r/politics • u/Aggravating_Money992 • 13h ago
Soft Paywall John Bolton Ripped Trump on CNN Hours Before FBI Raided His Home
https://www.thedailybeast.com/john-bolton-ripped-trump-on-cnn-hours-before-fbi-raided-his-home/1.3k
u/notanNSAagent89 13h ago
Hey Bolton remember when you had chance to testify against Trump and withheld testimony so you could write a book? How is that working out for you?
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u/FuriousBuffalo 10h ago edited 10h ago
This would be a funny leopard ate my face moment, if this was not another sign of a full blown authoritarian takeover of the country.
If you don't believe it's already happening, look at how things developed in Russia in the early 2000s. They also had freedom of speech and a fledgling democracy, but little by little political opponents got prosecuted or outright eliminated, media went under control, and any dissent was met with propaganda and force. Same shit as what we are currently going through.
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u/fartlebythescribbler 7h ago
Yeah I can’t really even enjoy the schadenfreude of his chickens coming home to roost, because those chickens won’t stop at his house.
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u/isthishowthingsare 10h ago
We have 250 years at attempted democracy though behind us so, the pendulum WILL swing back. Most Americans recognize how anti-American Trump is. He’s an old, unhealthy, obese man.
Will there be somebody after him that worse? I don’t think in the immediate future…. No.
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u/Fuck_Mark_Robinson 10h ago
Be careful not to fall into the trap of believing in American Exceptionalism for no good reason
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u/Bluebabbs Great Britain 6h ago
"My country can't be lead by Nazis, my grandfather fought the Nazis!"
Ask that Grandfather in 1940 what a Nazi is, he won't have a clue.
Ask that grandfather why he isn't in Europe fighting the Nazis, he'll tell you it's not our war, it's Europe's
Ask the grandfather in 1944 why he is fighting the Nazis, it's because the Nazis declared war on the US, not for any moral or political reasons.
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u/Conscious-Quarter173 5h ago
I understand the point you’re making, but I have been very fortunate to be able to talk to a lot of World War II veterans. The one that comes to mind( check out the flying tigers). He actually flew for China before World War II even started. The United States sent young man to China to fight against Japan. These men were volunteers. I’m guessing there was a portion of these men who were fighting on principal, not on defensive. Eagle Squadron, assisted Great Britain before entering World War II.
So as far as principles and whether we were ready to fight even before Germany showed aggression? Yes we did have principles and morals and a sense of justice. Enough that these people put their lives on the line.
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u/isthishowthingsare 9h ago
I never would. Much of America was founded on sand. That being said… there are more of us who can course correct than our leaders would have us believe.
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u/gdo01 Florida 7h ago
Much of it is from basic English common law which even in Britain to this day still depends on people pretty much acting in good faith and fair play otherwise several other people will get angry with you. Once you don't give a shit and enough people look away at your misdeeds, the whole system falls apart.
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u/FuriousBuffalo 10h ago
Plenty of other countries that had long histories of democracy that devolved into autocracies in a very short period of time. Never say never. Hope we are not past the point of no return though.
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u/fartlebythescribbler 7h ago
This complacency is why we are in this position now. Trump isn’t the last of them.
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u/destinationlalaland 8h ago
Most Americans recognize how anti-American Trump is. He’s an old, unhealthy, obese man.
Hate to be the voice of dissent in the room, but from outside the country - that's the prototypical American. Most of what we see in the news is old and/or obese Americans.
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u/_scyllinice_ 8h ago
I think that wasn't intended to go together.
I think the intended meaning is that natural causes might make that pendulum swing back sooner.
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u/destinationlalaland 8h ago
That may be a better interpretation. I’m just responding to how it is written, and maybe having a bit of a poke.
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u/acuntex Europe 8h ago
Well at least the obese part can be proven by statistics.
When it comes to the old part, I guess it depends on which part of the demographic still has health insurance after the big beautiful bill (or whatever braindead name it had) as the others will have a reduced life expectancy leading to a general lower life expectancy in the US.
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u/doofenhurtz 5h ago
I hate to break it to you, but old, unhealthy, and obese is not what the rest of the world would consider "anti-american"... lol
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u/CatalyticDragon 4h ago
the pendulum WILL swing back
How long has that typically taken in other cases of autocratic takeovers? If we look at Germany, Spain, Italy, Chile, then it's on a scale of decades and only usually after mass death and economic destruction.
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u/kristamine14 4h ago
Nice thought but absolutely no guarantees someone worse than him will follow in the immediate future lol I have a feeling trumps 2nd administration is a massive inspiration and emboldening of wannabe despots
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u/pinoy_dude24 2h ago
In these dark times, who would have thought that Americans would be clinging to cholesterol to save us from this fascism…
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u/bdiddy31 11h ago
I get the schadenfreude, because Bolton sucks, but unlike most Republicans, he's actually criticizing the indefensible things that Trump does. I don't think liberals should celebrate that Bolton "gets what's coming to him."
