If anyone has anything on Trump, it is John Bolton, and he promises to deliver the goods in a new revealing book:
“The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir”
Before discussing the book, I wish to comment that Bolton is one of the biggest warmongers in history and a despicable human being.
I vehemently disagree with Bolton’s arrogance and policies.
I commented Bolton, a Seriously Deranged Madman, Sought Options to Strike Iran
With that comment aside, let’s turn our attention to the book.
Trump Misconduct Went Beyond Ukraine
Fox News reports Bolton Makes His Move.
Former National Security Adviser John Bolton’s forthcoming memoir claims President Trump’s “transgressions” went well beyond the Ukraine saga that led to his impeachment and alleges that “reelection calculations” drove the president’s major decisions, according to a press release for the book.
“This is the book Donald Trump doesn’t want you to read,” the press release for “The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir,” says. The book is slated to be released June 23.
“I am hard-pressed to identify any significant Trump decision during my tenure that wasn’t driven by reelection calculations,” Bolton says in the passage.
“Game On” Says Bolton
Pre-Order the Book
You can pre-order the book The Room Where It Happened for delivery on June 23.
Twists and Turns
Revolving door politics is what happens when you repeatedly surround yourself with horrid advisors as Trump did time and time again.
Trump finally turned on Bolton and in turn Bolton turned on Trump. It’s great when corrupt politicians attack each other exposing the other’s flaws.
But even despicable human being are not wrong about everything.
The whole sad “misconduct” saga is totally believable.
Mish
Never trust an Israel-firster. That’s what Bolton is. Traitor.
Neither Democrats or Republicans will buy Bolton’s book. We already know much worse about Trump.
If Trump was a warmonger Bolton would love him. This is why Bolton turned on Trump: https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/us-withdrew-half-of-its-forces-from-iraq/
To hell with that war-monger. He looks like something right out of 1914 Europe. As far as Mad Dog Mattis goes, he was a panting dog when he was “fooled” by that psychopath Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos when he was on their BOD. I wouldn’t trust him to deliver my newspaper. How about a statue of Colin Powell with the “vial of anthrax”? Another “known-known” war criminal among many in the Dubya administration.
Where was he and all his information during the impeachment process. He is the neo-con’s neo-con. Trashing Trump after the fact and not objecting while it was going on makes him an accessory to Trump’s crimes in my mind. Bolton is still the chicken hawk he always was. But now he gets to make bank off of Trump’s, if not crimes, then unethical behavior. With a consenting a Republican senate nothing will come of Bolton’s book other than a paycheck for him.
Absolutely correct.
I cannot forgive Colin Powell for doing the same.
FWIW, I read that Bolton always had his legal pad with him and took copious notes of everything … much more than a typical principal player.
MISCONDUCT??
If political advantage or reelection calculation is misconduct, Trump is in good company. It is absolutely axiomatic that American foreign policy is dictated by domestic concerns. Now we’re supposed to believe that previous administrations were engaged in professional diplomatic conduct (Vietnam, Grenada, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Iran) for the good of the nation and the world? American foreign policy has always lacked continuity and statesmanship. Diplomatic posts have always gone to crony supporters.
It has never been any better … foreign policy has been clueless and pugilistic, well, since George Washington dinged Haiti.
I am SHOCKED! that an American President would keep his or her eye on their re-election chances when making decisions – SHOCKING!
For the uninitiated, it’s called “Voter Accountability”… to the LEFT or War-mongering Right, it’s called treason.
Elected officials are supposed to LIE to their voters by not following through on what they say on the campaign trail. Trump is an idiot for bringing war-mongers like John Bolton on his team….
No story here – let’s move on.
“So Mish why are you then disparaging Trump when you understand so well what’s wrong with the country?”
