WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump's pick of John Bolton for his next national security adviser stirred up a burning question in Washington and in foreign capitals: Just how much will his hawkish approach rub off on Trump?
As he confronts matters of war and peace with North Korea and Iran, Trump is bringing in an adviser likely to magnify many of his own instinctive qualities. Bolton is known to be hard-hitting, fiercely nationalistic and eager to confront U.S. adversaries.
In his first year in office, Trump surrounded himself with foreign policy aides whose views spanned a wide spectrum. Bolton's pick rounds out a team that in Trump's second year will be composed almost entirely of hawks whose publicly stated views about national security veer decidedly to the right.