President-elect Donald Trump should not consider former George W. Bush diplomat John Bolton as Secretary of State due to his support of the Iraq War and a war in Syria, Senator Rand Paul said on Tuesday.

“Bolton is a longtime member of the failed Washington elite that Trump vowed to oppose, hell-bent on repeating virtually every foreign policy mistake the US has made in the last 15 years — particularly those Trump promised to avoid as president,” Paul wrote in an op-ed for Rare news. “President-elect Donald Trump campaigned on changing our disastrous foreign policy.”

“To appoint John Bolton would be a major first step toward breaking that promise.”

Bolton could not be more out of touch with the situation in the Middle East and he jeopardizes national security, Rand claims. Bolton even said last year that overthrowing Saddam Hussein was still the right move.

“John Bolton more often stood with Hillary Clinton and against what Donald Trump has advised,” Rand said.

As we’ve previously reported, Bolton was quick to demand that the US take an adversarial stance against Russia in 2014 following Russia’s invasion of Crimea. Considering that Trump’s Secretary of State will be working closely with Russia to mend ties and destroy ISIS, John Bolton’s appointment to the position would likely diminish those aims.

And in 2010, Bolton suggested that Israel preemptively nuke Iran in order to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons first; hardly the desired disposition of a secretary of state tasked to carry out Trump’s non-interventionist foreign policy.

Even apologists like pundit Joe Scarborough have come out against Bolton, calling him a ‘massive neocon on steroids.’

CNN and the New York Times are among the publications suggesting that Bolton is a top pick for Secretary of State in a Trump administration. Bolton served as the US Ambassador to the United Nations during President George W. Bush’s administration.

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