I believe in free trade – Trump doesn’t
I believe in not interfering in Venezuela or any place else – Trump doesn’t
I would get out of Cuba – Trump won’t
I would get out of Afghanistan and Iraq – Trump won’t
I believe in the right to choose – Trump doesn’t
I would reduce military spending – Trump doesn’t
I would end collective bargaining – Trump had a chance and didn’t
I would have cut taxes for the middles class – not the wealthy
Trump is not a Republican and he certainly is not a Libertarian
Trump is and has been a fucking disaster for nearly everything I believe in
Forgot one:
I believe in honest — Trump lies
In my book they deserve one another. When you lie with dogs expect to get fleas.
….If prominent Republicans are so against Trump; then why have they not offered a different candidate for the Republican party…
Because Trump is the logical apex of the Republican messaging since Nixon.
They are out of maneuvering room.
What is lost in the mix here is the mistaken notion that Trump is a Republican. Trump is his own party – for all intents and purposes he was a 3rd party candidate like Perot was in 1992. The only difference is that someone in the Trump camp knew that he couldn’t actually run as a third party and expect to win. The reason Republicans can’t offer an alternative is because they’ve already lost the hearts and souls of many conservative blue collar people who feel like neither the Democrats with their wackadoo NeoMarxist leanings nor the Republicans who prefer country clubs and big business kickbacks represent them. Ultimately the reason is that neither party has any interest in truly solving problems. They like keeping the public fighting over divisive bullshit issues while they line their pockets and collect their pensions.
Great post. Maybe many of this country’s problems have no workable solutions and both parties know that? Right now the Democrats entire platform is opposing everything Trump does. The Dem’s have no solutions. They have hopped on the George Floyd bandwagon because it hurts Trump in November.
There are actual solutions, but they all involve pain in the short term, and no one is willing to endure even short term pain, so they only thing left is to keep kicking the can down the road.
If prominent Republicans are so against Trump; then why have they not offered a different candidate for the Republican party, or not backed an independent candidate?
Same reason the Dems couldn’t manage to field anyone more appealing than an old, senile uncle: Everyone who fancies themselves a future President, want to sit out this years anticipated highly unpredictable mud wrestling contest; for fear of sullying their reputation and damaging their perceived chances for the future.
They are also scared of Trump given his behaviors since being in the office.
The reason Trump has to fire everyone he hires is because no one really agrees with him on anything he is doing. Eventually the joke is gonna be on Trump when he gets fired by the country or forcibly removed from office (probably the latter). The shitstorm has only begun.
Any politician other than Trump was very comfortable:
outsourcing
insourcing cheap labor
open borders immigration
NAFTA
no tariffs
Trump is the only one trying to stop the problem thats destroying the country. Yet everyone cant get over his tweets. Meanwhile, Hillary is for shipping in 500k more Indians to drop IT wages, shipping out more manufacturing jobs, and “fighting” for big welfare checks for the very people whose livelihoods she would have destroyed with those policies.
Its pure capitalism; Destroy the middle class to eek out corporate gains, and then send them checks in the mail to make up for it.
I really cannot understand the Trump hate, if you understand the trend of our economy at all over that 30 years, its obvious to you whats going on.
So Mish why are you then disparaging Trump when you understand so well whats wrong with the country?
Good points.Let’s not forget confronting China. Other politicians won’t touch this because of all that Chinese money flowing into their coffers. Russia is the real threat right? a country that has one tenth the GDP of China.
“You stop explaining yourself when you realize people only understand from their level of perception.” Jim Carrey
And isnt this president handing out welfare checks to American farmers since he is incapable of coming up with a reasonable farm policy. And giving away oil leases on federal land. Oh I forgot this isnt welfare. Of course it is. This guy is just giving money to different folks. But it is a handout. And where is the economy today?
“But it is a handout.”
The US isn’t broke, but that seems to be the only way government has of fixing it.
Ok, so among the things that you’ve mentioned like bringing back jobs, etc, how many has he actually accomplished?
Instead, this is what he’s REALLY done:
All of the above destroy the middle class.
