The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir

John Bolton, President Trump's National Security Advisor, has written a "scathing and revelatory" White House memoir that provides a comprehensive and substantial account of the Trump Administration. Bolton's memoir reveals a President driven by reelection calculations, who embraced our enemies and spurned our friends, and was deeply suspicious of his own government. This led to Trump's impeachment. Bolton's memoir highlights the US's loss of opportunity to confront deepening threats and its vulnerability in cases like China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. He also offers wit and wry humor about the Washington inside game.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 608 pages
Publication date: 15 February 2024
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

As President Trump's National Security Advisor, John Bolton spent a significant portion of 453 days in the very room where pivotal events unfolded. The undeniable facts speak for themselves. The outcome is a scathing and revelatory White House memoir, considered the most comprehensive and substantial account of the Trump Administration to date, and one of the few written by a top-level official. With nearly daily access to the President, Bolton has meticulously documented his days within and around the Oval Office. What he witnessed left him astounded: a President whose sole focus was securing reelection, even if it meant compromising or weakening the nation. "I struggle to identify any significant Trump decision during my tenure that wasn't driven by reelection calculations," he writes. In fact, Bolton argues that the House committed impeachment malpractice by narrowly focusing on Ukraine while ignoring similar transgressions across the entirety of Trump's foreign policy. He provides concrete evidence of these transgressions and attempts by him and other Administration members to raise alarms about them.

Bolton reveals a President consumed by chaos, who allied with adversaries and disregarded allies, and harbored deep suspicion towards his own government. According to Bolton, all of these factors contributed to Trump's peculiar journey toward impeachment. "The differences between this presidency and previous ones I had served were stunning," writes Bolton, who had previously worked for Reagan, Bush 41, and Bush 43. He encountered a President who viewed foreign policy as akin to closing a real estate deal, emphasizing personal relationships, showmanship, and advancing his own interests. As a result, the United States missed an opportunity to address its escalating threats, particularly in cases involving China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea.

This memoir offers a profound and disconcerting perspective on the Trump Administration, shedding light on the President's motivations, actions, and the consequences of his leadership. Bolton's insider account provides a valuable contribution to our understanding of this turbulent period in American history.

Weight: 690g
Dimension: 153 x 234 x 40 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781982148041