John Bolton matters.
Congress is done for 2018. There won't be any more legislation, now that appropriations have gone through. There is a relatively high likelihood that Democrats will get a majority in the House in the midterm elections, making legislation unlikely through 2020. Trump, facing a Democratic Congress, will simply become even more combative and confrontational. The greatest risk of a Trump Presidency has always been that he turns his frustration outwards.
Right now, he is doing that with a trade war. He is imposing tariffs, and his legal/constitutional justification for imposing taxes without congressional approval is that there is a national security concern. It's bullshit, but who's going to stop him?
Trade wars are a manifestation of Trump's idiotic mercantilism, yet that, itself, is a manifestation of his basic, zero-sum mentality towards everything. The more frustrated he gets, the more he will lash out. He will be unable to lash out domestically, neutered as he will be legislatively. That leaves the international arena.
It is as Trump's frustration is about to mount that John Bolton steps out of Trump's tv screen and into his office. The probability of a war just went up. Dramatically.
Perspective. Some things matter, and others... less so.
