McMaster Out, Bolton In. Brace Yourselves.

Last Friday, Trump chief of staff, John Kelly, convened the West Wing staff to assure them there would be no more major staff changes for the foreseeable future.

Here we are, less than a week later, and Trump's national security advisor, General H.R. McMaster, is out, extremely far right hawk, John Bolton, is in. Bolton was one of the most bellicose of the Bush/Cheney era neocons.

John Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, will replace H.R. McMaster as national security adviser, President Donald Trump announced in a tweet Thursday.

“I am pleased to announce that, effective 4/9/18, @AmbJohnBoltonwill be my new National Security Advisor,” Trump tweeted. “ I am very thankful for the service of General H.R. McMaster who has done an outstanding job & will always remain my friend.”

“There will be an official contact handover on 4/9,” Trump added.

Bolton, who served in the George W. Bush administration, is known for his hard-line foreign policy views, and has written in support of attacking North Korea. 

McMaster’s exit is just the latest in a long line of departures from the Trump White House.

More on Bolton from foreignpolicy.com:

President Donald Trump’s choice of John Bolton as his national security advisor places a hardline unilateralist and keen advocate of military power at the center of the Trump White House.

Bolton has explicitly called for a pre-emptive strike on North Korea, advocates bombing to force regime change in Iran, and wants an open-ended military presence in Afghanistan. He has also called for a much more confrontational stance against China, including stationing U.S. troops in Taiwan.

Bolton shares with the president a disregard for international agreements, and disdain for multilateral organizations like the United Nations and the European Union, and a flair for hurling cutting insults at his many political enemies. In his memoir, John Bolton: Surrender is Not an Option, Bolton repeatedly referred to European Union bureaucrats as “EUroids.” 

His appointment, rumored for weeks, deeply rattled foreign-policy experts from Washington to Berlin who worry that McMaster’s ouster and Bolton’s arrival could set the United States on a path toward multiple conflicts.

“John Bolton strongly supported every war the U.S. has fought, believes there should be no limits how [the] U.S. has fought, and strongly supports starting new regime change wars with Iran and nuclear-armed N[orth] Korea,” tweeted Micah Zenko of the Council on Foreign Relations. “Terrifying.”

Think that Doomsday Clock won't be moving up a notch tonight?