John Bolton is a warmongering charlatan who has spent far too much time circling the centers of power in this country, courtesy of Republican administrations that had a sweet tooth for imperial adventurism and diplomatic catastrophism. He is still all of those things now that he's been 86'd from Camp Runamuck. I mention all of this because, Lord save us, I don't want this bloodthirsty maniac making the Never Trump rounds on my electric teevee machine like he was some kind of voice of hard-nosed reason, and I am afraid that they're already warming up the munchies in various green rooms for him. This country has lost its mind.

Anyway, Bolton got canned by El Caudillo del Mar-a-Lago via the electric Twitter machine around lunchtime on Tuesday. According to The New York Times, the reason was that Bolton disagreed with the president*'s largely phantom attempts to treat with North Korea and Iran. (Bolton has dreamed of riding into Tehran in his Caesarian Humvee for decades now.) I'm not entirely sure I buy this.

The president has continued to court Kim Jong-un, the repressive leader of North Korea, despite Mr. Kim’s refusal to surrender his nuclear program and despite repeated short-range missile tests by the North that have rattled its neighbors. In recent days, Mr. Trump has expressed a willingness to meet with President Hassan Rouhani of Iran under the right circumstances, and even to extend short-term financing to Tehran, although the offer has so far been rebuffed.

And, of course, because this is Camp Runamuck, Bolton leaped to the electric Twitter machine for a, "You can't fire me. I quit!" moment. These people, man, they do love their drama.

It is going to be possible for people to overthink this. Some people may even buy the wooden nickel that this signifies the president*'s turn toward diplomacy in his foreign policy, even in relation to the pre-eminent bogeymen of the American foreign-policy establishment. This, of course, gives the president* credit for about 80 IQ points that he couldn't even buy with a loan from Deutsche Bank. Two fairly crazy people couldn't get along. That padded room wasn't big enough for the both of them.

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Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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