Mark Steyn likes Trump’s appointment of John Bolton as National Security Advisor.
I’ve given up trying to discern ideological themes in Trump’s firings and hirings: as far as I can tell, it’s mostly about people he likes to hang out with. In the case of John Bolton, I first met the new National Security Advisor a decade and a half or so back, in a roomful of European prime ministers and foreign ministers. He delivered a line that stunned the joint:
International law does not trump the US Constitution.
I was standing next to the Finnish Prime Minister, Paavo Lipponen, who had a genuinely puzzled looked on his face and eventually inquired of me: “He is making a joke, no?”
No.
Seattle Sam
They are horrified that “America First” is not simply a vaporous slogan like “Stronger Together”.
GoneWithTheWind
My god! I was stunned reading this. I expected something radical or controversial. But instead I got “International law does not trump the US Constitution.” The first thing that cam to my mind was “DUH!”. But, and I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, there are those who think he was wrong. Maybe I’m not technically and legally correct. Maybe a slick lawyer could explain why I am wrong and we should obey whatever law the Un or Brussels comes up with. But I think I am constitutionally correct and empirically correct and my logic is faultless that for America nothing trumps the constitution.
Don’t misunderstand I recognize that we have strayed from the constitution and left leaning judges have misinterpreted the constitution. So what we live by and must legally follow is a bastardized interpretation of the constitution. But as written and as intended the constitution is the legal and supreme law of the land and nothing that Europe or the UN might write or decide trumps it, unless we or our left wing courts allow it to.
I like John Bolton (he has a doppelganger; Roy Underhill). I expect fireworks from him now that he has been appointed national security advisor. If I were one of the deep state imbedded in the Trump administration I would consider resigning before I was escorted to the door.
Seattle Sam
To paraphrase Michelle Obama: For the first time in my adult life, I am really proud of the Class of 1970.
Steve Gregg
International law consists of treaties between government, which is to say, contracts between governments. The US government can not make a treaty which violates its Constitution. Likewise, the US can not relinquish its sovereignty to any foreign power.
I suspect that Trump’s appointment of Bolton is to play Good Cop / Bad Cop with the North Koreans. The North Korean military is a paper tiger since it lost support by Russia and China. The only thing it has going for it is the threat of its nuclear missiles, which are probably more fiction than fact.
Trump will have the advantage in any negotiation with North Korea if the Koreans believe there is a credible threat of war from America, a war which they would decisively lose. If Bolton publicly advocates a preemptive attack on North Korea, that would lubricate negotiations. And, if North Korea demonstrates that it has mastered ICBMs, a preemptive attack and invasion could be our last option to spare America from North Korean nukes.
bob sykes
Gregg is right. The Supreme Court has already adjudicated this issue and ruled that treaties cannot overrule the Constitution. A summary is here,
http://www.sweetliberty.org/issues/staterights/treaties.htm
This is a bugaboo of some right wing fanatics who oppose almost all treaties.
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