John Bolton has written and published several books about his foreign policy career; he is well aware of what falls into the category of classified national security material — and what does not. Shocking, then, that he would write another book that is made up of All Classified National Security material.
....many more mistakes of judgement, gets fired because frankly, if I listened to him, we would be in World War Six by now, and goes out and IMMEDIATELY writes a nasty & untrue book. All Classified National Security. Who would do this?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 29, 2020
Such are not precisely the words of a dictator. These are, as reported by the NY Times:
"On Capitol Hill, Mr. Trump’s aides circulated a letter informing Mr. Bolton that the White House was moving to block publication of his forthcoming book."
This is what Senate Republicans — traditionally, praetorian guards of American values and vigorous advocates of constitutional constructions — have bequeathed us: an institutional dictatorship which doubles as a ministry of censorship.
It's just the beginning, the first bit of slope that soon precipitously dives into an inescapable abyss.