The Room Where It Happened

A White House Memoir

By: John Bolton

Narrated by: Robert Petkoff

JOHN BOLTON READS THE EPILOGUE!

As President Trump’s National Security Advisor, John Bolton spent many of 453 days in the room where it happened, and the facts speak for themselves.

The result is a “scathing and revelatory” (The New Yorker) White House memoir that is the most comprehensive and substantial account of the Trump Administration, and one of the few to date by a top-level official. With almost daily access to the President, John Bolton has produced a precise rendering of his days in and around the Oval Office. What Bolton saw astonished him: a President for whom getting reelected was the only thing that mattered, even if it meant endangering or weakening the nation. “I am hard-pressed to identify any significant Trump decision during my tenure that wasn’t driven by reelection calculations,” he writes. In fact, he argues that the House committed impeachment malpractice by keeping its prosecution focused narrowly on Ukraine when Trump’s Ukraine-like transgressions existed across the full range of his foreign policy—and Bolton documents exactly what those were, and attempts by him and others in the Administration to raise alarms about them.

He shows a President addicted to chaos, who embraced our enemies and spurned our friends, and was deeply suspicious of his own government. In Bolton’s telling, all this helped put Trump on the bizarre road to impeachment. “The differences between this presidency and previous ones I had served were stunning,” writes Bolton, who worked for Reagan, Bush 41, and Bush 43. He discovered a President who thought foreign policy is like closing a real estate deal—about personal relationships, made-for-TV showmanship, and advancing his own interests. As a result, the US lost an opportunity to confront its deepening threats, and in cases like China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea ended up in a more vulnerable place.

Bolton’s “first tell-all memoir by such a high-ranking official” (The New York Times) starts with his long march to the West Wing as Trump and others woo him for the National Security job. The minute he lands, he has to deal with Syria’s chemical attack on the city of Douma, and the crises after that never stop. As he writes in the opening pages, “If you don’t like turmoil, uncertainty, and risk—all the while being constantly overwhelmed with information, decisions to be made, and sheer amount of work—and enlivened by international and domestic personality and ego conflicts beyond description, try something else.”

The turmoil, conflicts, and egos are all there—from the upheaval in Venezuela, to the erratic and manipulative moves of North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, to the showdowns at the G7 summits, the calculated warmongering by Iran, the crazy plan to bring the Taliban to Camp David, and the placating of an authoritarian China that ultimately exposed the world to its lethal lies. But this seasoned public servant also has a great eye for the Washington inside game, and his story is full of wit and wry humor about how he saw it played.

Critic reviews

"John Bolton's tell-all audiobook on Donald Trump's presidency is one of the most scathing rebukes to have come from a former member of Trump's staff. Doubtless, his behind-the-scenes revelations would be powerful enough to cripple any politician in the pre-Trump era. In the authoritative and comforting tones of a news anchor, Robert Petkoff narrates the countless inadequacies of Trump and the yes-men that surround him, along with the author's eventual conclusion that Trump is unfit for the job. Petkoff's seamless delivery of the 20-hour audiobook is a perfect listening companion. . . . As astounding as the numerous accounts of Trump's ineptitude, arrogance, and poor judgment is the backstabbing intrigue that permeates the White House."

The truth comes out from the biggest war hawk

I always thought Bolton was nuts. As a Republican I thought he was even too war hawk even for my own tastes. But at the end of the day, he is a Republican through and through. Unlike the false prophet posing inside the Oval Office. Bolton's narrative is concise and damning.

Truths About Trump Administration! Crazy

He was and is so ignorant! Scary someone so racist dumb to how politics work can make it to the white house

Let's be clear, Trump isn't one of us

Interesting on process and foreign policy. Surprising how much he blamed President Obama for Trump's failures. I think he could have explained Trump and how the National Security apparatus worked better.

Robert Petkoff is a great reader.

When People Show You Who They Are Believe Them

I am not a big follower of politics. Don’t get me wrong I am well aware that the United States has a man that is not equipped in any fashion to be President in the White House. I read The Art of the Deal a long time ago. Besides that just watch this man in the news, or pay attention to this tweets. Abhorrent. So, this book for me isn’t saying anything that’s a surprise. It reads like a textbook. This thing is SO BORING! Robert Petkoff is the only thing that kept me listening till the end. Even the part of the book that’s getting the most attention is anticlimactic. I had to rewind twice to make sure I hadn’t missed it. This author is SO narcissistic. He feels as I’d thought processes are so superior. Makes the book kind of nauseating, but I pressed on. With that being said it’s kind of sad. They are multiple instances in this book where author could have just gotten a spine and reported Trump to someone besides the person who is always acting like he is Trump’s personal attorney. He could have whistleblown on multiple people in Trump’s administration. I hope this book will make those who believe in this man who has no leadership ability realize they need to wake up. And for those who are doubting anything in this book please, open your eyes; John Bolton isn’t lying.

one snake eating another snake. No losses.

Hated to give my hard earned money to such a arrogant know it all coward.Reaks of self righteous. However warning of a outrageous selfish ignorance of a immoral president was worth the price.