<p>President Trump has fired National Security Advisor John Bolton as of this afternoon.</p>
<p>&#8220;I informed John Bolton last night that his services are no longer needed at the White House. I disagreed strongly with many of his suggestions, as did others in the Administration,&#8221; Trump tweeted.</p>
<p>Bolton said he had offered to resign on Monday and suggested they talk about it on Tuesday (today).</p>
<p>Bolton has been opposed to various measures that Trump has taken including his approach to North Korea and a potential meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, which President Macron has been trying to broker. He was additionally opposed to the meeting with Taliban officials which was abruptly canceled this week because of a recent attack on U.S. personnel.</p>
<p>Bolton apparently also led a quiet effort inside the administration and with allies abroad to convince Trump to keep U.S. forces in Syria to counter ISIS and Iranian influence in the region.</p>
<p>Bolton had been National Security Advisor since March 2018.</p>
<p><strong>Editor&#8217;s comments:</strong> I liked Bolton&#8217;s aggressiveness and thought he would be a good match for a President who is biased in favor of action. I honestly believe that even with a certain amount of conflict, the country was better off for his time as National Security Advisor. He was much better than having a bureaucrat who favored inaction.</p>
<p>In hindsight, however, while Trump is biased toward action Trump&#8217;s best skill is negotiation and hammering out deals. I&#8217;m guessing Bolton&#8217;s experience with negotiation has always been with career politicians who were bad at it, so he did not have faith in that path of action.</p>
<p>In essence, a leader needs a person who will disagree on occasion and express opinions, but ultimately once a decision has been made, that person MUST support decisions 100% moving forward. My perception is that Bolton could not do that.</p>