The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir Paperback

The book is a very interesting read especially for those who are keen to know how White House takes decisions under Trump administration. How personal interests overpower national interests. The book arrived perfectly on time and in perfect condition despite the fact that it’s a really thick book.

I dont believe everything mentioned in the book is accurate. The author has clearly embellished a lot of things but it still makes for a really fun read. Definitely worth reading to understand how the current POTUS operates.

Makes an excellent reading of what has been going on in the Trump White House, especially in relation to foreign affairs. Exposes how Trump has been pursuing his foreign policy more to suit his personal interests rather than the interests of USA.Come to that, John Bolton is no angel either since the book exposes his extreme stances, especially in relation to Iran etc. Overall, an unmissable book.

John Bolton’s book with its descriptions of Machiavellian West Wing intrigues or the stalled strike on Iran may play out like one of the gripping episodes from Madame Secretary or House of Cards; until you realize that it’s about a real person who goes around with the Nuclear Football.Like white noise around us, contemporary American issues and political undercurrents keep humming throughout the book and non-Americans; like me; may not comprehend all it’s nuances. But The Room Where It Happened is a familiar tale of the POTUS’s indecisiveness with a penchant for addressing optics instead of the issues at hand. This has been recounted by multiple ex-staffers and liberal media in the US; so, no surprises here.Throughout the book, John Bolton makes no bones about his hard-line views on security, Iran, China, North Korea among others and his hatred for the “Obama people” is in plain sight. While descriptions of negotiations with the likes of Kim Jong Un, Putin and Xi Jinping border on the bizarre and make for interesting reading, some of the minutia of international Summits and travel including nap times add to the tedium of wading through the book.John Bolton comes across as self-important and sanctimonious; unable to accomplish much only due to the faults of people around him including the man behind the Resolute Desk. The prose is clunky and wading through its almost 600-pages length calls for steely resolve. Bolton should have hired a writer instead of simply typing from his notes.

Excellent read pace and deep insight into the work methodolgy at the seniormost offices of the US

Good.

Good read

Good Read

capa durs

Das Buch war sehr interessant. Insbesondere zeigte es, dass es politisch noch Steigerungen gegenüber Trump gab. Das hätte ich so nicht erwartet. Soweit ich es verstehe, hätte der Autor wesentlich schärfer reagiert.Ein Vorteil allerdings: Er ist wesentlich konsistenter und ändert nicht jeden Tag seine Meinung. Am Ende scheiterte er in der Trump-Administration.Das Buch gibt einen guten Einblick in die Zeitgeschichte vom Standpunkt eines "Falken".

The book is amazing and I received it before the scheduled time.

