The Room Where It Happened by John Bolton

 

The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir by John R. Bolton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There was a great controversy about even buying or reading this book. Being a bit of amateur civics and politics follower it was hard to resist the hype. Ever see a movie trailer show all the good parts of the film and then when you see the whole film you realize those were all the best parts? It was like that. Should have Bolton testified during the impeachment of Trump? Yes. Would it have changed the outcome? No. So why not read it anyway? It gives us a glimpse into the dumpster fire that is this administration's symbol.

The few things I picked up on in this book.

One: John Bolton likes to take notes, notes and more notes. I’m sure he has in his original notes when he used the White House bathroom.

Second: Bolton is so arrogant it borders on comedy. In the beginning of the book he was a bit more human. Occasionally he’d throw in a one-liner as if to see if you’re paying attention. The meat of the book is tedious in long segments unfortunately.

Thirdly: The book is a foreign policy geeks heaven. There are long sections of foreign policy details that will make an average person's eyes gloss over and probably nod off in boredom. I really had to plow through this myself.

Fourth: To paraphrase a former Secretary of State the President is a f’n moron. Trump truly didn’t get the concept of why we had troops stationed in places like South Korea and Germany. Seemed oblivious to history and only took a “what have you done for me lately” type of attitude. It was purely transnational. He'd harp on many NATO country's financial or military participation share as if he were squabbling about a golf club member's fees. Unless of course their leaders would flatter and suck up to him. Loyalty and appearances on Fox News seemed to be the only job requirements. Not to mention all the wasted effort in trying to give North Korea’s Kim Jong Un an autographed, by Trump, copy of a ``Rocket Man” CD. Seriously?

The book itself starts off interesting but kind of slogs through a lot foreign policy details that I think would bore an average reader. The infamous Ukraine phone call (the one that led to impeachment) is towards the end doesn’t really reveal more than we already know. Unless you're really a civics and current political events geek I’d probably skip this one.


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