As the Trump Train keeps careening forward, abrupt senior staff departures and all, President Donald Trump has now unveiled his pick to replace the recently departed John Bolton in the role of national security adviser. Using the same method that he did to establish Bolton’s departure as “official” in the first place, Trump announced early this Wednesday that he’d selected Robert O’Brien as the new national security adviser. O’Brien had been serving as Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs at the State Department, having worked alongside Trump ally and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who supported O’Brien’s elevation.
Trump tweeted the news:
‘I am pleased to announce that I will name Robert C. O’Brien, currently serving as the very successful Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs at the State Department, as our new National Security Advisor. I have worked long & hard with Robert. He will do a great job!’
Trump has, in fact, overseen a number of cases of hostages held by foreign countries getting returned to the United States while he’s been in office. This hasn’t exactly always gone so great, though — on one occasion, North Korea returned detained American student Otto Warmbier only for him to soon die thanks to the desperate physical condition he was in. On another occasion, after the North Koreans returned a handful more of detained hostages to the United States, Trump touted the ratings that late night television was sure to garner thanks to covering the event. There’s more to life than television ratings, though.
O’Brien’s entry to the president’s inner circle comes as he faces ongoing major national security questions like what to do about Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea and more. Trump has pushed for withdrawing from Afghanistan, and being tough on Iran, while being light on North Korea no matter their atrocities — so we’ll see if O’Brien falls in line or goes the way of the other now former top staffers who Trump has kicked out.
Check out Twitter’s response…
Featured Image via screenshot
