Staunch never-Trumper John Bolton penned his review of Thursday's presidential debate and finished right where he has always been: Neither President Joe Biden nor Donald Trump has his vote.
That is even after he concluded it is harder than ever to "deny [Biden] is in serious, potentially fatal political trouble."
The headline for Bolton's piece in The Telegraph on Saturday, "The Democrats are panicking: Biden could bring the whole party down," but it reads more like a Trump hit piece, blaming Trump for Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan and suggesting Biden is not the reason for simultaneous wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
"Without drastic, nearly unprecedented action now, they may be on the way not only to losing the White House, but to significant losses in Senate, House, state, and local races as well," Bolton wrote. "Without the incentive to turn out, many Democratic voters might simply stay at home, with enormous down-ballot consequences."
Bolton, who has been a Republican and a veteran from the Bush administration, repeatedly told Newsmax he cannot vote for Trump and would not vote for Biden.
"These potentially tectonic political consequences overshadowed the substantive debate, especially on national security issues," Bolton wrote. "Repeatedly, however, Trump took positions that would be seriously wrong if implemented as policy. Biden attempted to defend his record, which needs a lot of defending, leaving the queasy feeling that neither man is really fit to be president."
Bolton did not mention who he would support.
"Claiming Biden was weak didn't deter Trump from also calling him a warmonger: 'These are wars that will never end with him. He will drive us into World War III and we're closer to World War III than anybody can imagine,'" Bolton wrote, quoting the debate. "'President Xi of China, Kim Jong Un of North Korea, all of these — Putin — they don't respect him. They don't fear him.'
"In Trump's surreal world, all of this makes sense."
Bolton did not explain why Trump's reasoning is not reality — he even thought his words appeared to agree.
"On Ukraine, Trump continued claiming that, had he been president, Russia never would have invaded (again unprovable but also irrefutable)," Bolton wrote. "He pledged to resolve the Russia-Ukraine war as president-elect, even before being inaugurated next Jan. 20."
Ultimately, Biden's reelection campaign took a hit Thursday night, because of the reality Trump and conservative media have been trying to get Americans to hear: Biden's weakness is a threat to global security.
"The coming days will determine whether Biden survives as the presumptive Democratic nominee," Bolton concluded. "Even if he does, however, it is harder than before to deny he is in serious, potentially fatal political trouble — and at a time when the free world has rarely been in greater need of effective leadership."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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