All of these old white dudes willingly went to work for Donald Trump, they saw first hand how incompetent, crazy, criminal and vile he is, then they all quit their jobs and got a book deal and refused to tell anyone about all of the vile, criminal sh-t they witnessed until they could make some money off it with their books. That describes at least a dozen former Trumpers, right? So it is with John Bolton, the Walrus of the Alt-Right House. Bolton was a long-time Bush-era neo-conservative who thought America should just invade every country and run around, starting endless wars constantly. Then he went to work with Donald Trump as the national security advisor. Bolton had qualms! Suddenly, Bolton was appalled by the bad foreign policy happening in a Republican White House. So Bolton quit after 17 months, refused to testify about any of the bad, criminal sh-t he witnessed, got a book deal and here we are.
Bolton’s memoir is called The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir. It comes out in a matter of days, and it’s at the top of Amazon’s preorder list. Trump and his people knew that Bolton had witnessed some sh-t and that his book could be “damaging.” So they tried to block it in any way. I believe it’s still coming out on the 23rd, unless Trump is prepared to send the FBI to shut down Simon & Schuster and/or Amazon. It’s too late anyway – media outlets are already getting early copies or excerpts, which is why we already have a hurricane of f–kery courtesy of this dumb book. Here are some stories:
Bolton said the House should have investigated more: Remember the Ukraine investigation? Bolton says that was only the tip of the corruption iceberg.
Favors to dictators: Mr. Bolton describes several episodes where the president expressed willingness to halt criminal investigations “to, in effect, give personal favors to dictators he liked,” citing cases involving major firms in China and Turkey. “The pattern looked like obstruction of justice as a way of life, which we couldn’t accept,” Mr. Bolton writes, adding that he reported his concerns to Attorney General William P. Barr.
Trump desperately wants China to interfere in the election: Mr. Bolton also adds a striking new allegation by saying that Mr. Trump overtly linked trade negotiations to his own political fortunes by asking President Xi Jinping of China to buy a lot of American agricultural products to help him win farm states in this year’s election. Mr. Trump, he writes, was “pleading with Xi to ensure he’d win. He stressed the importance of farmers, and increased Chinese purchases of soybeans and wheat in the electoral outcome.”
Trump is dumb as hell: [The memoir] is a withering portrait of a president ignorant of even basic facts about the world, susceptible to transparent flattery by authoritarian leaders manipulating him and prone to false statements, foul-mouthed eruptions and snap decisions that aides try to manage or reverse.Mr. Trump did not seem to know, for example, that Britain is a nuclear power and asked if Finland is part of Russia, Mr. Bolton writes. He came closer to withdrawing the United States from NATO than previously known. Even top advisers who position themselves as unswervingly loyal mock him behind his back. During Mr. Trump’s 2018 meeting with North Korea’s leader, according to the book, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo slipped Mr. Bolton a note disparaging the president, saying, “He is so full of sh-t.”
The Ukrainian situation: The book confirms House testimony that Mr. Bolton was wary all along of the president’s actions with regard to Ukraine and provides firsthand evidence of his own that Mr. Trump explicitly linked the security aid to investigations involving Mr. Biden and Hillary Clinton. On Aug. 20, Mr. Bolton writes, Mr. Trump “said he wasn’t in favor of sending them anything until all the Russia-investigation materials related to Clinton and Biden had been turned over.” Mr. Bolton writes that he, Mr. Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper tried eight to 10 times to get Mr. Trump to release the aid.
Bolton apparently takes the time to lambast House Democrats for not investigating Trump for… all of the sh-t he (Bolton) personally witnessed and didn’t tell Dems about. You know, all the sh-t he was saving for his book. I mean, he says he told Bill Barr, the Attorney General, but literally everyone knows that Barr is compromised too, so it would be like telling Ivanka something and crossing your fingers hoping that she’ll be able to somehow UN-SINK the Titanic.
And asking if Finland is part of Russia… I just… I am so tired.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
I only bought Fire and Fury – I haven’t bought any of the other post-WH memoirs. (I bought Fear too but that’s from Woodward.) I’ll say this, at least Bolton is saying it with his chest and not hiding behind being “Anonymous.”
Its crazy to me that Trump is trying to use the DOJ to enforce his NDA with Bolton. Like, that’s not going to work and the book is out there already.
I’m annoyed that the title of his book references Hamilton, intentionally or not.
Too right. Don’t demean HAMILTON!!!
Bolton always looks like he has remnants of a hoagie lodged in that ‘stache. Also, fuck that guy.
