Summary and Analysis: the Room Where It Happened

SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS: THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENED BY JOHN BOLTON; KEY TAKEAWAYS AND ANALYSIS. Former Trump administration National Security Advisor John Bolton's The Room Where it Happened is the book that Donald Trump did everything he could to ban, and it is easy to see why. It contains some truly jaw-dropping revelations which will astonish anyone interested in American or international politics, history or current affairs. Whether your love or hate Trump, this is truly a Presidency...
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SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS: THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENED BY JOHN BOLTON; KEY TAKEAWAYS AND ANALYSIS. Former Trump administration National Security Advisor John Bolton's The Room Where it Happened is the book that Donald Trump did everything he could to ban, and it is easy to see why. It contains some truly jaw-dropping revelations which will astonish anyone interested in American or international politics, history or current affairs. Whether your love or hate Trump, this is truly a Presidency unparalleled in American history, and Bolton's book is a must for anyone who wants to get an insider's view on the running of the Trump regime. The events Bolton describes are current, even providing some insight into Trump's handling of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a broad range of ongoing Trump administration policy. For anyone about to vote in the 2020 US Presidential Elections, this book provides a compelling insight into how Trump has managed his time as President. It also provides food for thought for Democrat supporters as to whether their party is really opposing the Trump administration in the most effective manner or whether it has missed a series of opportunities to damage Trump's long-term prospects. Most of all, the book is telling in providing Americans with an insight into whether their President is really serving or harming their country. Given that Bolton was National Security Advisor, the book focusses heavily on Trump's foreign policy. So if you are looking for insights into his domestic policy or juicy stories such as the Stormy Daniels affair, there is none of that here. However, Trump's relations with countries such as North Korea, Russia, China, South Korea and Iran are extensively covered. The book gives a real insight into the President's personality and what motivates him (seemingly primarily his image and money). We also see clearly depicted the inter-departmental politics of the US government and the cult of the personality, and how damaging this can be to the running of the country. There has already been a lot of controversy about the book in the media due to Trump's efforts to ban it and it is easy to see why. Bolton does not hold back in his accusations against the man, with some of the most shocking accusations being: *Trump's apparent comment to Xi Zinping that he approved of China's building concentration camps to house the Uighur Muslims *Trump's apparent unawareness in a meeting with Theresa May that Britain is a nuclear power *Trump's comment that rebuilding the World Trade Centre is cheaper than fighting in Afghanistan *Trump's suggestion that they issue an statement supporting the Saudi's over the murder of Jamal Khashoggi to deflect from Ivanka Trump's email scandal (Ivanka effectively having used her personal email for government business, the same offence Trump had made so much political capital out of Hillary Clinton having done in his electoral campaign) *Trump's mistaken belief that Finland is part of Russia *Trump's having asked Xi Jinping to help him win re-election, offering to reduce U.S. tariffs in exchange for this *Trump's having told Recep Tayyip Erdoğan that he would "take care" of Geoffrey Berman's investigation against Turkey's state-owned bank Halkbank, which stood accused of bank fraud charges and laundering on behalf of Iran. However, the book does gloss over somewhat more quickly than might have been expected the impeachment crisis and why Bolton himself was so reluctant to testify in the trial. Bolton says as little about this as he can realistically get away with and so insights into this part of the regime are few and not particularly revealing. Bolton is also a hardline Republican with very strong views on American foreign policy, as outlined most thoroughly in his 2008 book, Surrender is not an Option. He does not hold back on forcefully expressing these views, whether writing in 2008 or 2020.