Former national security adviser John Bolton speaks on stage during a public discussion at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina on February 17, 2020. Photo: AFP

During an appearance on CNN Tuesday, former Trump national security adviser John Bolton claimed that he had helped organize coups in other countries and dismissing the actions of the former president in the lead up to the US Capitol attack on January 6, 2021 as not amounting to a coup attempt, according to the Hill.

The former senior Republican official cited a failed 2019 Venezuelan coup attempt against President Nicolás Maduro when he was pressed by the CNN anchor to clarify what he was referencing in his comment about having planned coups. But in fact, whether he admits it or not, the international community has been quite clear about the consistent US practice of staging coups in other countries, in line with the US diplomatic tradition.

In Bolton's 2020 memoir, The Room Where It Happened, he claims that Trump said it would be "cool" to invade Venezuela and the South American country was "really part of the United States."

Too few forces can restrain the US, the only superpower since the end of the Cold War, whether it be state actors, groups of states or international organizations, leading the US to espouse unilateralism and do whatever it wants. This is undoubtedly a tragedy and an important reason why Bolton and other US officials are so arrogant and unabashed that they can straightforwardly admit their evil deeds abroad. Conducting such unethical operations going against international law and rules without any fear of punishment, that's the logic of bullying carried out by bad actors. 

Washington also boasts of its "righteousness" and "legitimacy" when it invades foreign countries and plans coups, as it has done with Afghanistan, Iraq, Venezuela, Yugoslavia, and many other countries. No matter how self-serving it is and what severe impacts it has caused, the US could always find a pliable reason to convince the American people that sending its military to other countries or planning coups there is "to serve the interests of the US." 

Bolton's shameless statement is a mirror of the long-standing selfishness of the US political elites, and most of them are backed by rich corporations, which have a strong will to monopolize coal, oil, and other special resources of other countries. Political elites and the US government, as a result, become a tool of plutocracy to achieve their own interests and continuously seize resources and benefits from foreign countries. 

The indifference Bolton has shown toward Venezuela is also alarming. He wrote in his book that the pictures of Venezuelan service members fleeing at the sound of explosions on August 4, 2019 were "hilarious." Such state of mind in Washington toward other countries stems from a US tradition under its security concept - the safety of the country comes from its powerful actions abroad, not at home. 

Although Bolton disagreed with the premise that Trump attempted a coup, the deadly riot about one and a half years ago clearly reflected the complete moral bankruptcy of the US political establishment. 

The US political elites have been using color revolutions and coup d'état as weapons for decades, but they have been backfired and finally have to swallow the bitter pill of the so-called democracy they have promoted overseas. Despite the system of discourse by which the US keeps whitewashing people, more are recognizing the destructive nature of the US government - a hegemonic machine that serves domestic plutocracy at the expense of the rest of the world.