I see the Trump administration graduated with honours from the same PR school as the Cambridges – how to make a big fuss and draw even more attention to the thing you fear. Bolton missed his chance to be seen in any kind of positive light, desperately dropping tidbits to reporters and in paid speeches, but not having the guts to stand up and testify about the criminal wrongdoing he witnessed and (likely) was party to. I will not be giving him a cent.
Barbra Streisand effect
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect
He is like James Comey, didn’t do something when it could have helped. F-ck them.
Edited to add: also F-ck the Senators who voted against impeachment who could have also done something.
All of this is exactly what I pictured so there were no surprises here for me.
I realized sometime last week that trump cannot win reelection with his numbers and they’re holding steady. It will not happen. Am I still afraid of the cheating? Yeah. But they will have to cheat a whole lot, I mean this thing won’t be close. So I’m starting to be hopeful. Also, the R’s are going to lose the senate.
I wish I could share your confidence but I’m still paranoid that the Rethugs will cheat their way to re-election in November. They’re going to pull out all the stops to win and are laying the groundwork now to ensure botched voting on November 3. I pray you’re right, but it’s not over tell the fat lady sings.
Absolutely, you’re right.
But, we’re going to win. 🙂
Vote, vote vote! But we’re gonna win.
It’s June. The numbers always change after Labor Day. Always.
Like our politicians are fond of telling us: “The only polls that count are those on polling day.”
This guy was conspicuously silent when the impeachment attempt took place. Shove your book, sunshine.
I’m trying not to get my hopes up but I had an email from The Economist and they have done all sorts of analysis (including factoring in people’s willingness to be honest about their intentions) and they have Biden on 9/10 chance of winning and Trump 1/10. But there are so many risks between now and then. He was clearly awful and incompetent before the last election and people voted for him, plus the electoral college system, etc. Ugh.
I’d like to think he can’t win reelection either but I’m not holding my breath. He still has his followers and the GOP will not go gently into that good night. The election is still five months away and their shenanigans will only intensify. There was just a case of voter suppression in Georgia. On a personal note, a friend of mine who’s been registered as an independent for over 20 years received his mail-in ballot for the Republican primary a few days ago. Puzzled, he contacted the voter registration office. They said they’d correct it and he can check his status in a few days. My friend never did anything to register as a Republican.
They’ll do whatever they can; block mail-in ballots, have fewer polling places, “broken” machines, machines that have been hacked, gerrymandering, deleted voter registrations, contest the results in court.
That doesn’t mean they will absolutely win, I’m just saying we can’t get complacent and think victory against Trump is a forgone conclusion.
John looks like an SNL character.
He looks like Colonel Blimp, but I doubt that the big fury thing is hiding a duelling scar.
Kaiser, Ivanka would not try to unsink the Titanic. She would hire dive crews to plunder it.
Bolton has real nerve criticizing Congress when he refused to testify.
And today’s news is that chief of staff Mark Meadows is shocked at how chaotic the White House is. Republicans are clearly ignoring everything that doesn’t fit the orders they have been given. A man who very likely would be adjudicated as incompetent if his real medical evaluations saw the light of day has been propped up as the leader of the country while his evil, incompetent daughter illegally runs things behind the scenes
As bad as his behaviour is, in keeping this information for his book, I still think it is the elected Republicans who are the most disgusting. They are like negligent parents who let Trump get away with things because it made their lives easier and gave them a few things that they wanted. Now they have a screaming, snarling, spoilt brat over whom they have no control and who is ruining their lives and the lives of everyone around them.
I’m with you. There’s a place in hell for Mitch McConnell and Lindsay Graham. They KNOW what he’s like. None of this is a surprise-he’s stupid, treasonous and dangerous for us now, and in the future with all the damage he’s caused. But they continue to support him.
The Kremlin still has hold of over ten years of GOP activities, including personal email accounts, that they stole from RNC’s servers… they are protecting themselves and that organized crime syndicate called GOP than they are protecting Trump.
@anon-yes, I’m sure they do.
It’s interesting that he qualified obstruction of justice “as a way of life”. Does he feel that it’s okay sometimes, just not as a way of life?
And the Ukraine. I wonder if he knows, or cares how bad this makes him look. He is an accomplice to criminal activity by not providing testimony. HE was obstructing justice. He’s as big of a piece of crap is Trump, just not as stupid.
And Trump. Prince of Whales.
Mother Jones had a headline that perfectly sums up John Bolton: Say it under oath, asshole.
That’s pretty much the point. I
Yup. All this after the fact stuff is useless. We know he’s an idiot, and everyone there is 100% corrupt. Thanks for nothing Bolton.
