Bolton In, McMaster Out

The White House announced tonight that John Bolton will be replacing H R McMaster as National Security Adviser starting at the end of the first week in April.  This switch has been rumored for many months.  It is something that should have some major impact at the Trump White House.  When you also add the departure of Rex Tillerson at the State Department, there should be some truly major impacts on American foreign policy.

It seems clear that President Trump is replacing the people who have not really agreed with his plans carried out over the last year.  It will be interesting to watch the impact that the new team will have on the upcoming meeting with Kim Jong Un of North Korea.  My guess is that it will be more likely that President Trump will take a very strong position with Kim.  I think the chances that the USA will go along with some new endless negotiation with the NKs have declined dramatically with these personnel changes.  I also think that the chances of a stronger confrontation of Russia over events like the Russian use of chemical weapons to poison a Russian émigré in the UK have increased greatly.  In the Middle East, we should see a stronger policy against Iran.  We should also see much less willingness to go along with Palestinian intransigence in negotiations with Israel.  All things considered, the changes ought to lead to a more coherent and responsible American foreign policy.  That's a very good thing.