[guest post by Dana]

Confession: I don’t own a Trump decoder ring. I’m sure some will emphatically say that this is a brilliant display of foreign policy chess being played out before the world and before several critical world leaders that are of great concern to the US. OK then.

One would assume as one’s position in the world increases in stature and weight, it might make a difference in one’s approach to critical conflicts. One might assume wrongly:

As far as new national security advisor John Bolton is concerned, having been on the job just a few short days, here are a few comments from February that provide a glimpse into his views on the matter of Syria:

I believe since the Syrian civil war broke out nearly seven years ago that the subject of Syria is, sadly, tragic though it might be, is a sideshow in terms of the bigger strategic picture in the Middle East,” Bolton said on Fox in February, using his preferred epithet for the conflict.

While many of his ideological fellow travelers have argued that Assad is the primary problem causing Syria’s many conflicts, Bolton instead posited that the dictator of Damascus was at best a tertiary concern, ranking him “a distant third” behind Iran and ISIS in terms threats to the region. “If you want to know where to go to at least resolve the bulk of the problems we face,” he told Fox’s Martha MacCallum, “it’s not getting rid of Assad in Syria. It’s getting rid of the ayatollahs in Tehran.”

(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)

–Dana

He didn’t do anything meaningful that others could not have done, and he failed at a lot. But others probably would have failed under the same circumstances. I don’t see anything uniquely bad about this one man that explains failure to reform entitlements or rein in spending. And if you think ObamaCare will finally be repealed now that the evil Ryan is out, you have learned nothing.

At least the way for Paul Nehlen is now clear! (He said, hoping he was joking.)

UPDATE: I wish I had more time to blog, but other chewy news items include Trump threatening Russia by tweet, and Russia responding by threatening American troops if we send missiles to Syria. So long, mom, I’m off to drop the bomb, so don’t wait up for me. Also, Andrew C. McCarthy’s piece on the Cohen searches is excellent. Read it.

[Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.]