The Atlantic

John Bolton Spoke Up When Other Republicans Didn’t

Showing genuine moral courage, the former national security adviser appears to have told the truth about Trump.
Source: Peter Nicholls / Reuters

Give John Bolton his due. By writing a book that apparently corroborates the core argument of those seeking to impeach and remove President Donald Trump, the former national security adviser has shown genuine moral courage. The literature on moral courage helps explain why: It’s because Bolton is an ideological fanatic. His fervent belief in supporting America’s allies and confronting its adversaries led him to speak up against Trump, who violated that principle by delaying aid to Ukraine in order to pressure it into investigating a political rival.

Not everyone agrees that, in speaking up now, Bolton has acted courageously. By not coming forward earlier, my colleague Graeme Wood argued, Bolton

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