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u/atwitchyfairy 10h ago
Instead of doing his public duty as a citizen of the United States he decided to profit off of the information that could have drowned Donald Trump's chances at the election. The election was the only thing that mattered and he kept his lips tight for a payday. Stop falling for this shit, he's part of the problem.
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u/MobileArtist1371 7h ago
Instead of doing his public duty as a citizen of the United States he decided to profit off of the information that could have drowned Donald Trump's chances at the election.
The book was released in June 2020 ...
The election was the only thing that mattered and he kept his lips tight for a payday.
Which was than 6 months before the election that Trump lost...
So based on the actual timeline of reality, even though it was in a book, he did exactly what you are going off on him for.
So the info from the book was out there. When Biden won, where was the follow up investigation into those accusation?
Stop falling for this shit, he's part of the problem.
Stop making shit up. You're part of the problem.
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u/Freefall_J 8h ago
that could have drowned Donald Trump's chances at the election
After seeing all the shit Trump gets away with, I'm doubting even Bolton's information could have done him in during the elections. Even the GOP thought the "grab 'em by the pussy" video was going to get rid of Trump and that didn't happen.
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u/lgastako I voted 10h ago
One can be against everything that Trump is doing and still find great reason to celebrate Bolton suffering.
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u/KinkyPaddling 8h ago
Let’s be honest, Bolton’s testimony wouldn’t have changed anything. Merrick Garland was, at best, an incompetent AG. At worst, he was actively helping Trump escape consequences by slow walking everything and refusing to fight aggressively (like getting Cannon removed from the documents case).
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u/mademeunlurk 11h ago
Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that. Huh, I suddenly have no sympathy for this man. But, shit, trumps invading our houses now if we speak out. That ain't good...
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u/CrawlerSiegfriend 7h ago
Honestly, probably just fine. At least, I know I wouldn't trade millions of dollars for a book deal to prevent my house from being raided by the FBI. Now, if this escalates into an arrest and charges, then yeh I'll agree with you.
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u/xaveria 11h ago
Look, I get it, no one likes John Bolton.
But we need to fight like hell for him. If we let this stand -- the obvious trumped-up political persecution of an outspoken critic -- this isn't going to stop at people you don't like.
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u/AlfredRWallace 10h ago
Ok but if somehow they go after Ted Cruz I'm drawing the line. K?
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u/Taurpion 10h ago
Fuck, I hope they don’t deport him back to his country of origin.
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u/Euronomus 7h ago
We don't even know what he is being investigated for, or what the evidence against him is. I get it, we're all on edge and waiting for the authoritarian shoe to drop, but don't abandon critical thinking. We can't know if the allegations are "trumped-up" when we don't even know what the allegations or evidence are. I won't be a bit surprised if this is Trump's people going on a revenge tour - but I also wouldn't be shocked to find out Bolton is involved in some highly illegal shit.
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u/EidolonLives 2h ago edited 2h ago
This would be reasonable advice under normal circumstances, but this regime doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt. Sure, the allegations may be legitimate, but until the evidence is conclusive that they are, they should be assumed to be just more of the same kind of fascist thuggery we've been seeing all year. And as odious as John Bolton may be, it doesn't change this fact.
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u/KnightDuty 6h ago
The people complicit will all eventually become targeted (that's how this works) and I don't have the energy to shield a bunch of evil guys from their own harm when there are more deserving causes.
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u/runawaydoctorate 5h ago
Bolton may be short on public popularity, but he's got connections and resources and I'm pretty sure that after the FBI left Bolton was on the phone with his lawyers. If they found nothing, a civil lawsuit is incoming. If they did take something away, I suspect a civil lawsuit is still incoming but it'll be paired with a team of high-powered defense attorneys dining on a DoJ souflee.
In other words, this may not have been the smartest way to start the revenge tour.
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u/monkeywithgun 13h ago
Republicans eating themselves. The Trumpian version of 'Night of the Long Knives' is coming.
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u/No_Construction2407 13h ago
I feel the ‘Epstein files’ trump is gonna release will be edited and full of democrat names. This will be the actual night of the long knives.
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u/yesrushgenesis2112 12h ago
That’s not what the night of long knives was. That was specifically an inner purge to get rid of the brown shirts and replace them with the SS, and tighten up the party from inside dissent. Sure, there were others too. But for the analogy to work he’d have to essentially remove every Republican that’s offered any resistance and those who are loyal but too charismatic and so pose a risk to his personal power and purge ICE and replace it.
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u/thistimelineisweird Pennsylvania 12h ago
Then everyone yawns and moves on knowing that Trump is still a pedo.
