help turn the insurrectionist buffoonโ€™s dreams of staying in power into reality.

January 6, 2021 was the date to certify the election results after Trumpโ€™s myriad yet frivolous litigation efforts had failed. Nevertheless, Bolton laughably suggested that Trump ordered the rioters (some of whom were armed) to the Capitol merely to โ€œbuy more time to throw the matter back to the states to redo the issue,โ€ and that itโ€™s a โ€œmistakeโ€ to claim this was somehow to โ€œoverthrow the Constitution.โ€

Bolton smugly cited his background โ€œas somebody who has helped plan coups dโ€™รฉtat, not here but other placesโ€ as authority for knowing that โ€œit takes a lot of work, and thatโ€™s not what [Trump] did.โ€ Curiously, when Jake Tapper asked Bolton to clarify his comments, he cited a 2019 Venezuelan coup against President Nicolรกs Maduroโ€”only to admit that the U.S. government didnโ€™t have โ€œall that much to do with itโ€ and that it failed. John Boltonโ€™s latest analysis is as flawed as his career.

Hey, it's Bill Palmer. I'm as sick of Trump as you are. I'm expanding Palmer Report's operations so we can lead the fight against him. Click here to donate $25 or $50.