THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENED
A WHITE HOUSE MEMOIR
JOHN BOLTON
Simon & Schuster, 577pp, £25
For Lloyd Green in the Guardian ‘John Bolton’s near-600-page tome is the most damning written account by a Trump administration alumnus, the one that stands to haunt the president come November.’ Trump was fearful enough of its contents that he tried to have publication blocked on national security grounds, but failed in court and resorted to attacking it on Twitter instead. ‘Bolton’s prose is lackluster. But that’s a relatively minor shortcoming. More egregious is the book’s title, which is lazy and self-aggrandising. Bolton has ripped-off Lin-manuel Miranda and compared himself to Alexander Hamilton, founding father and first treasury secretary. Talk about overreach.’ Nonetheless, the book is ‘the best opposition research dump. Ever.’
Gerard Baker, in the Times, thought that ‘much of the picture Bolton paints of this singular presidency is a very familiar one: the turmoil, turbulence and turpitude. But the overwhelming impression Bolton leaves is a peevishness that he didn’t get his hawkish way on most issues he cared about.’ As ‘the quintessential Washington infighter and a veteran of four Republican administrations, wrote
Times Washington bureau chief Josh Glancy, Bolton ‘knows how to stick the knife in. Having flounced out of the Trump administration in disgust last September, furious that his hawkish advice on Iran was being ignored, the moustachioed
‘Much of the picture Bolton paints of this singular presidency is a very familiar one: the turmoil, turbulence and turpitude’
Marylander delivers his revenge here with sadistic relish... You will search in vain for anything in the way of doubt in this protracted piece of self-promotion. In Bolton’s telling, he was the only real adult in the room, the true conservative who understands just how tough America needs to be to navigate the shoals of a dark, fallen world. What really radiates from this memoir is just how much Bolton loves the game of politics, being in the bloodstained arena and suiting up for battle...
‘There is no honour here and there are no heroes in this book. Just boundless ambition, lust for power and yet another damning portrait of a reckless and mercurial president.’