Trump 'doesn't understand' how badly he's botching global crisis: Ex-advisor

President Donald Trump gestures as he heads back to the Oval Office in Washington, D.C., April 6, 2026. REUTERS/Nathan Howard

President Donald Trump's former national security adviser, ex-UN Ambassador John Bolton, blasted his former boss on Sunday for failing to "understand" basic global politics, particularly when it comes to Ukraine.

Referring to the infamous Soviet dictator Vladimir Lenin, Bolton told Times Radio that "he has called people like this useful idiots. Trump really doesn’t understand what’s at stake in Ukraine. And in the past several weeks, he has been focused not on geopolitics, but on domestic American politics. He’s in deep trouble."

Bolton then pivoted to discussing domestic politics.

"The Republicans are facing a referendum on the Trump administration," Bolton told Boulton. "People are unhappy. There are gonna be substantial Republican losses. Inflation is one of the factors working against Republican candidates. Diesel fuel, gasoline are factors in that. And what Trump is trying to do is take steps to say domestically, “I’m gonna be able to bring down oil prices.” Now, none of what he’s doing with Russia will do that, but for Trump, it’s announcing the deal. It’s not necessarily the results of it."

He added, "But the international effect of what he’s doing is to give Russia an enormous favor to call in at some point, because Putin, by agreeing to this deal and other things, has given Trump a favor when Trump needs it at home. So it’s a very disturbing development all the way around."

The former Trump adviser also noted that Trump is easily manipulated, citing the president's obsequiousness toward Russian President Vladimir Putin as an example.

"If he and Vladimir Putin are good friends, he thinks US-Russia state-to-state relations are good," Bolton told Boulton. "That’s not correct for many reasons. Most importantly, because Vladimir Putin doesn’t see Trump as a friend. He sees him as an easy mark. And every time Trump, in a very needy way, comes to Putin to ask for this diesel deal or something like that, Putin’s more than happy to give it to him and put it in his pocket to call him later."

Bolton is not alone in observing that Trump is easily swayed by flattery. Speaking with this journalist for Salon in 2019, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright observed about Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un that “I do think that what is worrisome to me is, in an effort to be flattered by Kim Jong-un, that he gives away something that might have a longer term effect for the next administration.”

Bolton has been a frequent critic of Trump, and the president has responded by targeting Bolton through his Justice Department. After being investigated on an 18-count indictment by the Trump administration, Bolton pleaded guilty to one count of inappropriately sharing classified information.

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