John Bolton's Book "The Room Where it Happened" is a very interesting account of what happened during his tenure and what government officials, world leaders and Trump said in the White House and in other places. The stories told are quite amazing and sometimes shocking. The stories are not classified information as the book has been carefully vetted. People on the left may have a hard time with the book because they do not like Bolton, or they disagree with his dislike for Democrats and Obama. Trump supporters may not want to even consider reading this book. Therefore, this book may be more for centrist/independents, or people not so invested in their politics that they at least are open to entertaining the idea that the Trump Presidency is a disaster. I would still encourage everyone to try to read it because it contains so much important information about what has been going on over the last few years.The book describes intrigues, conflicts, dysfunction and a President who is vindictive, thoughtless, incompetent, unpredictable, does things on a whim, and who will not listen and cannot learn. He refuses to understand US national security issues and how alliances and international relations work. He is ignorant of even the basic knowledge of government affairs and the world and he has an enormous ego. The way I interpret what Bolton is saying about the impeachment process is that Trump has done things for which he should or could be impeached and convicted. However, the impeachment process was too narrow and too partisan, the second article was BS, and Bolton’s testimony would not have made a difference.There were some things that stood out to me. When Xi Jinping was telling Trump that there were political figures in the US hostile to China Trump assumed, he meant Democrats and answered, “Trump said approvingly that there was great hostility among the Democrats. He then, stunningly turned the conversation to the coming US Presidential election, alluding to China’s economic capability to affect the campaigns, pleading with Xi to ensure he’d win”. A few pages after this statement Trump encouraged Xi to put a Chinese ethnic minority in concentration camps. The page before, during negotiations to release two American citizens held hostage by China, Xi told Trump they are dual citizens. Trump just said "OK", shrugged his shoulders, and dropped it. So much for caring about American citizens.Another example is when Trump’s ego allowed Kim Jong Un (North Korea) to play him like a fiddle and give away US negotiating advantages to North Korea, especially joint military exercises. About the Kurds Trump said, “I don’t like the Kurds. They ran from the Iraqis, they ran from the Turks, the only time they don’t run is when we’re are bombing all around them with F-18s”. Trump’s pressure campaigns involving Halkbank, ZTE, and Huawei and others could be classified as “high crimes and misdemeanors” according to Bolton. Whether the Ukraine saga was impeachable or not, Trump’s behavior was disturbing and highly inappropriate to Bolton (and me). Trump threatened to adjourn Congress, wrongly citing a constitutional provision that has never been used. Trump said, “when somebody is the President of the United States, the authority is total, and that’s the way it’s got to be”.The list of things that I found deeply disturbing is quite long. However, the many quite ignorant things that Trump said that Bolton mentions are both disturbing but also quite entertaining. Trump expressed great surprise when Theresa May told Trump that Britain was a Nuclear Power. Trump told Xi that he was the greatest Chinese leader in 300 years. Then the time when Trump arrives very late for the preparations for the meeting with the Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, and someone says the Japanese might be our best allies to which Trump angrily responds that they attacked Pearl Harbor. When the CFO of Huawei is arrested for espionage Trump said, “we have just arrested the Ivanka Trump of China”. When Trump thought Finland was part of Russia (remember he was going there for a meeting with Putin). When Trump agreed to recognize Guaido as the leader of Venezuela during the civil strife to get rid of Maduro Trump added unhelpfully “I want him to say he will be extremely loyal to the United States and no one else”. As a side note, Maduro was able to stay on largely thanks to Trump’s incompetence.Another example, the 2014 NATO Cardiff agreement requires all member states to spend 2% of their GDP on self-defense/military by 2024. Trump thought that meant that countries should spend 2% on NATO (well he most likely still think so). United States spends 4% of GDP on its military, which includes domestic defenses, Afghanistan, Middle East, Asia, NATO, everything. However, Trump thinks it means spending 4% on NATO, which is false, and no one can convince him otherwise. Trump spent the NATO summit berating NATO countries and even countries not part of NATO (Ukraine) referring to the false idea that US pay 4% of GDP to NATO and they pay less. Sure I (and John Bolton) agree that the Cardiff agreement should be followed but Trump's repeated lengthy attacks on the other members were misguided in its delivery.This book is really a large collection like the examples I’ve given. It is therefore quite interesting and entertaining reading. Who doesn’t like a few hundred crazy stories involving the world’s leaders, especially with Trump acting like Basil Fawlty on the world stage? It was sometimes hard to put this quite large book down. It was also disturbing reading. You certainly won’t feel that you are in good hands after reading this book.I didn’t agree with all of Bolton’s opinions and agendas and I think he is trying a bit too hard to appear to be the one who held it all together while it was still possible for him to stay on. However, the book conveys important information, it is well written, and Bolton is surely a great storyteller. I highly recommend this book.

This is an interesting and in-depth document about a short period of time in the Trump administration. Well written and well detailed. I was surprised how I used to think Bolton was a “bad” guy, a hawk and war monger but reading this book reminded me that the press and media are biased organizations as well and push their own agendas only. I’m now of the opinion that John Bolton is a sincere and dedicated person and surprisingly I probably agree with three-quarters of his positions. This book is not a put down of Trump, but it makes clear how difficult it is working with a self-centred and incompetent president. Well worth the time to read.