--- title: Donald Trump Fired H.R. McMaster and Hired John Bolton description: President Donald Trump's decision to fire National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster and hire John Bolton will have dramatic effects. canonical: https://time.com/5212129/john-bolton-hr-mcmaster-donald-trump/ author: Philip Elliott article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-03-23T04:33:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T19:45:05.098Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Just Hired John Bolton. Here's Why That Makes Some Nervous og:description: "He is seen as more of a bomb thrower than consensus builder." og:url: https://time.com/5212129/john-bolton-hr-mcmaster-donald-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte13cda9e824e3274/69892bb197cdff30b16b4bfb/john-bolton-donald-trump-national-security-advisor.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Conservatives Rally Together At Annual CPAC Gathering og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Just Hired John Bolton. Here's Why That Makes Some Nervous twitter:description: "He is seen as more of a bomb thrower than consensus builder." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte13cda9e824e3274/69892bb197cdff30b16b4bfb/john-bolton-donald-trump-national-security-advisor.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Just Hired John Bolton. Here's Why That Makes Some Nervous > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. 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Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent Mar 23, 2018 4:33 AM UTC  Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton speaks during CPAC 2018 Feb. 22, 2018 in National Harbor, Maryland. The American Conservative Union hosted its annual Conservative Political Action Conference to discuss conservative agenda. Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton speaks during CPAC 2018 Feb. 22, 2018 in National Harbor, Maryland. The American Conservative Union hosted its annual Conservative Political Action Conference to discuss conservative agenda.Alex Wong—Getty Images  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent Mar 23, 2018 4:33 AM UTC By 9 p.m. on Thursday, the spacious West Wing corner office of National Security Advisor Gen. H.R. McMaster sat empty, the door open, the blinds undrawn, pale blue papers on the desk bearing messages from world capitals, unanswered. For White House staffers already on edge after a week of tumultuous personnel and policy change driven by President Donald Trump, the scene represented an ominous calm before the latest, most worrying disruption at the top of American government. Two hours earlier, Trump had announced on Twitter that he would be replacing McMaster, a temperate, soldier-scholar who had closely hewed to the traditional role of “honest broker” in reconciling the often competing agendas of the CIA, the State Department and the Pentagon, among other foreign and national security agencies in the U.S. government. McMaster would be replaced, Trump tweeted, with the firebrand diplomat and Fox News personality, Amb. John Bolton, a hawkish interventionist with fixed opinions and set agendas. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/976948306927607810) Bolton will not officially start in the job until April 9, but already moderates in the West Wing are worried. Bolton famously [couldn’t win](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1053670,00.html) permanent Senate confirmation as Ambassador to the U.N. in 2005, when he was nominated to the position by then-President George W. Bush. He had been criticized by Democrats and some moderate Republicans for intemperance after several witnesses testified to the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee that Bolton had harassed and bullied them. Several floor votes failed to override a Democratic filibuster of his nomination, before he was appointed in recess to the post by Bush. But more important, he seemed ill-suited for the role of interagency arbiter. “John Bolton does not have a reputation for consensus building within the administration or with allies,” says Michael Green, a senior Asia advisor in Bush’s NSC, now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Rather, Green says, Bolton has “a reputation for being an aggressive advocate of his (or in this case the President’s) position. The best national security advisors are usually considered honest brokers, so that would be a different approach from his past M.O., but perhaps one he recognizes is necessary. We’ll have to see” The record of national security advisors with strong agendas is mixed. Henry Kissinger was successful, though controversial, in the role. Ronald Reagan’s National Security Advisor John Poindexter was convicted of multiple felonies after running a covert operation out of the National Security Council without the knowledge of Congress or other agencies of government. In recent history, Brent Scowcroft is viewed as the most successful holder of the job, thanks to his scrupulous representation to the president of all the views of his national security team, however conflicted. In previous positions in Republican administrations, Bolton has typically played the role of advocate rather than arbiter. He pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003, though he argued in favor of leaving the country to rebuild on its own rather than trying to establish democracy there. He is particularly hawkish on Iran and North Korea. That will make already nervous allies even more uneasy, says Green. “He is a smart, relentless and often effective advocate for his point of view,” Green says, “But he is also seen as more of a bomb thrower than consensus builder and he has advocated the more extreme versions of Trump foreign policy, including military force against North Korea and ending the Iran deal, and this will make allies very nervous. At the U.N., he became more diplomatic and it will be interesting to see how he grows into this role.” While Bolton’s reputation for stubborn opinions worries some West Wing staffers, any internal disputes it stirs among agencies will fit with the President’s approach to governing. Especially in recent days, the president has preferred disorder and drama over reliability and steadiness. With Bolton in charge of the massive national security decision making apparatus in the White House, Trump may get more drama than he bargained for. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5212129/john-bolton-hr-mcmaster-donald-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5212129/john-bolton-hr-mcmaster-donald-trump/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Just Hired John Bolton. 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