The terms “hawks” and “doves” might have very specific meanings in the realm of international relations—hawks tend to be for strong military action as a way to promote America’s interests and values, while doves tend to believe diplomacy and negotiation are a better way to achieve the same ends—but in the most nonmetaphorical definition, hawks are mighty birds of prey, while doves are just smaller, weaker pigeons.

No surprise, then, that Donald Trump, who struggles to think figuratively, is apparently growing frustrated with the media coverage surrounding John Bolton’s ouster, which has generally described the president as less warlike than the warmongering national-security adviser he recently kicked to the curb.

“You know, John wasn’t in line with what we were doing, and, actually, in some cases, he thought it was too tough what we were doing,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday. He seemed visibly agitated by the reputation that preceded Bolton: “‘Mr. Tough Guy.’ You know, ‘You have to go into Iraq.’ Going into Iraq was something that he felt very strongly about,” he explained. The appearance of a power differential continued to irk Trump into Thursday, when he felt compelled, once again, to set the story straight. “In fact, my views on Venezuela, and especially Cuba, were far stronger than those of John Bolton,” he wrote. “He was holding me back!”

Indeed, Trump’s former national-security adviser had long been known as an überhawk who loves pushing regime change across the world, from promoting the Iraq War as George W. Bush’s ambassador to the United Nations, to his Trump-era promise to take down the “troika of tyranny” in Latin America (Nicaragua, Cuba, and Venezuela). While Bolton was in the White House, the U.S. implemented strict economic sanctions on Nicaragua, rolled back diplomatic recognition of Cuba, and even declared that Nicolás Maduro was not the legitimate president of Venezuela, recognizing politician Juan Guaidó instead. At one point, Bolton even reportedly floated a military intervention in Venezuela, allegedly prompting backlash in the notoriously isolationist administration. What could Trump’s “far stronger” views on Venezuela have possibly been?

As with all things Trump, it may all boil down to the sense of perceived disloyalty making him look weak. Back when Bolton was appointed national-security adviser, several of his allies and colleagues in the conservative world told me that his ardent defense of Trump on cable news, as well as his open distaste for the foreign policy establishment (and the futile neoconservative attempts at nation-building), likely played a part in his hiring. But shared anti-elite sentiments aside, Bolton would not budge from his viewpoints and frequently contradicted the president’s views—though, to his credit, Bolton’s arguments were fairly basic U.S. tenets, such as condemning North Korean missile tests while Trump downplayed their importance, or advising Trump against inviting the leaders of the Taliban to Camp David earlier this month.

Perhaps the two were never meant to be—a shared hatred of liberals in particular, and people in general, does not necessarily translate to a unified foreign policy vision, particularly if one person wants to raze foreign regimes to the ground and leave, while the other wants to withdraw troops from hot zones and appease dictators. But it does say quite a bit that the two men have already started their war against each other in the press, with Bolton tweeting that he’d already offered his resignation before Trump announced it, and Trump spending the next couple days bashing his ex-adviser. “It set us back, and, frankly, he wanted to do things not necessarily tougher than me,” Trump said. “You know, John’s known as a tough guy. He’s so tough, he got us into Iraq. That’s tough.”

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