White House says Trump used his ‘gut’ in hiring Bolton, wants a ‘team of rivals’ advising him

The White House defended President Trump’s “gut” instincts on hiring advisers such as John R. Bolton who later turn on him, saying the president seeks a Lincolnesque “team of rivals” in the West Wing.

“The president makes hiring decisions based on the fact that he likes to have countervailing viewpoints,” said White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, who added that she had spoken to Mr. Trump on Friday about the hiring of Mr. Bolton. “He said, ’I like to counterbalance my own opinion with individuals that oftentimes have the very opposite opinion of my own.’”

Mr. Bolton, the president’s former national security adviser, was fired in September 2019 and has written a highly critical book about Mr. Trump. The book, “The Room Where It Happened,” is due out on Tuesday unless the administration wins a court battle to halt its release.

Former White House acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said Friday that Mr. Trump “didn’t hire very well.”

“He did not have experience at running government and didn’t know how to put together a team that could work well with him,” Mr. Mulvaney said on CNN. “A lot of those folks are either folks in the military or actively involved in the military. And that’s just not — the military personality is just not the type that works well with Donald Trump, who’s a small businessman.”

The president has called Mr. Bolton a “fool.” He also has referred to former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson as “dumb as a rock,” former Defense Secretary James Mattis as “the world’s most overrated general,” and former Chief of Staff John Kelly as being in “way over his head.” Mr. Mattis and Mr. Kelly are retired Marine Corps generals.

Asked why the president hired people whom he later criticized for lacking ability, Ms. McEnany said Mr. Trump “uses his gut and makes the best decision as to how to move forward, so that’s what goes into his hiring practices.”
She compared his philosophy to President Abraham Lincoln, whose Cabinet was made up of several aides who had been his rival for the presidency.

“He likes the model of having a ’team of rivals’ like what we saw in President Lincoln’s administration,” Ms. McEnany said. “There’s obviously value in hiring a team of rivals, it’s worked well in the past.”