Trump’s a ‘laughing fool’ to world leaders, Bolton says

Former President Donald Trump has long touted what he says are strong relationships with high profile leaders on the world stage, but they actually think he’s a ‘laughing fool, according to John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser.

During the CNN town hall last week, Trump said he could end Russia’s war in Ukraine in one day if he wins reelection to the White House. The war never would have happened, Trump said, if he won a second term in 2020. That’s hard to believe on both counts, Bolton said.

“I have been in those rooms with him when he met with those leaders, I believe they think he's a laughing fool. And the idea that somehow his presence in office would have deterred Putin is flatly wrong,” he said on CNN Tuesday morning, naming the Russian, Chinese and North Korean leaders in particular.

Trump also doesn’t “think in terms of winning and losing” when it comes to the war, the former president told host Kaitlan Collins during the town hall.

That, combined with his insistence that he could negotiate with Putin to end the war in a day, “shows he’s utterly out of touch what the war is all about and what the implications of Russia's aggression against Ukraine are all around the world,” Bolton said.

Bolton, who is publicly weighing a GOP presidential bid, also took aim at the former president for suggesting that he would consider pardoning Jan. 6 rioters if he wins the presidency, calling it ”virtually treasonous.”

“It’s another example why he's not fit to be president. If anybody wants to know what a Trump administration would look like, when he’s pardoning the people who rioted on Jan. 6, I think that's all you need to know,” he said.