It took him a while, but former American Ambassador to the U.N. (under Bush 43) and former Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (under Trump) John Bolton is back on Twitter. Since his resignation, some thought he had gone into hiding. Not so, Bolton writes on the social network: he simply didn’t have access to his Twitter-account because the White House basically held it hostage.
No, that’s not a joke.
We have now liberated the Twitter account, previously suppressed unfairly in the aftermath of my resignation as National Security Advisor. More to come…..
— John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) November 22, 2019
“We have now liberated the Twitter account, previously suppressed unfairly in the aftermath of my resignation as National Security Adviser,” Bolton writes. He follows that up with “more to come,” which, of course, is highly interesting.
“Re: speaking up — since resigning as National Security Advisor, the White House refused to return access to my personal Twitter account,” he wrote in a follow-up tweet. “Out of fear for what I may say? To those who speculated I went into hiding, I’m sorry to disappoint!”
Re: speaking up — since resigning as National Security Advisor, the @WhiteHouse refused to return access to my personal Twitter account. Out of fear of what I may say? To those who speculated I went into hiding, I’m sorry to disappoint!
— John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) November 22, 2019
“In full disclosure,” he added his announcement about his Twitter-comeback, “the White House never returned access to my Twitter account. Thank you to Twitter for standing by their community standards and rightfully returning control of my account.”
In other words, the Trump administration held Bolton’s account hostage. The only way for him to get back access to it was by contacting Twitter support. They were the ones that let him back in — and apparently let him change his password (and his affiliated email account) so he need not worry about any hacks from the White House if they were inclined to do so.
Knowing Bolton, we can be sure that he’ll use his access to his Twitter account by setting right some wrongs — or some perceived wrongs — about his decision to resign from his post as National Security Advisor… and about his agreement or disagreement with particular Trump policies. In any case, it’s important to remember that, unlike so many members of the deep state, he did the right thing when he found himself unable to implement the president’s policies: he resigned. He didn’t launch a smear campaign, he didn’t anonymously undermine the president in one left-wing newspaper after another. He told the president that he felt he could no longer serve him and stepped down. Government bureaucrats who are part of The Resistance can learn a thing or two from that.
Oh, and to the White House: why in the world would you deny a former official access to his or her own Twitter account? Bolton may be a neocon war hawk, but even he deserves access to his personal social media accounts. Come on!
Join the conversation as a VIP Member