A review by katerinatroyanovich
The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir by John Bolton

informative medium-paced

3.0

Regardless of your political leanings, you can walk away from this book knowing Trump made foreign policy decisions on a whim, frequently changing his mind for no apparent reason, was easily swayed by his “friends” (dictators), was not interested in reading ANYTHING, fell asleep in meetings, rambled constantly about conspiracy theories and other bizarre fantasies, and used his influence and power as POTUS for personal gain. Of course, we all already knew this, but it was enlightening to see essentially word for word how some of these conversations played out. My jaw was on the floor at times. That being said, Bolton is arrogant and delivers his opinion on topics as absolute fact. And although the entire point of this book is to criticize Trump’s handling of foreign affairs he sometimes goes soft and lets him off the hook when clearly he was off the rails. Plus, the epilogue really set me off. Talk about delusional! Anyhow, if you are interested in American politics and foreign policy I still think this is worth the read. Just be ready to roll your eyes and take Bolton’s proclamations that he has all the answers and is 100% correct all the time with a grain of salt.