John Bolton dismissed the escalating back-and-forth between Donald Trump and California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) over the former’s deployment of the National Guard to Los Angeles ― in response to protests against the Trump administration’s immigration raids ― as political theater.
But he also pointed to what’s most “troubling” about the developments.
“I think a lot of what’s going on here is performance art, both by President Trump and by Gov. Newsom,” Bolton told CNN on Tuesday.
“I don’t see from the evidence so far that this is anything other than protest with some violence in it,” he added.
Bolton, a national security adviser during Trump’s first term but now a critic of the president, noted how “conservatives are federalists in this country” and “believe that the president does not have general supervisory authority over state and local governments.”
“The people there vote for their leaders — they may get bad ones, incompetent ones — but it’s not for the president to come in to make a point, which is what I think he’s trying to do,” he added.
Bolton acknowledged that Trump may have the legal authority to send in troops, but he questioned the motivations and the scale of the response.
“It’s the wisdom of what he’s doing, and the extent of it, and the political manipulation that’s engaged here that I think is troubling,” he said.
Bolton also took a swipe at Newsom, suggesting he wanted a political fight as much as Trump did.
Watch the full exchange here: