Donald Trump's Legacy Is Being Overestimated, Former Ally Says

Donald Trump is an "aberration" within the current Republican Party and his long-term impact on conservative political philosophies will not sustain, former White House National Security Adviser John Bolton told Newsweek.

Bolton, a Republican, served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations before working under Trump for about a 17-month period between 2018 to 2019. Since leaving his position in the White House, Bolton has been one of the most ardent conservative critics of Trump and his behavior, including routinely opining on the multiple criminal indictments of the former president, in addition to expressing caution about how a second Trump presidential term could negatively impact the country.

Trump and President Joe Biden appear headed for a 2020 presidential rematch, with the leading GOP hopeful already securing victories in the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary ahead of pivotal races in states like South Carolina—formerly governed by Nikki Haley, the ex-president's lone remaining challenger.

"I think many in Congress are intimidated by [Trump]," Bolton said on Wednesday. "But I continue to believe he's an aberration and I think when he disappears, his long-term effect on the party will be less significant than people think.

"He doesn't have a philosophy, so there's nothing in that sense to pass on. He doesn't have a successor person. There's only one Donald Trump, thank goodness. And so, I think we can get back on an even keel."

Trump in the past has referred to Bolton as a "moron" whom he used to intimidate foreign governments.

Newsweek reached out to the Trump campaign via email for comment.

Bolton, a self-defined Reaganite conservative, said he didn't vote for Trump or Biden in the 2020 presidential election, which he anticipates repeating in November.

He envisions another Trump term as "four years of continuing crisis" that could "cause damage to the United States that we may not be able to repair." He hopes conservative voters will take such ramifications into account, noting that a majority of Americans want neither Biden nor Trump, according to numerous polls.

While he "hopes" for a Trump loss that could somewhat alleviate his control over the Republican Party, he said that Biden "just presents another series of problems as dangerous in their ways as Trump is in his."

In a new foreword to his 2020 memoir, The Room Where It Happened, Bolton focuses on what a hypothetical second term for Trump would look like, calling him "unfit" to serve again as commander-in-chief.

Bolton mentions Trump's role regarding the U.S. Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, which he describes as "one of America's worst days" that led to the former president ultimately being investigated and indicted by the Department of Justice, led by Special Counsel Jack Smith.

A second Trump term could also be described as "the retribution presidency," Bolton said, which could include going after so-called political enemies for past grievances, such as military advisers like Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley and former Defense Secretary James Mattis.

"I think he'll take much greater care simply to hire enablers—people who don't have any opinions other than what his are, which is not to say anybody could control Trump as president anyway," Bolton told Newsweek. "The president makes the decisions, but a president benefits by having advisers who give him their candid opinions and then he makes the final decision.

"I used to say, I wasn't the national security decision maker, I was the national security adviser. But if people don't give him contrary opinions or information that doesn't support his point of view, he's not going to be well-served and the country won't be well-served, and I'm very afraid that's exactly what's going to happen."