I would SUPPORT Trump had he actually delivered in all or even some of the things that you mentioned, but he didn’t deliver anything.
outsourcing
insourcing cheap labor
open borders immigration
You really don’t understand how Trump and his family runs their businesses
To all the naysayers, i.e. Trump has done nothing….
Let me explain. We are no where close to solving these problems, no one has the answers, let alone the ability to solve them.
But bringing them into the national conversation is a start and a much needed one that at. Trump may solve nothing, but atleast he gave a voice against the destructive economic looting that is occurring. If you cant see that, and that this is a long game, then you have been brainwashed by the marxists
Trump is part of the problem too. He always wanted ZIRP and heavily favors Wall St over Main St. He’s as much an easy money Fed cheerleader as any other politician in recent memory. This alone will destroy whatever is left of the country.
The whole premise of bringing back factory jobs was absurd from the beginning. Automation rendered many of those old jobs redundant, plus labor arbitrage is here stay barring a dollar collapse. Even if we yank manufacturing away from China, it will end up in other low cost countries like Vietnam.
Trump does TALK about some of our major structural problems, but as we’ve seen he clearly didn’t mean the “big, fat, ugly bubble” rhetoric from 2016.
To be fair though, the US and many other countries are now trapped in this paradigm, where forward escape is the only real option. I don’t condone that it is like this, and I don’t know how Trump made his choices either. So to me he still represents an idea, but it is not one he would be able to properly implement even if he thought it were the best. So the question, the argument, is more over whether he has managed to change course slightly using whatever means at disposal to do so, and there is no clear answer to that, or maybe only in relative terms to how far in the previous direction things could have ended up. So that leaves him open to criticism on exactly what his direction is, and equally it might be financial world influenced as you say , but he never campaigned on an end the fed ticket either. So its all open to question, but personally I see him as taking a (more traditional) big business patriarchal nation position and not shirking from using monetary policy to achieve that. Just one view and I hope taken as spoken flatly, as an outsider not participant.
“Its pure capitalism; Destroy the middle class to eek out corporate gains, and then send them checks in the mail to make up for it.”
Pure capitalism is to leave the middle class alone. Don’t tax their income. Don’t tax their spending. Don’t debase their currency. Don’t ban them from building themselves nicer houses if they wish to. Wherever, whenever and however they wish to. Don’t ban them from trading with whomever they want. Etc., etc. Don’t ban period. That’s “pure capitalism.” Not weird “destroy” bah, bah. Simply: Leave alone.
“I really cannot understand the Trump hate, if you understand the trend of our economy at all over that 30 years, its obvious to you whats going on.”
It’s also obvious that Trump is doing noting to change “the trend of our economy.” Instead of getting rid of The Fed, or at least doing all he can to do so; the idiot is screaming for them to debase working people even more, for the benefit of the same clique of useless, privileged deadweights on Fed welfare who are the ones who received every penny which was stolen from the middle class over the past 30 years. Every single penny (And then some). Those same Fed welfare recipient leeches, are exactly the guys Trump is looking out of as well. Instead of shrinking government, idiot-in-chief is further growing it, and meddling even worse than Obama managed to do (and that does take some doing.)
“So Mish why are you then disparaging Trump when you understand so well whats wrong with the country?”
I’m not Mish, but if Mish understands anything at all, including anything related to “whats wrong with the country,” him understanding so is exactly why he is disparaging Trump.
Trump, like Obama, Bushes, Clinton, Reagan etc., etc, have all been nothing but undifferentiated disasters for the country. In every single possible way. Each one has borrowed further trillions. Overseen continuous expansion of government. Continued bailouts and printing etc., etc. Trump differs in exactly no way at all. And, like the rest of that rabble pile of putrid garbage, he deserves nothing at all, aside from ridicule and disparagement.
Is the PR campaign for this book built on the idea that Trump is driven by re-election concerns? A politician driven by re-election concerns?!? That must be a lie. Shocking.
