Bolton claims he will write in candidate if 2024 is Trump-Biden rematch

John Bolton said Monday he would write in a different candidate’s name on his ballot in 2024 if the election is a rematch between former President Trump and President Biden.

“I would do the same thing I did in 2020,” Bolton said when asked by CNN’s Laura Coates what he would do in such a scenario. “I live in Maryland, which permits write-in voting. I always like to vote for a conservative Republican. Between Biden and Trump, there was no conservative on the ballot. So I wrote in the name of a conservative, and I would do the same in 2024.”

Bolton, who served as Trump’s national security adviser from April 2018 to September 2019, also suggested most of the former president’s Cabinet members and senior advisers would say Trump is “not fit to be president.”

“It’s not a question of the drama or his personality or something like that,” he said. “It’s a question of his basic lack of competence to do the job.”

The potential for a Trump-Biden rematch in 2024 appears increasingly likely because both maintain sizable leads over challengers in the polls.

A recent New York Times/Siena College poll showed Trump leading his closest competitor, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, by 37 points and Biden leading long-shot Democratic candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. by 51 points.

Bolton added on Monday that he is still open to launching a bid for the Republican presidential nomination.

“I’m still considering it. If you look at The New York Times poll that came out today, with Trump at 54 percent and only Ron DeSantis in double-digits, I don’t think anybody has caught fire yet,” he said. “It’s entirely possible one or more of them will by the time of the debate later in August, but right now, I don’t see that path.” 

“We should give them a chance, but I think late August could be a very important point for the Republican Party,” Bolton continued. “I really think people should be saying that if the candidates haven’t shown a chance to defeat Trump, they ought to seriously consider getting out at that point and maybe other people who have not entered the race should consider coming in.”