When Stephen Colbert welcomed his old friend Dana Carvey as John Bolton two years ago, he probably never thought that the true former national security adviser would be his guest. But Bolton has a book to sell, so he was dressing there The Late Show host Tuesday night.
Colbert was not impressed by Bolton’s mistakes about his former boss, especially when the host asked him what Republicans say about Trump behind closed doors. “When the cameras are off, what is Donald Trump’s conservative opinion?” I ask.
In “Justice for Trump,” Bolton said many conservatives look at the comparison with Joe Biden, “as I did in 2016 with Hillary Clinton,” and say, “Whatever we think of him, he will not be a Democrat, especially these days. , under pressure from the left. ”
That comment made Colbert laugh out loud. “No, he will be subject to pressure from Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping!” he exclaimed in response, citing examples directly from Bolton’s book. “He is a person who is going to sell the interests of the American people for his own reelection. What could be worse in the philosophy of Joe Biden or Hillary Clinton than betraying a hostile foreign leader to your own country, sir?
When Bolton stuttered, “Trust me, I understand that point,” replied Colbert, “But will you answer that question?”
Bolton explained that his point of view in 2016 was: “At least we have to prove it.” That is why he voted for Trump in those elections. “Having experienced 17 months of working with him, I cannot do it with conscience.” As Bolton previously said, he confirmed that he would not vote for Trump or Biden in the fall.
“I think what is maddening is that there is absolutely nothing that Donald Trump has done to surprise me,” Colbert told his guest. “My rule is that everything you think about Donald Trump is probably true. Because it’s not deep enough to get your socks wet. In fact, he made Bolton laugh by saying, “That’s why when he ran casinos, the house was lost.”
But Bolton’s smile quickly faded when Colbert asked him, “How could you not know beforehand that he was simply expressionless?”
“Because I couldn’t believe it was that bad,” Bolton replied. “And I know other people say they saw it from the beginning”
At that moment, Colbert cut him off, laughing again when he asked, “But you are an international negotiator, how could you be naive? You have dealt with the worst people in the world.”
“You’ve really insulted me now by calling me naive,” Bolton admitted. “I thought it was possible to work with someone,” he said of Trump. “I thought they would surely want to learn about the complexities of arms control negotiations and that sort of thing.” Colbert let out another uncontrollable laugh when Bolton added, “As detailed in the book, it turned out not to be true.”
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