After John Bolton unveiled Trump’s “Absurd Diplomacy,” the new book “The Incident Room: Memoirs of the White House”, both Republicans and Democrats scolded him. Some commentators believe that the content of the book is uninspiring and very long-winded, and it is a “boring running account.”
However, I think this book is worth reading. On the one hand, Bolton is a more “reliable” person, on the other hand, there are indeed some wonderful details in the book.
Bolton, 71, is a well-known hawk with a mustache who is keen to make “regime changes” in other countries. For 40 years, he has served in the administrations of successive Republican presidents, but his position has remained almost unchanged, and he is known as a “nerd”. People from both parties in the United States hate his stubbornness, but it also shows that he has principles. On the other hand, from April 2018 to September 2019, Bolton served as Trump’s national security adviser. He is a true insider and his record is relatively rare.
The body of “The Incident Room” has more than 430 pages, and there is almost no good thing about Trump, and he thinks that his behavior is ridiculous, his understanding is superficial, and his diplomacy is completely unruly. response.
This is certainly not new, but some of the details are worth pondering. For example, when I wrote about the meeting between Trump and Kim Jong-un in June 2018, the book mentioned that on May 21, North Korea did not have the “pioneer force” to Singapore. The United States suspected that the summit meeting would fail. Trump said to Bolton, “I think Quit before they quit” and recalled dating a previous woman. If he wants to break up, he does not want to be thrown away by the woman, but to be the person who proposes to break up.
Later, when the meeting was held as scheduled, Kim Jong-un said that Trump was different from the first three US presidents. The first three had no leadership and failed to talk to North Korea. Trump immediately said complacently that Obama had made a big mistake. Kim asked Trump what kind of person he thought he was. Trump said that he liked this question very much, and said that he thought Kim was a very smart and mysterious good man with a good personality. Kim replied that in politics, people are actors. Bolton believes that King’s problems are well-designed, and if Trump speaks ill of him, the talks may collapse. Through this seemingly naive question, King gave Trump the responsibility and risk of answering.
For another example, the book mentioned that after Trump and Putin had a one-on-one meeting, they briefed Bolton, Pompeo and others on the situation, saying that Putin was mainly talking and he was listening. This surprised Bolton and others “how to switch roles”. Reminiscent of what is written in the book, when Trump was in talks with NATO member states, he talked boastfully, laughed and cursed, and others couldn’t get in. He was a listener in front of Putin. No wonder Bolton was not used to it. The book also mentioned that the American translator said that Putin actually said 90% of the time that Trump asked her not to take notes.
Speaking of NATO, Bolton also disclosed that during the NATO summit, Trump once said to him: “Do you want to do a historic thing? We are ready to withdraw. Withdraw. We are fighting for them against a certain country. They paid this country (buy Russian energy).” It can be seen that Trump is really likely to withdraw from NATO.
These details, spoken by a witness like Bolton, have a particularly strong sense of presence.
Regarding the “telephone door”, Bolton believes that Trump is indeed asking Ukrainian President Zelensky to “interfere” in the US election. Bolton sighed: The election of President Bush in 1992 was not good, and some supporters suggested that he seek foreign support (it is said that Republican lawmakers suggested at the time to see if Russia and Britain can find materials that are not conducive to Clinton), Bush Sr. and James Baker. Flatly refused. Trump is the opposite!
At this point, the book is almost over. Ending with this, or inadvertently revealing that Bolton may be closer to Bush and his son in thought and emotion. It’s no wonder that he and Trump couldn’t start and end well.