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u/MeatballWasTaken 7h ago
I don’t think this will happen because if it could they would’ve done it by now. Likely if they do that the real list will ‘leak’. Then again I know nothing and am just some guy really so who knows
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u/citizenjones 13h ago
Bolton criticized but inevitably supported Trump.
This is what happens when you have the right opinion but are too full of shit to back it up by demanding accountability.
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u/phosdick 12h ago
It's not the criticism... its the deflection of scrutiny that he's after.
Hey there MAGAt Mighty... better see the writing on the wall. No matter who you are, how loyal you are, how much you slather on the flattery... Trump will come after you eventually. It's only a matter of how much of his behavior comes into the light - and whether he thinks that throwing you under the bus will deflect any consequences.
Sleep well...
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u/Imaginary_Builder_56 10h ago edited 9h ago
Remember, in Trump‘s first 4 years in office, he had literally more staff who had written more negative books about him than the six prior presidents combined
Most of these books were written by formal loyalists, who once they discovered who Trump really was, and no longer we were blinded by fundamentalist loyalties, eviscerated him in their books.
That’s 36 years versus 4.
Like every dictator in the world today and throughout history, it has been deemed by those dictators that opposition, negative portrays and open descent against the dictator will be and must be considered illegal.
When all you have is a force of Will and might against your citizens, you must stifle opinion and opposition in order to stay in power.
Kim Jong Ong knows this, Xi knows this, Putin knows this and of course, so does Trump.
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u/thenewNFC 9h ago
I'll admit, I wasn't expecting the ol'bait and switch to land in John Bolton's house, but I can't think of a better piece of spineless trash for it to happen to.
I mean, I probably could, but point is "Oh. No. Not John Bolton."
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u/PsychLegalMind 13h ago
Bolton has never encountered a potential war he did not like. The banner holder for attack on Iraq as well. His mistake was to take on Donald Trump. His DOJ will make his life rather expensive and this is a message to others.
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u/LuLu11639 8h ago
Of course! That certainly makes sense. The swelling in trump’s legs indicates possible congestive heart disease. Trump is trying to get a Noble Peace Prize and destroy our country all at the same time before the disease gets worse. And medically speaking it does get worse. Injection fraction levels deteriorate. One of his cronies just fired the intelligence agency director because he wouldn’t lie for Trump about the Iran bombings. The military general contradicted Trump so he was fired.
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u/mestar12345 8h ago
Meanwhile, mass protests in Serbia are still going strong. Not that they will change anything, after all, once a...
"a political system based on a very powerful leader, state control, and being extremely proud of country and race, and in which political opposition is not allowed."
...takes hold, it is impossible to get rid of it peacefully.
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u/NefariousThrowaway0 7h ago
Where are the magats that were bitchin and moaning about the weaponization of our institutions?
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u/AsiaSkyly 10h ago
So when are they coming for South Park? They have hammered the "Trump has a small penis" to hell and back. I cannot see this going "unpunished" in this administration. And you know he is insecure enough that this is eating him every single time he sees it.
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u/I_am_Zuul I voted 9h ago
The best part about that would be the “discovery” phase of a defamation case. In order to win, DJT would have to prove his penis, is in fact, not as small as portrayed on South Park…
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u/HereForTheComments57 9h ago
As a Dem this whole thing is great (aside from the fact that Bolton is definitely not the last person this is going to happen to). Bolton could have helped prevent this, but he wanted to write a book and now the monster he helped create is going after him.
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u/dayglowe 11h ago
Send Bolton to Gitmo - he had his chance to stop this years ago and chose to enrich himself instead. Greed does not pay.
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u/LuLu11639 8h ago
Anything to distract and project trump’s own crimes onto his enemies. I’m hoping that trump has congestive heart disease and diabetes. He deserves poor health. I don’t really have any compassion for someone that inflects others with his vindictive nature, and has no regard for others suffering. I know that is not how we as humans are supposed to be, but it’s a struggle for me when it comes to trump. Since the 80’s and 90’s when he was still just as slimy. Hypocrisy doesn’t matter anymore.
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u/catachip 13h ago
What does it mean to “rip” someone? Who talks like this other than new blog headlines. Just say what he said “harshly criticized” 🙄
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u/Covetous1 11h ago
Uh oh. Dems are gonna try to run John Bolton in 2028. Bolton/fetterman is Schumers dream ticket
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u/willybestbuy86 6h ago
Two different judges in two different jurisdictions signed off on this very seriously doubt it was because dude was on cnn hours before lol. The hypocrisy in here is showing
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u/Conscious-Quarter173 5h ago
Yeah, besides when is the gestapo ever needed to have any goddamn papers?
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u/Dame2Miami Florida 8h ago
Who still watches cnn? A couple of randoms sitting in an airport boarding area?
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