Former ambassador John Bolton told MSNBC’s Ali Velshi this week that there is no such thing as Trumpism, and that there’s no Trump “movement” to which anyone could be a so-called successor.

Bolton, who served as national security advisor to Donald Trump and is an outspoken critic, scoffed at the idea that Trump is the sum of all that is the GOP — or even much of a necessary hurdle anymore.

You may say that you don’t believe in Santa, but as for John Bolton, he doesn’t believe there’s Trumpism or a Trump “movement” in the GOP at all. The idea is “simply wrong,” he says.

On MSNBC’s Velshi on Saturday, the host asked Bolton about his potential 2024 run for the GOP and basically whether there is anything left to save in the party for Republicans like him, who are opposed to Trump, arguing that Trump “loyalists and election-deniers’ have “infiltrated” the GOP.

“A lot of Republicans I talk to say the Republican party is unfixable,” said Velshi.

“Well, I think that position is delusional,” Bolton replied adamantly. “I think this whole idea that there’s a Trump movement out there is simply wrong.”

Bolton held out the 2022 election results as an example as he briefly outlined why he thinks Trumpism is not really a thing and the party has moved on.

He concluded by saying that the “fundamental reality” about Donald Trump is that he’s “an aberration in American politics.”

Ali Velshi: A lot of Republicans I talk to say the Republican Party is unfixable at the moment.

John Bolton: Well, I think that position is delusional. I think that this whole idea that there’s a Trump movement out there is simply wrong.

The fundamental point in politics is philosophy. Everything else flows from that. Donald Trump has no philosophy. Donald Trump doesn’t think in policy terms. There is no Trumpism and there’s no real succession to Trump.

And I think one piece of evidence for that point, flowing from the 2000, from the November 2022 election, is the fact that so many Trump-endorsed candidates lost. And with a few rare exceptions, there have been no election contest, no lawsuits contesting the losses. People have accepted the losses conceded and moved on. There are exceptions, but they are notable by the fact they’re exceptions.

So I think this whole thing represents what’s fundamentally the reality about Donald Trump: He’s an aberration in American politics. And it’s the job — not of the liberal media, not of the Democratic Party — It’s the job of Republicans to repair the damage he’s done. And that’s part of what we’re about here.

Elsewhere in the interview, Bolton said if he does decide to run for the GOP nomination, it will be in order to win, not as a spoiler to Trump’s bid as has been the characterization.

Watch the clip above, via MSNBC.

The post ‘There Is No Trumpism’: John Bolton on MSNBC Says No Such Thing as a ‘Trump Movement’ Out There first appeared on Mediaite.

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