Former national security adviser John Bolton said President-elect Trump is looking for “subservience” from appointees rather than loyalty, as Trump began to announce appointments to key roles in his upcoming administration.
“As I’ve said before, I don’t think loyalty is really the right word. I think it’s fealty,” he said Wednesday during an appearance on CNN. “I think what Trump wants from his appointees is subservience.”
He questioned if Trump’s Cabinet picks, such as Fox News’s Pete Hegseth for Defense chief, are ready to be “yes men,” agreeing to carry out priorities listed by the president-elect on the campaign trail.
When asked if Hegseth, an Army National Guard officer and Fox & Friends weekend host, would approve of using military force on Americans, Bolton said, “I don’t know.”
“I don’t know. I will say that his military service was very commendable,” he continued. “And the question is, will he behave keeping his personal integrity and his loyalty to the Constitution uppermost? I don’t know him well enough to know the answer to that question.”
The former White House aide also raised concerns about the politicization of the military under Trump’s second administration after the Wall Street Journal reported a potential executive order creating a panel to evaluate generals, admirals and flag officers.
“I think it’s a big mistake,” Bolton, who has emerged a chief Trump critic, said. “I think it looks like politicizing the military, and I think that is the sort of action that’s very poorly thought out if the Trump administration wants to change Biden administration policies in the woke area.”
“Perfectly entitled to do that, but the way it does it is by telling the military and civilian officials in the Defense Department that there’s a new sheriff in town, the policies change, and they better get with the program,” he added.
He later said that the country has “worked decades, centuries, even to make [the military] non-political and to put that at risk, I think is very serious.”
The questions come as the former president has been under scrutiny for reportedly praising Nazi Leader Adolf Hitler’s army for their loyalty. Former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Mark Milley and former White House chief of staff John Kelly in interviews laid out that conversation, while also comparing the president-elect to fascists.
Bolton weighed into the issue late last month, saying Trump is not capable of being a fascist.
“I think his behavior alone is troubling enough,” he told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins at the time. “To be a fascist, you have to have a philosophy. Trump’s not capable of that.”
