My "Cliff's Notes" from The Room Where It Happened (John Bolton's book)

[MWmetalhead]

I've read the first two chapters so far.

Takeaways:
- Even Trump and his campaign handlers thought they were going to lose on Election Night, and thus were not prepared to take the reins of the federal government, which led to a chaotic transition team assemblage, with campaign staffers trying to undermine one another to land key positions.
- Before Bolton became a part of the Administration, he met with Trump on numerous occasions at the White House at the request of Trump and other Administration officials for foreign policy advice purposes.
- Trump wanted Bolton to be Secretary of State but wasn't yet ready to remove Tillerson in 2017, so he initially offered Bolton a Deputy Secretary of State job, which Bolton turned down for obvious reasons. He did not want to be an underling to Tillerson.
- Trump did not want to nominate Bolton for the top job at the State Department because cabinet secretaries must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. At the time, the Republicans held a slim 51-49 majority in the Senate, McCain was in failing health (so, de facto 50-49 majority), and Rand Paul was a definite "NO" vote.
- Bolton felt a few Democratic Senators in red-leaning states likely would have voted "YES" to confirm, and badly wanted the Secretary of State job.
- Had Trump offered Bolton the Sec'y of State job (subject to Senate confirmation), Bolton would've accepted it in a heartbeat. National Security Adviser was the only other job in the administration in which he had serious interest.
- Bolton definitely subscribes to the notion of a "deep state" existing in the executive branch of government, particularly within the departments of defense, state, and national security council. At least in the first two chapters, I don't believe Bolton uses the term "deep state," but he provides compelling evidence that entrenched bureaucrats sometimes do underhanded things to try to assert their will or to undermine their superiors. Former Defense Secretary, Jim Mattis, is one such bad actor. Mr. Bolton provides a detailed example of Mattis' underhandedness on page 55.
- Rex Tillerson was in over his head, completely unprepared to lead what should have been a cultural overhaul at the State Department. Mr. Tillerson, in effect, was an accessory to persistence of the deep state, rogue actors, etc. He also completely disregarded the President's policy objectives and was disengaged from his staff.
- Some of the most scathing criticism in the first two chapters is reserved for former U.N. Ambassador, Nikki Haley, whom he describes as having zero foreign policy chops, is afraid to meet with diplomats from foreign countries, puts personal interests ahead of the country's security interests, and was completely unqualified for the U.N. Ambassador position.
- Getting back to Rex, he apparently has a short fuse. Bolton believes Rex did indeed refer to the President as "a fucking moron." Trump also claimed at a dinner involving he, Tillerson and Haley that Mr. Tillerson lashed out at Ms. Haley over a policy disagreement, stating to her, "You're nothing but a cunt, and don't ever forget it!"
- Oddly, Steve Mnuchin weighed in on defense/military decisions from time-to-time.
- The military response in April 2018 to Al-Assad's use of chemical weapons in Syria was far weaker than it should have been, according to Mr. Bolton. France and Great Britain were both supportive of a much stronger, much swifter, more all-inclusive response. Bolton compares the 2018 response to the unconvincing 2017 U.S. air strike, where sustained deterrence failed to materialize.
- Bolton, France and Great Britain wanted to target numerous Syrian military assets in a response, including planes, helicopters, airfields, defense bases, regime palaces, etc. Russia seemed willing to tolerate such a response, too, so long as it sustained minimal to no collateral damage.
- Mr. Bolton notes there is a strategic alliance between North Korea and Iran, as North Korea dating back to at least the late 90's has sold missile and chemical weapons technology to Iran. CNBC on YouTube has created an insightful video on this very topic:



It comes as no surprise that Mr. Bolton absolutely loathes the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal. He writes:

"The deal was badly conceived, abominably negotiated and drafted, and entirely advantageous to Iran: unenforceable, unverifiable, and inadequate in duration and scope. Although purpotedly resolving the threat posted by Iran's nuclear weapons program, the deal did no such thing. In fact, it exacerbated the threat by creating the semblance of a solution, diverting attention from the dangers, and lifting the economic sanctions that had imposed substantial pain on Iran's economy. Moreover, the deal did not seriously address other threats Iran posed."

