Ambassador John Bolton (Photo courtesy: www.johnboltonpac.com)
Rewards for a print journalist like me are often not pecuniary but professional in terms of a vast variety of people of consequence one gets to engage with substantive questions. As I in my capacity as the chief editor of Bharat FM, the Indian American news, entertainment and information radio station, work to make the enterprise commensurate with my nearly four decades as a journalist, it is gratifying to note that Ambassador John Bolton, former National Security Advisor to President Trump, will be my guest on November 30 for a 30-minute conversation about a range of issues.
Ambassador Bolton is a compelling if controversial figure within the Republican Party and the conservative movement who is known not to hold back his views of various issues. Only this morning, appearing on CNN’s The State of the Union with Jake Tapper he described the president as “the political equivalent of a street rioter” who is “throwing rocks through windows.” As someone who served as the president’s National Security Advisor for 453 days, Bolton has had a unique vantage point on the president.
During my upcoming interview I intend to engage Ambassador Bolton in a wide range of issues such as whether America has lost its moral ground on sermonizing to the rest of the world on the virtues of a smooth transition of power, India, China and the Indo-Pacific, India in the context of Afghanistan, the craven caving in of the vast majority of the Republican Party to President Trump’s onslaught and so on.
As they say in the world of broadcasting Bolton’s interview is a “big get” for Bharat FM. It will help us showcase to the mainstream America how we are trying to build, step by step, a serious radio station. If it seems to sum that we may be punching above our weight, I will have them know that with my long and diverse professional background I am very much punching in my category.