John Bolton declares hiking US defense budget the 'most important priority in foreign affairs today'

Former national security advisor John Bolton described raising the U.S. defense budget as the top foreign affairs priority.

"The single most important priority in foreign affairs today is to increase the American defense budget. I think Congress would support a major increase if Trump proposed it. I hope that's what he does," Bolton declared in a post on X.

Bolton said last month during an appearance on CNN that he hopes Pete Hegseth, who Trump nominated to serve as Defense Secretary, secures "a massive increase in the Defense Department budget," noting that if domestic spending could be slashed so the deficit does not increase, "that would be important too." 

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Bolton has asserted that the Senate should oppose Trump's pick of Kash Patel to serve as FBI director.

"John Bolton has been wrong about everything so I guess Kash must be pretty awesome," Vice President-elect J.D. Vance said in a post on X.

Bolton previously suggested that the Senate should reject Trump's nomination of former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard for the role of director of national intelligence, and of Matt Gaetz for attorney general.

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After former Rep. Gaetz withdrew himself from consideration for the role last month, Bolton tweeted, "One down, more to follow."

Business magnate Elon Musk called Bolton "a staggeringly dumb warmonger" in a tweet last month. 

In a July post, Musk called Bolton "a belligerent idiot."

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Bolton, who served as national security advisor during a portion of Trump's first term, previously served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during a portion of President George W. Bush's White House tenure.