Bye bye John Bolton, your sacking was inevitable

When Donald Trump first became president and was looking around for people to put into his cabinet I recall him saying something like how much he admired John Bolton and had no doubt that there would be a place for him in his administration at some point. But he wasn't chosen then for either of the two jobs he could potentially have filled with his background, secretary of state or national security adviser. Others were appointed, although national security advisers never lasted long. So Bolton bided his time. Then the call came after Trump had tried Mike Flynn, retired Lieutenant-General Keith Kellogg (in an acting capacity) and Lieutenant-General HR McMaster. Trump couldn't resist turning to Bolton because he thought he was a man after his own heart, the type of man who would love to throw his weight around the world. So the Cold War warrior with the ridiculous walrus moustache, which incidentally Trump never liked, became national security adviser and started to throw his weight around, attacking Iran, Russia and North Korea like a happy schoolboy given his first chemistry set. So how weird it must have been for Bolton when he discovered that actually his president had this bizarre idea that it was better to have nice little chats with the bogeymen leaders he, Bolton, hated so much rather than threaten them with cruise missiles and shock and awe. First, Trump was determined to keep lines open to Putin despite the mass of evidence from US intelligence services that the Russian leader had masterminded a plot to mess about with the 2016 presidential election. Second, for heaven's sake, instead of bombing North Korea's nuclear facilities to hell, Trump invited Kim Jong-un, its tyrant leader, to tea and cakes and a get-to-know-you summit and then announced to the world that the two of them were kind of in love. Third, Trump came up with this crazy idea of inviting the Taliban hoodlums who had helped kill 2,400 American soldiers in Afghanistan over 18 years to join him at Camp David - at least it wasn't his Florida resort at Mar-a-Lago - to talk peace and friendship. And fourth, the president launched into happy-clappy mode and dreamed up the idea of having face-to-face talks with President Hassan Rouhani of Iran to ask him not to be a naughty boy anymore. I mean! Put yourself in Bolton's leather shoes. He must have been steaming every time he left the Oval Office, thinking his boss had turned into Mr Blobby. So of course Bolton had to be sacked, or had to resgn as he has insisted. How could old Walrus Moustache carry on each day when his president wanted to be nice to the leaders who, in Bolton's books, were America's greatest enemies. Bolton was out of the White House so fast his deputy Charlie Kupperman was already sitting in his chair before he had had a chance to pack up his possessions - moustache comb, photo of Ronald Reagan, three uneaten burgers and contacts book with the numbers of all major newspaper editors. Bolton has gone. Probably for ever. Although no doubt he will emerge as a consultant for Fox News, spilling out his familiar stuff about the need for the United States of America to drive its enemies into the ground. Farewell John Bolton.