Steve Kelley's political cartoon on Thursday summarizes the quandary that most liberals find themselves in under the Trump era. On one hand, they hate President Trump. On the other hand, he has made a lot of decisions that leftists would have at one point supported. The latest example comes from the firing of National Security Adviser John Bolton. As Kelley hilariously notes in his Townhall political cartoon, a distraught donkey symbolizing the Democratic Party says to a therapist, "Bolton's firing has me conflicted between my visceral contempt for everything he represented and my compulsive need to criticize Trump no matter what..."
Indeed, Bolton previously played a key role in the Iraq War and other United States foreign policy interventions. Reports say he routinely was trying to get Trump and the U.S. into new entanglements. But, leftists hate Trump. So how can they criticize Trump? Well, as Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy showed, they simply ignore their principles and reality.
As Nate Silver said of Sen. Murphy's hypocrisy, "Maybe I'm a simpleton but it seems like if you criticized Bolton's hiring you probably shouldn't also criticize his firing."
Maybe I'm a simpleton but it seems like if you criticized Bolton's hiring you probably shouldn't also criticize his firing. pic.twitter.com/iRIGNDc28A
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) September 10, 2019
As for why Bolton was fired, Katie covered that White House spokesmen told the press it was due to a variety of reasons.
"White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley told reporters Tuesday afternoon major differences on policy led to the firing of National Security Advisor John Bolton.
"There is no one issue here," Gidley told the press pool. "They just didn’t align on many issues.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin were at the White House shortly after the Bolton news broke to brief reporters about new terrorism sanctions. They received a barrage of questions about Bolton's departure.
"The president is entitled to the staff that he wants at any moment. This is a staff person who works directly for the President of the United States and he should have people that he trusts and values and whose efforts and judgments benefit him in delivering American foreign policy," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said during a briefing at the White House. "When a president makes a decision like this he's well within his rights to do so."
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