Mr. Bolton's goes on to name Iran's ballistic missiles program, its continuing role as the world's central banker for international terrorism, and the growing strength of the Quds Force in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and elsewhere.

Mr. Bolton expresses frustration over the fact the Administration's response toward the 2015 deal prior to his arrival was very wishy-washy, and he blames Tillerson, Mattis, and H.R. McMaster (someone whom Bolton generally respects but not on this matter) for the initial weak action by the Trump White House.

No criticism of any kind has been lobbed Pence's way so far. On the topics mentioned above, Pence and Bolton are largely of like mind.

No juicy stuff questioning Trump's mental fitness for the job of President...yet.

[audiophile]

So Trump wasn't prepared to win and Hillary wasn't prepared to lose, LOL

[UP906]

Bolton can take his 40 years in government and take a long walk off a short pier. He's about as hawkish and deep state as it gets.

[MWmetalhead]

That is 100 percent correct, Audiophile.

[TC Shuts Up]

Barack Obama had much less experience than Donald Trump. Obama's experience was as a "Community Organizer" (Rabble Rouser) and had minimal public office experience. Trump ran businesses for decades and is a very highly skilled negotiator. Joe Biden said Barack Obama's skills were that he was "Clean and Articulate".

[Rate This]

Barack Obama had much less experience than Donald Trump. Obama's experience was as a "Community Organizer" (Rabble Rouser) and had minimal public office experience. Trump ran businesses for decades and is a very highly skilled negotiator. Joe Biden said Barack Obama's skills were that he was "Clean and Articulate".

Trump didn’t Negotiate. He had people for that.

[Bryce]

Barack Obama had much less experience than Donald Trump. Obama's experience was as a "Community Organizer" (Rabble Rouser) and had minimal public office experience. Trump ran businesses for decades and is a very highly skilled negotiator. Joe Biden said Barack Obama's skills were that he was "Clean and Articulate".

Trump didn’t Negotiate. He had people for that.

An Executive Chef doesn't cool the food.

[Rate This]

Barack Obama had much less experience than Donald Trump. Obama's experience was as a "Community Organizer" (Rabble Rouser) and had minimal public office experience. Trump ran businesses for decades and is a very highly skilled negotiator. Joe Biden said Barack Obama's skills were that he was "Clean and Articulate".

Trump didn’t Negotiate. He had people for that.

An Executive Chef doesn't cool the food.

All he does is make threats and sign documents. Then he markets it as negotiation. He’s not a negotiator. He’s a marketer. He probably couldn’t negotiate his way out Of a wet paper bag.

[km1125]

....
- Trump wanted Bolton to be Secretary of State but wasn't yet ready to remove Tillerson in 2017, so he initially offered Bolton a Deputy Secretary of State job, which Bolton turned down for obvious reasons. He did not want to be an underling to Tillerson.
...
- Rex Tillerson was in over his head, completely unprepared to lead what should have been a cultural overhaul at the State Department. Mr. Tillerson, in effect, was an accessory to persistence of the deep state, rogue actors, etc. He also completely disregarded the President's policy objectives and was disengaged from his staff.
....
- Getting back to Rex, he apparently has a short fuse. Bolton believes Rex did indeed refer to the President as "a fucking moron." Trump also claimed at a dinner involving he, Tillerson and Haley that Mr. Tillerson lashed out at Ms. Haley over a policy disagreement, stating to her, "You're nothing but a cunt, and don't ever forget it!"
...

Tillerson was one of the biggest disappointments in the administration so far.

I thought he was going to be great in that position. Early on it seemed like he could whip the Department back into shape as a respectable international force for good, instead of the foreign-country-lap-dog that it had become.

[TC Talks]

So, John Bolton has been there. The rest of you? Please state your expertise with anything to do with Government leadership.

[km1125]

So, John Bolton has been there. The rest of you? Please state your expertise with anything to do with Government leadership.

To a large degree, leadership is leadership.

It's tough to get real leaders involved in Government, because their hands are tied by politics.

There are some folks (especially some here) that I wouldn't trust in a leadership position in charge of a pencil drawer.

[TC Talks]

It always cracks me up that we have people second guessing the Chairman of ExxonMobil in how he tries to do his job while having to explain to his boss that the Middle East isn't a continent.