For professional political junkies, this book is a breeze to sense while sailing the political winds. For amateurs like we Mish readers, the book is yet another play-by-play description of the game we’re watching. Cheer for the home team.
To put it in context, go back and read comments from Mish political posts in June 2016.
Bolton is sour because he didn’t get the green light to bomb Iran, and start WW3.
The rule for security advisors is to keep their mouth and pen shut, until maybe for post-mortem memoirs.
However, Trump invited this by
Sounds is firing Bolton postponed WW3…
I’m impatient to watch mad dogs bite each other! got some Popcorns?
Saudi Arabia, MbS….personally rewarding policy intersecting with arms sales.
Follow the bouncing, glowing orb.
Mish, it’s not worth even discussing. People like Bolton can and will say anything to advance hidden agendas. We gain nothing from Bolton’s writing unless it’s a confession.
Same with Powell.
And some of those generals probably speak out because they worry Trump’s banter will hurt recruitment. Black lives don’t matter to them when they’re attacking countries in Africa to protect oligarch profits.
Exactly right. We have no idea what the real motive is behind Bolton writing to criticize Trump. Given Bolton’s hawkish nature it may well be that they fell out because Trump would not rubber stamp one of Bolton’s preconceived war scenarios. Who knows? Maybe Trump didn’t want to start a war because all he cares about is ‘re-election’ – I have no idea. None of us do. Bolton is far from credible, IMO.
All ways it’s “the hidden agendas” with you people….
Wait… are you mocking me for suspecting Bolton has a hidden agenda? Bwahaha.
It is a mystery to me how anyone can believe someone is 100% wrong all the time about everything and use that as the basis for a rational argument.
Hint: That person does not exist.
Bolton bashing Trump is totally credible.
Unfortunately, that attitude is quite prevalent. The world is either black or white, the answer is either yes or no. It’s either my way or the highway.
The above is truly the mark of an idiot.
Bolton has a desire to strike back at Trump, but that does not invalidate what he has to say.
Is Bolton a known liar?
What about Trump?
Any honest person knows the answer to Q2.
And in regards to Q1 (and Q2), even liars can tell the truth.
Mish
This is not a question of extremist thinking or being blindly devoted to Trump. It also isn’t about claiming someone is 100% wrong either. The question is what actually makes Bolton credible in this scenario or any scenario for that matter? Because his target is Trump?
“Because his target is Trump?”
No, because the charge, given things Trump has said and done are believable.
Don’t blame me for this, blame Trump.
And by the way, I went after Colin Powell big time when he backed Bush’s war. Powell was not believable, and I was correct. His UN testimony was a total joke. He apologized later. I was correct but it was too late.
Now Powell speaks out against Trump. Totally correct this time. That does not excuse his prior lie.
Powell could easily have been president. But he would not speak out until much later. Another sad saga.
One must judge each setup as it happens. That is what I do.
Ever-Trumpers never have and never will. To be fair the Never-Trumpers do the same.
I am not ‘blaming you’ for anything nor am I attempting to become an apologist for all things Trump. I hope the implication of ‘Ever-Trumper’ is not directed at me personally. I do blame Trump for putting himself in the position of giving his enemies ammunition from which to tease out and feed the enmity of those whose sensibilities are insulted by Trumps mannerisms. I am also less than satisfied with the policy accomplishments thus far. However, part of what I am trying to draw attention to is the fact that at these levels of power you can never take anything at face value. There are always layers of agendas and motivations and it is like peeling an onion to get to the truth. The simple fact is that I trust Bolton’s motives far less than Trump’s motives. Am i right to do so? I have nothing but Bolton’s and Trump’s record, intuition and the implicit bias of someone that voted for Trump and wants to believe that his candidate is the lesser evil. This should not be mistaken for irrationality or ecstatic devotion to a cult leader.
