Bolton using Twitter to wage war of words against Venezuelan President Maduro
John Bolton, US President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, has used Twitter to wage a war of words against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, using the social media platform to bypass the media and White House bureaucracy.
Bolton, a veteran neoconservative and warmonger, has tweeted far more about Venezuela in his time as national security adviser than any other topic, including Iran (34 tweets) or the Middle East and Syria (29 tweets).
The new addition highlights how Bolton has shifted his focus on Maduro's ouster, making the acid-tongued US official one of the Trump administration’s fiercest voices on the issue.
“I wish Nicolas Maduro and his top advisers a long, quiet retirement, living on a nice beach somewhere far from Venezuela,” Bolton tweeted on January 31.
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,” Philip Seib, who writes about diplomacy and social media at the University of Southern California, told Reuters.
Bolton also has a cartoon up on the wall in his White House office, one that depicts himself shaking maracas and dreaming of Maduro behind bars in an orange jumpsuit.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza has blasted Bolton for his “gangster-style” policy.
“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 Trump administration has led an effort to recognize opposition leader Juan Guaido as the legitimate interim president of Venezuela, considering Maduro’s 2018 re-election a sham.
Guaido, 35, who is also the head of Venezuela’s defunct National Assembly, plunged the country into political chaos on January 23, when he proclaimed himself as the “interim president” of Venezuela, a bizarre move that drew Washington’s immediate support.
Maduro on Tuesday said Trump is surrounded by “bad” officials who are advising him about the ongoing political and humanitarian crisis in the country.
“I fear the people that are around him,” Maduro told ABC News in an exclusive interview.
“I think these people surrounding President Trump and advising him on Venezuelan policies are bad, and I think that at one point, President Trump will have to say ‘stop, stop, we have to see what happens with Venezuela,’ and change his politics.”
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