‘Was Afghanistan Smart?’: Eric Bolling Grills John Bolton Over U.S. Foreign Policy Failures Following ‘Coups’ Comment

Newsmax TV host Eric Bolling grilled former National Security Advisor John Bolton on Friday about failures in U.S. foreign policy days after the latter casually bragged he had helped topple governments.

On CNN’s The Lead with Jake Tapper on Tuesday, Bolton disagreed with the host that Jan. 6 was a coup attempt by former President Donald Trump.

“As somebody who has helped plan coups d’état – not here, but other places – it takes a lot of work. And that’s not what he did,” Bolton said.

The comment went viral, as Bolton’s cavalier admission he had plotted the demise of faraway regimes was objectively shocking.

On The Balance Friday evening, Bolling repeatedly challenged the former longtime foreign policy bureaucrat and ambassador to the U.N. about his attitude toward foreign intervention.

“Where were you involved in coup attempts, care to elaborate?” Bolling asked.

After Bolton noted he had overseen intervention in Venezuela, he shifted the conversation toward threats such as “nuclear weapons,” Bolling cut in.

“No, sir, sir sir,” Bolling interrupted, asking Bolton for specifics on where he has helped topple regimes.

Bolton deflected and the host again interrupted.

“I’m asking for you examples you said you had involved in coups d’état in other places,” Bolling said, before asking, “Would you consider Iraq a coup d’état?”

Bolton replied invading Iraq was not a coup, but was nonetheless effective in installing a new regime in the country.

After some more back and forth, Bolling demanded to know how Bolton’s meandering about U.S. involvement across the globe justified his comments about coups d’état. The subject then made its way to Afghanistan.

“Was Afghanistan smart?” Bolling asked. “Was that a good idea?”

Bolton responded:

It absolutely was. We went after the Taliban that had given refuge to Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda. We overthrew the regime. What we failed to do in Afghanistan was go after al Qaeda hard enough to crush them early, but was George W. Bush right in the aftermath of the terrorist attack on 9/11 to go into Afghanistan? Absolutely.

Bolling noted the U.S. spent two decades, trillions of dollars and thousands of lives on the war in Afghanistan, and the result is a country that is run by a Taliban apparently stronger than ever.

“You can stop talking when you went to Eric, and then then maybe I’ll talk,” Bolton said.

Watch above, via Newsmax TV.