“A Seriously Deranged Madman” writing about the inner circle, character and decision making of a sitting president is not something to celebrate unless he is revealing information with regard to the president that must be acted on, in which case a court or the press are the most apt routes. It is a dangerous move because the context and setting are uniquely framed by the writer, and so it is to expect the president to defend himself of accusation, or if not to be seen to let stand.
More interesting to me would be if Bolton wrote a book explaining the thinking and organisation behind the invasion of Iraq.
By comparison, that the president took his papers etc. , well I’m trying not to laugh.
well said.
Where was Bolton during Trump’s impeachment? Twiddling his thumbs
It is a mystery to me why any rational independent thinking person would take anything written by Bolton – among the worst, most unabashed of the many neo-con warmongers we’ve seen in the last 30 or 40 years – with any seriousness at all.
I too despise Bolton, but a broken clock is twice a day. Bolton hates Trump now and no doubt he might “exaggerate” some stuff, but if he wants to take down Trump, no doubt he’ll throw in some REAL juicy stuff there.
Very true, but this is why so many jaws dropped when Trump brought him into his administration. Apparently everybody in the world saw this couldn’t end well except for the Donald himself.
Either Trump was a moron to work with him, or he’s controlled like the other mainstream candidates. Both of those explanations make him unworthy of the support he’s enjoyed.
This is a serious criticism that I can get behind. The question of how someone like Bolton was allowed into the administration in the first place is an important one to consider. The only thing I’ll add is that ultimately Trump fell out with and got rid of him, as a Trump voter myself, I can hope that it was because he eventually figured out what a toxic individual he is but i have no idea. No one really does, but I don’t see any reason to believe Bolton’s version of it.
It seemed to me that Trump, in the initial days after surprisingly (to himself as well most likely) winning the top job, went about building an administration not based on candidates’ stated positions and experiences, but rather by just bringing in one famous/infamous guy from each different broad area of policy. Bolton from foreign policy, Tillerson from the business side, Navarro from “trade” etc…
Never bothering to look into whether what any of them championed, had neither internal consistency, nor was consistent with the “platform” (I’m being generous) he won on. He just wanted them for the name recognition, and because they sounded like they had impressive resumes.
So you end up with Bolton wanting to Bomb everyone Tillerson wants to trade and do business with. And Navarro not wanting to let Tillerson trade with anyone. Nor really wanting to let Bolton even trade bombs and casualties with them….
Trump surrounded himself with people he could not stick by and vice versa.
All kinds of people joined the Admin when they should have known better.
“It’s great when corrupt politicians attack each other”
Is Bolton corrupt? Despicable as Daffy Duck would say, but corrupt?
Bolton is a true NeoCon believer.
Corruption need not always (and only) be monetary.
He could have testified at Trump’s impeachment but chose not to…Now he’s trying to make a buck off of it. Despicable.
Unrelated Question:
Is anyone having problems staying logged in?
Have a problem a week or so ago but it went away?
Not at all?
Still?
Thanks
Mish
Yep, last week or two weeks ago, I thought I wasn’t welcome anymore 😉
But this week, it’s been pretty good.
I had to log in several time last week and I guessed it was Antifa or Boogaloo boys.
I’m just paranoid that way…
I randomly get logged out, including today, once or twice a week.
Just got logged out today…
I’ve been pissed off repeatedly, never logged off, mish. I run Cat 6, no wifi. Don’t know if that’s a factor.
Had that problem on and off for a few weeks but for the last two weeks i stay logged in just fine. Sometimes when I log onto thestreet.com a message appears saying your page in unavailable. Happened yesterday. I waited 20 minutes, tried again, and your page was back online.
I wouldn’t describe it as rising to the level of “problem,” but was logged out from a couple devices in the last week. Not sure what days.
This book is going to be bigly, I mean really bigly.
I doubt it. Nobody in DC ever really gets punished for their crimes.
And Bolton is far enough out there with his Bomb Everything worldview that few, on near any side of any aisle, will want to be seen aligning themselves with him.