The Room Where It Happened

To Bolton, this is the guiding principle behind virtually every decision Trump makes as president. Near the end of the book, Bolton says, “I am hard-pressed to identify any significant Trump decision during my tenure that wasn’t driven by reelection calculations” (485). It is an incendiary claim, but one that is supported throughout the book and, to some extent, in the public record.

It takes some time before Bolton realizes this about Trump. Very early on, Bolton works well with Trump as they successfully withdraw from the Iran deal, a decision Bolton believes is driven by their shared belief that the deal validates a terrorism-sponsoring regime while hastening Iran’s acquisition of nuclear arms. Yet as Bolton comes to understand the extent to which Trump is motivated by personal resentments, the president’s withdrawal looks more and more like a personal rebuke to Obama—a big part of the president’s electoral brand—rather than a sincere effort to halt Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

This trend becomes even more glaring during Trump’s first summit with Kim Jong Un. Despite the threat of losing credibility—or much more—by taking a meeting with North Korea, Trump is happy to schedule the summit for sheer publicity.