What's Bolton's Bully-Pulpit Attack on ICC Really About?

Is the Constitution of the United States facing an imminent existential threat? Judging from Bob Woodward's reporting and the claims of last week's unsigned Op-Ed in the Times, many, perhaps most, senior Trump Administration officials believe that it is. Now Donald Trump's national-security adviser, John Bolton, has joined the chorus to say that you better believe it. But, unlike his colleagues, who spread their alarm anonymously, Bolton issued his warning at a Federalist Society lunch, on Monday, that was broadcast live on C-span. And, though others identify the danger to the Republic as coming from within, in the form of a rogue President, Bolton told a different story, of a looming threat from abroad, in the form of an “illegitimate,” “unchecked,” “supranational” conspiracy of “ ‘global governance' advocates” so “antithetical to our nation's ideals” that it amounted to “the Founders' worst nightmare come to life.” This was Bolton's first prominent public speech since he joined the Trump White House, in April. “I am here,” he said, “to make a major announcement on U.S. policy toward the International Criminal Court, or I.C.C.”p