John Bolton calls Trump an "easy mark" for Putin over Ukraine
Trump's former national security adviser tells Adam Boulton the president is watching fuel prices at home while missing what a Russia-friendly settlement would mean.
Times Radio
Story of Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 927,964 views a day, 90 times a normal first day on this channel (10,287).
Trump ‘Doesn’t Understand What Is At Stake In Ukraine’ | John Bolton
Things we can learn from the video
Press to jump
- 0:11Bolton borrows Lenin's phrase "useful idiots" and says Trump is focused on domestic pressures such as fuel prices.
- 2:08He argues the Russian diesel purchases are tiny compared with daily US consumption, making them a political move.
- 4:00Trump personalizes foreign relations instead of weighing national interests, Bolton says, so Putin sees him as an easy mark.
- 5:01Republican support for Ukraine remains strong, he says, and distance from Trump may widen after the midterms.
- 7:13A Russia-friendly settlement would serve Putin's aim of restoring the Russian Empire's territory, Bolton warns.
- 8:00Asked about the press secretary's quick exit, he describes instability in Trump's circle.
John Bolton reaches for Lenin within the first quarter-minute. "He called people like this useful idiots," the former US national security adviser tells Adam Boulton on Times Radio's Sunday morning program, before delivering the line that became the video's title: "Trump really doesn't understand what's at stake in Ukraine."
Bolton held that adviser's job in Trump's first term, from 2018 to 2019, so this is criticism from someone who once sat close to the president. His argument is that Trump is looking homeward. Americans are unhappy about fuel prices, and in Bolton's account the president's attention is on that pressure rather than on geopolitics. The purchases of Russian diesel, he says, are small next to what the United States uses every day: a political move, and "a very disturbing development all the way around."
The deeper problem, he says, is that Trump treats relations between countries as relations between people. That makes Vladimir Putin's job easier, because Putin "sees him as an easy mark." Bolton also points to strong Republican support for Ukraine, and suggests the distance between the party and Trump could widen after the midterms. A settlement that favors Moscow would not end the matter, he warns: "He wants Ukraine back in the Russian Empire."
Near the end, Boulton raises the White House press secretary's quick exit. Bolton's verdict on working in Trump's circle is blunt: "Everything Trump touches dies," a phrase that was also the title of Rick Wilson's 2018 book.
A regular Times Radio interview usually draws about 10,000 views on its first day. This one passed 677,000 in thirteen hours, and its comment section had already reached about six times a usual first day's total. It was not the channel's only Trump-and-Russia conversation on Sunday. Joe Walsh, the former Republican congressman who challenged Trump for the 2020 nomination, told Ayesha Hazarika that "the President of the United States right now is our enemy," and that interview also drew a crowd far beyond the channel's usual.
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- Channel
- Times Radio
- Subscribers
- 1,310,000 ▲ 10,000 this week
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 7,789,112
- Channel views, pace per day
- 837,333 (on a normal day: 1,051,238)
- Video published
- October 18, 2026
- Video views so far
- 676,691 (less than a day online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 927,964
The numbers
A short Sunday radio interview drew a first-day audience far beyond what Times Radio's regular interviews usually reach.
💡 Test your knowledge
Before joining Times Radio, Adam Boulton was for many years political editor of which broadcaster?
Adam Boulton was Sky News' political editor from the channel's launch in 1989 and later presented its political programs.