Bolton: Xi and Putin Are ‘Playing’ Trump Through Personal Flattery, Not Real Friendship
Former National Security Advisor John Bolton says the President’s self-described bond with the Chinese and Russian leaders is being exploited at America’s expense.
Former National Security Advisor John Bolton is once again warning that President Donald Trump’s personal rapport with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin is being used against the United States.
In a series of recent interviews, Bolton — who served in the first Trump White House before a bitter falling out — argued that both leaders have learned how to manipulate Trump through flattery and one-on-one diplomacy, while continuing to pursue strategic goals directly opposed to American interests.
‘They study him’
“The brutal truth about Trump’s friendships with Xi and Putin is that they are playing him constantly,” Bolton said. He described a pattern in which the two authoritarian leaders praise Trump in public, extract concessions in private, and then move forward with policies — from Taiwan pressure to the war in Ukraine — that Washington has spent decades trying to prevent.
Bolton, who wrote about Trump’s style in his memoir The Room Where It Happened, has long argued that Trump prizes personal chemistry over policy detail. Critics inside the national security community echo that concern, pointing to repeated episodes in which Trump publicly sided with Putin’s denials over US intelligence assessments.
The White House response
The White House has dismissed Bolton’s warnings as the bitterness of a former aide. Trump himself has repeatedly described his relationships with Xi and Putin as assets, claiming that personal trust prevents wars rather than enables aggression.
But former diplomats and intelligence officials interviewed by major outlets say the pattern Bolton describes — heavy flattery, vague summit declarations, and quiet follow-through that favors Beijing and Moscow — has been visible across multiple administrations.
Sources: John Bolton public interviews and statements; reporting by The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, Reuters.
