Why Trump shuffles his NSAs while Doval remains PM Modi's trusted lieutenant: John Bolton explains

Lauding the strong partnership between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, former National Security Advisor John Bolton explained why US President Donald Trump is unable to replicate the same in Washington, DC. From Michael Flynn to Marco Rubio, Trump has frequently switched his NSAs in his two terms in the White House.

The changes have been so frequent that Bolton, who served from April 2018 to September 2019, remains the longest-serving NSA in the Trump administration. Contrary to this, Doval was appointed as India’s National Security Advisor in May 2014 and have been serving the role since then.

During a conversation with Firstpost’s Bhagyasree Sengupta, Ambassador Bolton hailed Doval’s “positive influence” in the PM Modi government. “Ajit Doval has been a very positive influence, and I think Prime Minister Modi’s reliance on him shows that he trusts his judgement,” Bolton told Firstpost.

The problem with Trump

When asked why Trump cannot replicate the same kind of consistency, Bolton said that the American leader only wants “people to agree with him”.

“It’s not a question of trying to stop the president from doing what he wants to do, but from saying, well, Mr. President, if you thought of this fact or this fact or this fact, have you considered these options? Have you weighed the pros and cons? Ultimately, the president’s going to make the decision,” Bolton told Firstpost.

Nobody’s under any illusions about that. The question is, will he make a well-informed, well-considered decision or just one that is spur of the moment? I think that’s the problem. That’s kind of fundamental to Trump’s way of acting, and I don’t see that changing for the remainder of the second term," he furthered.

Just months after coming back to the White House, Trump removed Mike Waltz from the role and appointed US Foreign Secretary Marco Rubio as the acting NSA. Waltz’s brief term as NSA was marred by the Signal Chat Leak Scandal, in which he accidentally added Jeffrey Goldberg, Editor-in-Chief of The Atlantic, into a Signal group chat in which Trump officials were discussing strikes on Houthis in Yemen. The saga raised concerns about the security of the US military plans, prompting Trump officials to go into damage control mode.

Bolton on Trump’s nature of taking credit for all good

When India and Pakistan came to a ceasefire understanding after three days of military standoff, Trump was the first one to announce it on social media. However, India maintained that the decision to reach a ceasefire was a “bilateral one” and only involved officials from India and Pakistan.

During an interview with Netherlands-based NOS, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar rejected Trump’s claim of brokering a peace deal. “Yes, we have a mechanism to talk to each other as a hotline. So, on the 10th of May, it was the Pakistani army which sent a message that they were ready to stop firing, and we responded accordingly,” he said in the interview.

“Well, the US was in the United States. Obviously, US Secretary of State Rubio and Vice President Vance had called up, Rubio had spoken to me, Vance had spoken to our Prime Minister, they had their view, they were talking to us, and they were talking to the Pakistani side, as indeed were some other countries. There were some countries in the Gulf, there were some others as well.”

“That happens naturally, when we know when two countries are engaged in a conflict, it is natural that the countries in the world call up, sort of indicate their concern and what they can do in such a situation but the cessation of firing and military action was something which was negotiated directly between India and Pakistan,” he clarified.

When asked by Firstpost if Trump took the credit prematurely, the former NSA said he was not surprised by Trump’s post. “Well, that’s something Trump does all the time, so nobody should have been surprised by it necessarily. Normally, you would have a joint statement by the parties involved to show what I think really happened behind the scenes, where military-to-military communications between the Indian military and the Pakistani military. And some of the specifics of what the ceasefire would look like, when it would begin, and how it would be implemented were done at that level,” Bolton explained.

“But as I say, that’s just Trump. When he gets involved, he’s going to make sure he gets the credit for it, whether he deserves it or not,” he remarked.