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The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir
by John R. Bolton
If you asked me prior to the 2016 election if I would ever deign to read a book written by John Bolton, I would have laughed in your face. Living in the time of Trump changed my reading habits (and not always for the better).
John Bolton may be able to string words together into a coherent sentence, but he is as big a narcissist as Trump. As you can probably tell, I am a fan of neither. It is also obvious that Bolton considers himself erudite. After reading several chapters, I mentally started referring to him at Bolton The Not So Erudite. He really should try harder to know when to use 'who' and when to use 'whom.'
There are 14 chapters in this book, plus an epigraph and epilog, and some 20 pages of photographs that make up 75% of the book. If you skip the photos, you can shave off another 5% of the book. The remaining 25-30% of the book is given over to Notes and an Index. The book seems less daunting when the fluff is removed.
Throughout the book, Bolton obsesses on the topic of Iran, diminishes Obama's presidency and foreign policy at every turn, and denigrates the press. In fact, if you picked up this book in hopes of getting the inside track on Trump, you will be sorely disappointed. His obsession with Iran goes something like this: Turkey? Iran is screwing us. Syria? Iran is screwing us. North Korea? Iran is screwing us. Venezuela? Iran is screwing us. The Iran nuclear deal? Obama screwed us. Trump is an aside in Bolton's endless narrative of his own plans and accomplishments while Trump's National Security Advisor.
It is abundantly clear that Bolton considers himself to be of superior intellect, not only to Trump, but to anyone else with whom he is in contact. He comes across as arrogant, self-serving, and extremely condescending. Bolton also shows a specific disdain for Mnuchin whenever possible. Apparently, Mnuchin insinuates himself into as many meetings as possible whether or not the meeting involves Treasury.
As mentioned above, this long, and often repetitious tome deals mostly with Bolton's obsession with Iran. The supposed 'good stuff,' namely Ukraine is in Chapter 14. You can skip the epigraph and first 13 chapters if your interest in reading this book centers around impeachment and Bolton not testifying. Actually, you can pretty much skip the entire book because there is little that hasn't already been reported in the press.
If you bought this book to find out what Trump has said and done in the Oval Office, you will be sorely disappointed. Bolton doesn't do a blow by blow of the word salad we have all come to expect. Bolton leaves no doubt that he finds Trump to be ignorant and beneath him. He does comment on Trump's overall lack of interest in this or that, and he never fails to let his readers know that Trump only talks about winning and money… mostly OPM (other people's money). Trump's obsession with making the other guy pay harkens back to "that bum's got more money than I do" as told to Ivanka.
If, on the other hand, you obsess over policy like a teenager over the latest boyband, you can wallow in Bolton's self-aggrandizing 'only I can fix this' rants on how policy should be done. By the time you read this review, THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENED will be so yesterday.
John Bolton may be able to string words together into a coherent sentence, but he is as big a narcissist as Trump. As you can probably tell, I am a fan of neither. It is also obvious that Bolton considers himself erudite. After reading several chapters, I mentally started referring to him at Bolton The Not So Erudite. He really should try harder to know when to use 'who' and when to use 'whom.'
There are 14 chapters in this book, plus an epigraph and epilog, and some 20 pages of photographs that make up 75% of the book. If you skip the photos, you can shave off another 5% of the book. The remaining 25-30% of the book is given over to Notes and an Index. The book seems less daunting when the fluff is removed.
Throughout the book, Bolton obsesses on the topic of Iran, diminishes Obama's presidency and foreign policy at every turn, and denigrates the press. In fact, if you picked up this book in hopes of getting the inside track on Trump, you will be sorely disappointed. His obsession with Iran goes something like this: Turkey? Iran is screwing us. Syria? Iran is screwing us. North Korea? Iran is screwing us. Venezuela? Iran is screwing us. The Iran nuclear deal? Obama screwed us. Trump is an aside in Bolton's endless narrative of his own plans and accomplishments while Trump's National Security Advisor.
It is abundantly clear that Bolton considers himself to be of superior intellect, not only to Trump, but to anyone else with whom he is in contact. He comes across as arrogant, self-serving, and extremely condescending. Bolton also shows a specific disdain for Mnuchin whenever possible. Apparently, Mnuchin insinuates himself into as many meetings as possible whether or not the meeting involves Treasury.
As mentioned above, this long, and often repetitious tome deals mostly with Bolton's obsession with Iran. The supposed 'good stuff,' namely Ukraine is in Chapter 14. You can skip the epigraph and first 13 chapters if your interest in reading this book centers around impeachment and Bolton not testifying. Actually, you can pretty much skip the entire book because there is little that hasn't already been reported in the press.
If you bought this book to find out what Trump has said and done in the Oval Office, you will be sorely disappointed. Bolton doesn't do a blow by blow of the word salad we have all come to expect. Bolton leaves no doubt that he finds Trump to be ignorant and beneath him. He does comment on Trump's overall lack of interest in this or that, and he never fails to let his readers know that Trump only talks about winning and money… mostly OPM (other people's money). Trump's obsession with making the other guy pay harkens back to "that bum's got more money than I do" as told to Ivanka.
If, on the other hand, you obsess over policy like a teenager over the latest boyband, you can wallow in Bolton's self-aggrandizing 'only I can fix this' rants on how policy should be done. By the time you read this review, THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENED will be so yesterday.