Bolton, John (2020), The Room Where it Happened: A White House Memoir, New York: Simon & Schuster.
Soumya Awasthi
The title of the book “The Room Where It Happened” itself suggests that the concept of the book is tell-all. The book by John Bolton is about his experience of 453 days that he had spent in the White House as a National Security Advisor.It is his memoir about his time spent with the President in the Oval office. The book describes some inside stories of President Trump’s office and spills beans on his relations with the leaders of the world.
Bolton in his opening para writes, “If you don’t like turmoil, uncertainty, and risk—all the while being constantly overwhelmed with information, decisions to be made, and the sheer amount of work—and enlivened by international and domestic personality and ego conflicts beyond description, try something else.” The author claims that all that mattered to President Donald J. Trump was his re-election in the year 2020, even if it was at the stake of the weakening his own country. Bolton mentions “The differences between this presidency and previous ones I had served were stunning,” President dealt the foreign policy matters like concluding a real estate deal – about personal relationships, made-for-TV showmanship, and advancing his interests. As a result, the US lost a chance to oppose its expanding challenges, and especially in the case of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea ended up in a more vulnerable situation.
The book comprises of fourteen chapters and revolves around seven significant issues in the order of merit. They are Presidency of Donald Trump, Ukrainian Presidential Election 2019, Impeachment enquiry against President Donald Trump, Impeachment trials of Donald Trump, the upcoming 2020 US Presidential Elections and the more than necessary interference of Foreign leaders.
It seems from the author’s claims that President Trump and his international diplomacy were more about election campaigns. It was never about strengthening the constitution of America and its ties with the rest of the countries. The big take away from the book is:
- Bolton recalls that Turkish President Erdogan handed Trump a memo in May 2018, claiming that the state-owned bank Halkbank, which was under enquiry by the Justice Department, was not guilty of the charges. Trump assured Erdgogan support in his domestic politics provided the Turkish President helped Trump in getting his candidates in the Southern districts of America.
- Author remarks that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo slipped a note for the NSA during Trump and Kim Jong Un in 2018. The note mentioned Trump, commenting that “Kim is full of Shit”, which Pompeo seemingly dismissed Trump’s “zero probability of success”, with the North Korean leadership.
- The author in his book quotes another occasion where Trump, appealed the Chinese President Xi Jinping to increase the Agricultural purchase from America. This would help Trump gain some votes from American farmers. The supposed discussion took place in June 2019, a month before Trump pressured Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 election.
- Bolton recalls that how, during the G-20 Summit in 2019 at Osaka, Xi informed Trump about his purpose behind the concentration camp and to the surprise of everyone present there Trump gladly gave his approval to build those camps, and it was something necessary to do. It was similar to the statement that Trump made during his visit to China in 2017.
- To pressurise Iran, the US had levied sanctions on the sale of Iranian crude oil but had approved waivers to eight countries, including India, in November 2018. Bolton claimed that State Department officials were advocating for an extension of exemptions to these countries, rather than working to stop their purchases. It might have been good for India, but from the American foreign policy perspective, it was a disastrous decision.
- Bolton’s book clarifies Asia’s place in the Trump worldview: an economical machine to be stripped for parts by a mercantilist and transactional US – and one which is a direct target for Trump between now and November 3 when Americans cast ballots in the next presidential election.
The crux of the book is that Trump seems to be uninformed about a lot of issues at both domestic and international matters. The sole focus of President Trump is getting re-elected. And whatever importance that Trump gave to the Asian countries, including the two giants India and China was all part of the personal interests. Trump never really cared about the human rights or the climate change issue making the mockery of the two critical values of any countries foreign policy. The next big question that remains unanswered is after divulging so many political faux pas made by Trump, does he still stand a chance to get re-elected? Or if this book was part of the defaming the Trump presidency making way for Joe Biden. In both situations, there will be a lot of work for the leader of the world’s most powerful country.
