trump wasn't exactly an anti-war candidate.

but, if obama was the alter-war candidate, and clinton was the ultra-war candidate, trump was the less-war candidate.

i know that certain media outlets wanted to push a narrative of trump being unhinged, and even being in cahoots with russia. this was all very silly, and is all very easily deconstructed, but the concern was always that he'd kind of lose interest in foreign policy and let the party take control. that's how bolton got there in the first place.

what trump actually ran on, what was a central part of his populist rhetoric, was an invocation of the "glorious isolation" pushed by conservatives in the early part of the last century.

i think there's a role to play for international institutions; i'm not opposed to global governance. but, i'll take isolationism over the perverted trostkyism of the neo-conservative clique, which is just a demented front for the war lobby.