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Ex-Trump adviser says former president ‘hasn’t got the brains’ for dictatorship (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

28 comments fedilink hide all child comments

A former national security adviser in the Donald Trump White House has said that the ex-president “hasn’t got the brains” to helm a dictatorship, despite his admiration for such rulers.

In an interview with the conservative French outlet Le Figaro, John Bolton, 75, was asked whether Trump had tendencies that mirror dictators like the ones he has previously praised. Bolton not only disparaged Trump’s intellectual capacity, he also disparaged the former president’s professional background, exclaiming: “He’s a property developer, for God’s sake!”

Now a vocal critic of Trump, Bolton served as the former president’s national security adviser from April 2018 to September 2019. Bolton had previously served as US ambassador to the UN during George W Bush’s presidency, developing a reputation as a foreign policy hawk.

Bolton’s remarks to Le Figaro suggesting Trump is not smart enough to be a dictator will almost certainly do little to allay fears on the political left at home or abroad about a second Trump presidency.

After all, Trump has suggested he plans to be a dictator, if only for the first day of his presidency if he were re-elected.

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[–] [email protected] 44 points 7 months ago (1 children)

In my experience an incompetent person attempting to be a dictator is a lot more dangerous.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (3 children)

They're almost always incompetent, though. Mussolini was a moron and his wife was the one with the brain. Hitler likewise was an idiot and bad at pretty much everything but riling people up with rhetoric and being lazy. Pol Pot was yet another moron.

Out of all the recent dictators, Stalin is probably one of the few who wasn't a complete idjit but he made up for it by being a worse psychopath than the others.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 7 months ago

it's always interesting to me. Hitler hated Stalin. despised him with a passion.

before they got the russian military campaign fully underway, they were needing to secure oil. Everybody but Hitler wanted to go into the middle east. At the time, they were all using WW1 era cast offs. Germany could have rolled them like Snoop rolls a giant dooby. No mess, no fuss.

But no. Hitler hated. So, instead of going for the middleastern oil feels, they went for siberia. breaking the neutrality pact they had with Russia... and bogging down.

it's probalby what cost them the war for a few reasons. One, they didn't get the oil. Two. They got into a land war in Asia. one of the Classic Blunders.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I would say Putin was an intelligent dictator. I think he's losing his touch, but I wouldn't dismiss him until he's in the ground.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

Yeah, he's definitely one of the few clever ones, which is highly unfortunate.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

Raphael Trujillo maybe? He stayed in power for quite a while. But yes, most dictators aren’t very smart, they are just very charismatic and manipulative