About half the time, conservatives profess bafflement as to why liberals are so upset about John Bolton. The rest of the time, you read pearls of wisdom from Bolton fans like Andy McCarthy about how “we don’t need an ambassador at the UN, we need a wrecking ball.” The mustachioed one, it seems, was just the man for the job but “If John Bolton could not be confirmed after the job he did, there is no hope for a strong American presence there. More importantly, even with Bolton performing heroically, the UN was still a menace.”
So, look, conservatives can agree with that or disagree as they like. But no fair being baffled — this is the crux of the issue. Bolton and his biggest fans think the UN is a menace. Not that the UN is a flawed institution that sometimes can’t or doesn’t accomplish everything one might like. Rather, it’s a menace. Not something that should be improved, but something that should be wrecked. Hit, in other words, with a wrecking ball. People who believe that a “strong American presence” in Turtle Bay means strident efforts to destroy the institution.
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