|
Ted Cruz: Why not John Bolton for national security advisor?
 [Hot Air] Bolton was a candidate for Secretary of State during the transition period, then a candidate to be a key undersecretary at the Department under Rex Tillerson, and then more recently ... nada. His name hadn’t been mentioned in connection lately with any major staffing positions, which is odd given that Trump reportedly came to admire him from his appearances on Fox News. (Also a key qualification for KT McFarland in landing her job as deputy NSA, apparently.) Bolton had two big problems in landing a job at State. One: Rex Tillerson allegedly had "misgivings" about him, whether because of Bolton’s ostentatious hawkishness or because a newbie diplomat at the head of the Department might fear being outmaneuvered by an ambitious, experienced old hand beneath him. And two, more importantly: Deputy positions at cabinet agencies require Senate confirmation, and Bolton has always been viewed as tough to confirm. The left despises him and might well be able to scare centrist Dems into voting lockstep against him; Rand Paul also despises Bolton for his hawkishness and has vowed to oppose him. That leaves a paper-thin majority of 51 votes to confirm him assuming zero other defections among the Senate GOP. And plenty of other Republicans, starting with Bob Corker, are said to have "misgivings" about Bolton. He might be unconfirmable.But that’s the virtue of the NSA idea. The national security advisor isn’t subject to Senate confirmation. Because he’s merely an advisor, he can be on the job tomorrow if Trump merely says the word. And lo and behold: Posted by: Besoeker 2017-02-19 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=481562 |