David Frum Wants to Gaslight You About the Nature of the American Regime

Frum claims that John Bolton was “joking” about planning coups around the world

David Frum at his talk 'Why Romney Lost' licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. | Source

The former National Security Adviser under Donald Trump, John Bolton, made headlines when he admitted that he had helped plan coup d'états around the globe in his official capacity working for the United States federal government on CNN. Bolton is discussing the events of January 6 with Jake Tapper and explaining why it wasn’t really an attack on American democracy, but rather Trump being a bumbling buffoon. When Tapper disagrees with Bolton stating that you don’t have to be brilliant to plan a coup, Bolton replies:

I disagree with that. As somebody who has helped plan coup d'état—Not here, you know, but other places—it takes a lot of work and that’s not what [Trump] did.

You can view the full context for yourself in the video below, and take special note of the way that Bolton makes the claim that he has helped plan coups before.

Bolton makes this claim as matter of factly as possible, and is clearly responding to Jake Tapper as if he expects his experience and authority on the matter to be the final word on the subject. Now compare what you’ve just witnessed with what former George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum claims is happening.

David Frum @davidfrum

The bright red light indicates the camera and microphone are ON, and that former US National Security Advisers should measure their words and avoid cynical jokes that give aid and comfort to those who do not wish this country well.

The only joke here is that Frum actually expects anyone to believe that Bolton was telling a “cynical joke” when he made the claim that he has experience trying to plan coups in other countries. Bolton was not joking, he was trying to convince Jake Tapper that he was correct by bringing up his own expertise on the subject of planning coups. And, as journalist Michael Tracey points out, this is not the first time Bolton has talked about his experience planning coups.

Michael Tracey @mtracey

Bolton writes extensively in his own book about the Trump Administration's attempt to "overthrow" the government of Venezuela in 2019. Was the book also a "misplaced joke"?

David Frum @davidfrum

The next time Glenn Greenwald is caught carrying Steve Bannon's luggage or polishing Tucker Carlson's shoes or condoning Trump's crimes, he's going to invoke Bolton's misplaced joke as his excuse.

David Frum has to pretend as if the U.S. federal government has only ever been a benevolent force around the world that would never engage in anything as unseemly and undemocratic as a coup d'état, despite there being plenty of examples from Iran to Brazil, because he’s a lying warmonger whose credibility and career depends on the gullibility of the American people on the nature of their own government. John Bolton, crazed warmonger though he is, at least has no compunction about simply calling a coup a coup.