John R. Bolton - The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir

Thank you for downloading thisSimon & Schuster ebook. Get a FREE ebook when you join our mailing list. Plus, get updates on new releases, deals, recommended reads, and more from Simon & Schuster. Click below to sign up and see terms and conditions. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP Already a subscriber? Provide your email again so we can register this ebook and send you more of what you like to read. You will continue to receive exclusive offers in your inbox. ForGretchenandJenniferSarahHardpounding,this,gentlemen.Letsseewhowillpoundthelongest. THEDUKEOFWELLINGTON, RALLYINGHISTROOPSATWATERLOO,1815 CHAPTER1 THELONGMARCHTOAWEST WINGCORNEROFFICE OneattractionofbeingNationalSecurityAdvisoristhesheermultiplicity and volume of challenges that confront you.

If you dont like turmoil, uncertainty, and riskall while being constantly overwhelmed with information, decisions to be made, and the sheer amount of work, and enlivened by international and domestic personality and ego conflicts beyond descriptiontry something else. It is exhilarating, but it is nearly impossible to explain to outsiders how the pieces fit together, which they oftendontinanycoherentway. I cannot offer a comprehensive theory of the Trump Administrations transformation because none is possible. Washingtons conventional wisdom on Trumps trajectory, however, is wrong. This received truth, attractivetotheintellectuallylazy,isthatTrumpwasalwaysbizarre,butin hisfirstfifteenmonths,uncertaininhisnewplace,andheldincheckbyan axis of adults, he hesitated to act. As time passed, however, Trump became more certain of himself, the axis of adults departed, things fell apart,andTrumpwassurroundedonlybyyesmen.

Pieces of this hypothesis are true, but the overall picture is simplistic. Theaxisofadultsinmanyrespectscausedenduringproblemsnotbecause theysuccessfullymanagedTrump,astheHigh-Minded(anaptdescriptionI picked up from the French for those who see themselves as our moral betters)haveit,butbecausetheydidpreciselytheopposite.Theydidntdo nearlyenoughtoestablishorder,andwhattheydiddowassotransparently self-servingandsopubliclydismissiveofmanyofTrumpsverycleargoals (whether worthy or unworthy) that they fed Trumps already-suspicious mind-set, making it harder for those who came later to have legitimate policy exchanges with the President. I had long felt that the role of the National Security Advisorwas to ensure thataPresident understoodwhat options were open to him for any given decision he needed to make, and then to ensure that this decision was carried out by the pertinent bureaucracies. The National Security Council process was certain to be different for different Presidents, but these were the critical objectives the processshouldachieve. Because, however, the axis of adults had served Trump so poorly, he second-guessed peoples motives, saw conspiracies behind rocks, and remainedstunninglyuninformedonhowtoruntheWhiteHouse,letalone thehugefederalgovernment.Theaxisofadultsisnotentirelyresponsible forthismind-set.TrumpisTrump.Icametounderstandthathebelievedhe couldruntheExecutiveBranchandestablishnational-securitypolicieson instinct, relying on personal relationships with foreign leaders, and with made-for-television showmanship always top of mind. Now, instinct, personal relations, and showmanship are elements of any Presidents repertoire.Buttheyarenotallofit,byalongstretch.Analysis,planning, intellectual discipline and rigor, evaluation of results, course corrections, andthelikearetheblockingandtacklingofpresidentialdecision-making, theunglamoroussideofthejob.Appearancetakesyouonlysofar.

