John Bolton says Trump doesn't deserve credit for foreign policy successes

Former National Security Adviser John Bolton said President Trump does not deserve credit for recent foreign policy successes and called his pursuit of a Nobel Peace Prize “the real kicker.”

"I don' think what he has done, materially, changes the situations in any of those circumstances or several others he’s mentioned like Pakistan-India, where the Indians, not just the government, the entire country are outraged that he tried to take credit for that. In Thailand Cambodia he simply threatened tariffs if they didn’t sign a deal, nothing’s changed. The real kicker in Azerbaijan Armenia was the Russians allowing Azerbaijan to take control of Nagorno-Karabakh in the past year. I think what Trump has done is make it clear that he wants a Nobel Peace Prize more than everything else,” Bolton claimed. 

Bolton spoke on NewsNation’s “On Balance,” expressing doubt that a potential summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will lead to a ceasefire in Ukraine. “I think Putin’s going to try to take advantage of this one-on-one summit with Trump to advance his agenda, to put out a Russian peace plan, or ceasefire plan, in order to have Trump take it to [Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky] and see if Zelensky rejects it,” he said. “It’s posturing to see who can look like they’re more interested in peace. I still think the parties are a long way apart.”

The White House is reportedly considering inviting Zelensky to the face-to-face meeting as well. 

Trump has expressed frustration with the ongoing war in Ukraine and threatened to increase sanctions on Russia and its allies, including India, if a deal is not reached. He initially gave Putin a 50-day deadline to agree to a ceasefire, which he later shortened to Friday. The meeting with Trump and Putin is slated to take place in Alaska on Friday.

Bolton said that Putin aims to use the summit to improve his international image and draw Trump back into Russia’s orbit. “Trump is getting into something he doesn’t understand the gravity of. He’s precipitating this meeting because it will be great press,” Bolton said.

The former official said Trump’s diplomatic approach relies heavily on personal relationships between leaders, which Bolton called a “gross oversimplification.”

“I think Trump is obviously displeased with Putin, but he’s also been careful to say that he’s not done with him yet — that he still hopes somehow, that their friendship can be recreated, and like two good friends, they can resolve the war in Ukraine,” Bolton said. “He still believes that fundamentally, international relations are the personal relations between heads of state. And if he has a good personal relationship with a foreign leader, US relations with that state are good.”