John Bolton, U.S. President Donald Trump's national security adviser, shake...
WASHINGTON - John Bolton, U.S. President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, shakes stars-and-stripes maracas as he dreams of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro behind bars in an orange prison suit.
A mounted copy of the cartoon from Miami newspaper Diario Las Americas has joined the trophy wall in Bolton’s West Wing office, which until now has been dominated by mementos associated with his signature foreign policy fight: Iran.The new addition is a sign of how Bolton’s hawkish focus has zeroed in on a new target - getting Maduro to leave Venezuela.
It was Bolton’s most viral Venezuela tweet that was the genesis for the cartoon that now graces his office. “Bolton’s gangster-style language and threats are proof of the most sublime diplomatic practice. How regrettable that US foreign policy has fallen into the hands of such a gang,” Arreaza tweeted last week.
The strategy bypasses the time-sucking layers of approvals needed to release a traditional White House statement and also side-steps the media.“It’s the Trump formula of avoiding the gatekeepers,” said Philip Seib, who writes about diplomacy and social media at the University of Southern California’s School for Communication and Journalism.