Ininstitutional terms, therefore, itis undeniable thatTrumpstransition and opening year-plus were botched irretrievably. Processes that should have immediately become second nature, especially for the many Trump advisors with no prior service even in junior Executive Branch positions, neverhappened.Trumpandmostofhisteamneverreadthegovernments operatorsmanual,perhapsnotrealizingdoingsowouldntautomatically makethemmembersofthedeepstate.Ienteredtheexistingchaos,seeing problems that could have been resolved in the Administrations first hundred days, if not before. Constant personnel turnover obviously didnt help, nor did the White Houses Hobbesian bellum omnium contra omnes (war of all against all). It may be a bit much to say that Hobbess descriptionofhumanexistenceassolitary,poor,nasty,brutishandshort accuratelydescribedlifeintheWhiteHouse,butbytheendoftheirtenures, manykeyadvisorswouldhaveleanedtowardit.AsIexplainedinmybook Surrender Is Not an Option, my approach to accomplishing things in government has always been to absorb as much as possible about the bureaucracieswhereIserved(State,Justice,theUnitedStatesAgencyfor International Development) so I could more readily accomplish my objectives. Mygoalwasnottogetamembershipcardbuttogetadriverslicense. ThatthinkingwasnotcommonattheTrumpWhiteHouse.Inearlyvisitsto theWestWing,thedifferencesbetweenthispresidencyandpreviousonesI hadservedwerestunning.Whathappenedononedayonaparticularissue oftenhadlittleresemblancetowhathappenedthenextday,orthedayafter.

Fewseemedtorealizeit,careaboutit,orhaveanyinterestinfixingit.And it wasnt going to get much better, which depressing but inescapable conclusionIreachedonlyafterIhadjoinedtheAdministration. Former Nevada Senator Paul Laxalt, a mentor of mine, liked to say, In politics, there are no immaculate conceptions. This insight powerfully explains appointments to very senior Executive Branch positions. Despite the frequency of press lines like I was very surprised when President Smith called me, such expressions of innocence are invariably only casually related to the truth. And at no point is the competition for high level jobs more intense than during the presidential transition, a US invention that has become increasingly elaborate in recent decades. Transitionteamsprovidegoodcasestudiesforgraduatebusinessschoolson how not to do business.

They exist for a fixed, fleeting period (from the election to the inauguration) and then disappear forever. They are overwhelmedbyhurricanesofincominginformation(anddisinformation); complex, often competing, strategy and policy analyses; many consequential personneldecisions for the realgovernment;andmedia and interest-groupscrutinyandpressure. Undeniably, some transitions are better than others. How they unfold revealsmuchabouttheAdministrationtocome.RichardNixons196869 transition was the first example of contemporary transitions, with careful analyses of each major Executive Branch agency; Ronald Reagans in 198081 was a landmark in hewing to the maxim Personnel is policy, intentlyfocusedonpickingpeoplewhowouldadheretoReagansplatform; andDonaldTrumps201617transitionwasDonaldTrumps. Ispentelectionnight,November89,inFoxNewssManhattanstudios, waiting to comment on air about the next Presidents foreign-policy priorities,whicheveryoneexpectedwouldoccurinthetenp.m.hour,just after Hillary Clinton was declared the winner. I finally went on the air aroundthreeoclockthenextmorning.Somuchforadvanceplanning,not only at Fox, but also in the camp of the President-Elect.

Few observers believed Trump would win, and, as with Robert Doles failed 1996 campaign against Bill Clinton, Trumps pre-election preparations were modest, reflecting the impending doom. In comparison with Hillarys operation,whichresembledalargearmyonacertainmarchtowardpower, Trumpsseemedstaffedbyafewhardysoulswithtimeontheirhands.His unexpected victory, therefore, caught his campaign unready, resulting in immediate turf fights with the transition volunteers and the scrapping of almostallitspre-electionproduct.StartingoveronNovember9washardly auspicious, especially with the bulk of the transition staff in Washington, and Trump and his closest aides at Trump Tower in Manhattan. Trump didnt understand much of what the huge federal behemoth did before he won, and he didnt acquire much, if any, greater awareness during the transition,whichdidnotbodewellforhisperformanceinoffice. I played an insignificant part in Trumps campaign except for one meeting with the candidate on Friday morning, September 23, at Trump Tower,threedaysbeforehisfirstdebatewithClinton.HillaryandBillwere a year ahead of me at Yale Law School, so, in addition to discussing national security, I offered Trump my thoughts on how Hillary would perform: well prepared and scripted, following her game plan no matter what. She hadnt changed in over forty years. Trump did most of the talking, as in our first meeting in 2014, before his candidacy.