John Bolton: Trump Started a War He Doesn’t Want to Finish

Trump escalated the war in Iran, but according to Bolton, no one — including the president — seems to know how it ends.

Welcome back to The Red Letter.

There is a particular kind of frustration that comes through when Ambassador John Bolton talks about President Donald Trump.

Bolton doesn’t take issue with the premise of the war in Iran, he’s been calling for strikes or regime change. His problem is simpler: no one seems to know what Trump is trying to do — not even Trump.

“Well, it’s not entirely clear what his objectives are,” he told me on The Tara Palmeri Show. “That makes it difficult to judge what he’s getting right and getting wrong.”

Bolton says part of the problem is instinct. Just months ago, Trump declared victory after the “12-day war,” claiming the U.S. had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program.

“Trump’s a winner…the world’s divided into winners and losers,” he said. “He just doesn’t restrain himself. And obviously, we didn’t obliterate the nuclear program.”

Now, the U.S. is back in conflict and public patience is slipping. A new Fox News poll shows 64% disapprove of Trump’s handling of Iran, with his approval rating at 41%.

Bolton also concedes the nuclear threat was not imminent. But, he argues, that doesn’t mean it isn’t real, especially if Iran can acquire a weapon elsewhere.

“When people ask how soon Iran could get nuclear weapons, the real answer is 72 hours,” he said.

“They wire North Korea, load devices onto a plane, and they show up in Tehran. I don’t know that they’ve done it, but that possibility exists.”

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Regime Change — or Just “Mowing the Lawn”?

Bolton has argued for decades that the only real solution is regime change. Negotiations, he says, have always failed.

“If you don’t want to come back every couple of years, you have to change the regime,” he said.

Trump still “talks like it’s regime change,” Bolton told me. But none of the groundwork is there — no effort with Congress, no case to the public, no real coordination with allies, no visible support for internal opposition.

Instead, the U.S. is doing something else.

“We’re just mowing the lawn.”

Bomb the facilities. Kill commanders. Degrade capabilities. But if the regime stays, the threat does too.

“You’ll have to come back and mow it again.”

Trump has suggested otherwise — pointing to leadership changes as proof of success. Bolton dismisses that.

“This is not one person,” he said. “This is an entire constitutional structure.”

In other words: this isn’t over. And it may not be winnable on the current terms.

Bolton doesn’t believe the U.S. can stop now either. Leaving, he says, would mean facing a “wounded beast” later — damaged, but still in power.

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The $5 Question

Trump also hasn’t sold the war. Even without ground troops, Americans are feeling it, especially at the pump.

The president has tried to steady things, announcing pauses in strikes on Iranian infrastructure. Markets haven’t bought it.

And abroad, Bolton says, it sends the wrong signal.

“If I were in Tehran watching this,” he said, “including Trump claiming he gave an extension because the Iranians asked for it — when mediators say they didn’t — that’s weakness.”

“Trump gave it to them. That’s a sign of weakness.”

The result: a war without a clear objective, and no obvious end. Trump wants the credit for winning — without the burden of finishing it.

Bolton’s warning is simpler than his reputation suggests: You can start a war without a plan. You just can’t end one that way.