Review Of John Bolton’s Book, “The Room Where It Happened:” A Damning Take On Donald Trump And His Presidency.

“The Room Where It Happened” is American White House Memoir by John Bolton, former, National, Security Adviser of the United States of America. The book chronicles Bolton’s point of view, taking the reader trough step-by-step real life scenarios of events and activities of his time and roles in and out of the White House working with Donald Trump and other staff as well as his interactions with world leaders. 

The book addresses three main aspects: First it shows Bolton, as self-absolving and self preserving personality who went into the Trump administration to further advance his career and relevance, and the moment he sensed that the cataclysmic regime boat of Trump maybe sinking, he bail out. Secondly, the book shows diplomacy as containing element of sameness with the emphasis being that diplomacy is always about continuity and evolution; of diplomats and commander in chiefs negotiating deals, agreeing treaties, arm-twisting each other, making compromises, issuing threats, etc, all bothering on what country gets what, when and how rather than the Trump regime bringing about revolutionary statecraft. The book simply affirms how like the chess game, the major world powers; United States, China, Russia, using their economic, military and sphere of influence might; hustle, justle and displace each other, taking turns to act as king or queen; policing and commanding others, while the smaller powers such as in Europe, Canada, Middle East, Japan takes turns to flex muscles as bishop and castles and, the puns, rest of the world used and dealt with simply as pawns. And lastly, the book is about Trump and “Trumpism.” How, according to Bolton, he makes, “Policy decisions by, "Whim and impulse,” how he fumbles, muddles and bullies his way; how in cloaks of personal aggrandisement, he uses his office to transact personal concerns as official businesses and how he throws tantrums, when matters are not resolves his way. It is a damning logbook of Trump's presidential reign, how, he writes, “Trump was not following any international grand strategy, or even a consistent trajectory. His thinking was like an archipelago of dots (like individual real estate deals), leaving the rest of us to discern—or create—policy. That had its pros and cons....”

Frankly, in my opinion, what Bolton shares cannot be said to be strange to all those who had and has been following the news, coloured by whether they were being reported by the “right” or “left,” media houses. What he has done however is further expose, as an insider, Trump’s mindset; his limitations, inadequacies, inefficiency as well as deficiencies that so many know about but too afraid or silenced to talk about. Bolton is the first to break ranks, thankfully and hopefully others can now summon courage to do same, spilling all that had been securely through intimidation, and scare tactics, hidden behind closed doors.

Running through John Bolton's book, these three famous Thucydides’s words, “fear, honour and interest” stands out as the main prods guiding the command, controls, as well as course that Donald Trump's presidency delicately sits and rides on as he continue to zigzags through his time in the White House. The book shows enunciation of these prods. On, ‘Fear;’ Bolton writes, “in his first fifteen months, uncertain in his new place, and held in check by an “axis of adults,” he hesitated to act. As time passed, however, Trump became more certain of himself, the axis of adults departed, things fell apart, and Trump was surrounded only by, “yes men.” So fear of failure, ineptitude, inadequacy, exposure eggs him on: On, “Honour;” he writes “I asked Kelly why Trump was complaining, and Kelly said, “That’s easy. He’s worried you’re going to upstage him.” So, self-preservation, ego, domineering, command, obedience, conquistador, win by whatever means possible spirit spurs him. And, lastly, on ‘interest,’ he writes, “in countless other episodes, he had trouble divorcing the personal from the official.” So, greed, being selfish, thievery, etc is second to his nature.

The book answers the question of what it is like to be a member of a select group who were meant to pump Trump; help him actualise his kingly ambition. It is a book about a Trump who believed he is the chosen one to reinstate, and maintain the “white” hegemony through the vehicle of “pure“ path of “Making America Great Again, (MAGA).” 

The author, John Robert Bolton was born on November 20, 1948. He is an American attorney, diplomat, a Republican and, as a private citizen practiced law in the Washington office of Kirkland & Ellis from 2008 until his appointment as National Security Advisor on April 9, 2018,  and left, September 10, 2019. According to him, he joined the Trump Administration, “not looking for long distance record...not to get a membership card but to get a driver’s license.”  He justifies this further claiming, “...why accept the job? Because America faced a very dangerous international environment, and I thought I knew what needed to be done. I had strong views on a wide range of issues, developed during prior government service and private-sector study. And Trump? No one could claim by this point not to know the risks in store, up close, but I also believed I could handle it. Others may have failed for one reason or another, but I thought I could succeed...” Bolton is described as an avid note and minutes taker who would mark and note remarks on the most mundane observations, digs, indications and side comments, and this is reflected in his style of narrations where activities and personal gags by the colleagues or naughtiness by Trump were all noted. He was damning, unforgiving, and judgemental; he describes Trump as one, “who endlessly stresses he is the only one who makes decisions, had trouble taking responsibility for them...” and, “Throughout my West Wing tenure, Trump wanted to do what he wanted to do, based on what he knew and what he saw as his own best personal interests. And in Ukraine, he seemed finally able to have it all...,” and, finally Bolton writes, “...disorder increasingly reflected not just organizational failures but Trump’s essential decision-making style. Charles Krauthammer, a sharp critic of his, told me he had been wrong earlier to characterized Trump’s behaviour as that of an eleven-year-old boy. “I was off by ten years,” Krauthammer remarked. “He’s like a one-year-old. Everything is seen through the prism of whether it benefits Donald Trump....”

Worthy in Bolton’s narrative in the portrayal of the madness that was the White House, during his time: He confesses “In early visits to the West Wing, the differences between this presidency and previous ones, I had served were stunning. What happened on one day on a particular issue often had little resemblance to what happened the next day, or the day after. Few seemed to realize it, care about it, or have any interest in fixing it. And

it wasn’t going to get much better which (was, ) depressing but inescapable conclusion I reached only after I had joined the

administration.” Given what we see and hear everyday on the media, hearing Trump speak, given that Bolton was present at the White House for over a year working, observing and interacting with Trump, given the efforts the Trump administration made to stop the book from being published, etc, it is difficult not to believe the author with his unabashed carriage. I did however noted some weaknesses in the book. For instance, the narrative is a bit boorish and windy, a chronicle reportage of too many meetings, etc and I picked few typos. Even so, I enjoyed reading it. The book provides a valuable and fascinating window into the formerly inaccessible vault of troubling Trump life of rascality and roguery.