He’s as bad as all the others – knowing Trump is dangerous and stupid, plays along out of greed, jumps ship when they’re afraid they’ll go down too, and then trying to cash in. Plus he’s always been terrible, and probably should be in jail for all the Iraq stuff, and likely other crimes as well.
Hot take: literally nothing anyone could say would make a difference to GOP senators. They still wouldn’t have impeached him. Marble Mouth McConnell and Boot Licker Lindsey don’t give AF.
Hey, John, if you were that worried there are whistleblower provisions that you could’ve turned to or you could have cooperated under the table with House Democrats. But no, instead you decided to profit off your experience. Surprised you didn’t call your book ‘Profiles in Courage Part 2.’ /sarcasm off
Bolton’s taking a hit from Ted Lieu in regard to his refusal to appear before the house. I won’t purchase the book, Bolton does not have an honorable history. I am pleased more and more info is forthcoming. I’m back on Twitter, poll numbers showing Biden leading in Florida. We need to dump Kevin McCarthy in Kern County, (23). We’re following and supporting Kim Mangone, USAF retired, systems engineer, (D). Anyone interested support her on Twitter.
I not only want Dumpty to lose I want him to exit in shame.
So Bolton quit because Trump would not go for his insane fantasies of invading other countries. Bolton has had wet dreams about invading Iran for 40 years, and added Venezuela to the wish list. The only good thing Trump has done in his administration is not cater to these bloodthirsty hawks, and THAT is what Bolton’s objecting to – not the stupidity, not the cruelty. That says more about Bolton than Trump. If Trump okayed an invasion of Iran, we would have never heard of him not knowing about Finland.
Trump can’t go after those targets because those countries are all under the Russian sphere of influence. They’re like Trump’s “colleagues”. That’s the only silver lining that comes from the fact that trump is Vlad’s puppet. Trump would totally burn down Iran if Vlad allowed him to.
Both Bolton and Trump are run by big money interests. Bolton’s patron is none other than Robert Mercer–a literal “Dr. Evil” who donated more money to the 2016 campaign than any other. Mercer gave millions to Bolton’s super PAC (www.boltonpac.com). This PAC is endorsing Trumpers like Tom Cotton for 2020. In 2018, Bolton’s PAC also hired Trump-boosters Cambridge Analytica to “psychographically” target voters–they are undoubtedly still using this tech. I don’t believe for a minute that Bolton is against Trump. I think his tell-all is being released to distract and eat up the news cycle. It’s the equivalent of the “pussy tape” that was released the same day the Obama administration announced that Russia was attacking our elections. Sure, the info is shocking, but it’s just alleged–Bolton won’t go under oath with it. And it gets out bad stuff about Trump before Democrats can put it into advertisements that have a punch. The biggest purpose of Bolton’s book, however, is to serve as a smoke screen to hide crimes like using the Covid-19 scourge as biological warfare against voters and grand theft of our $500 billion dollars of aid money.
The thing about this is that I sincerely doubt that this is even the worst of Donald’s malfeasance while in the White House. Bolton is undoubtedly holding back that with which he/his puppet master/ the GOP agree with.
The GOP is, and I am not using hyperbole, a criminal organization. There are so many suggestions of layers of what we know, and so much we don’t know.
It’s my personal theory that one of the layers is that the GOP has literally been stealing votes since at least 2004 via Republican-owned voting machines, and this is what Russia uncovered when they hacked the RNC (I realize that the GOP and RNC are separate entities, but not really). I think America is way closer to 60 Democrats/40 Repoops, and it is solely through the various forms of GOP voter suppression and the above-hypothesized cheating that it looks anywhere remotely like 50-50.
YAS Betsy!! You nailed it unfortunately.
You’re absolutely right.
The GOP is not bending over for Trump, they are bending over for a Russian puppet who happens to be Trump. The whole party has been compromised.
Betsy I love your post and agree 100%
Yes, the election corruption is ongoing. Blatant examples like the hacking of the state of Georgia’s election database in 2016.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/georgia-election-server-showed-signs-tampering-expert-says-n1117441
The other fcked up thing about him not knowing that Finland is its own separate country is that one hundred-ish years ago, Finland did belong to Russia and Russia very much wants it back. So hear this not just as Donald the Moron being an idiot, but also that within his compromised little mush brain what remains is *Russia’s ambitions.*
Yep, that sounds liek something Trump heard during one of many conversations with Vlad or one his other Russian handlers: “Finland was once a part of Russia, it belong to Russia”. Same with Alaska: we already had Giuliani on Faux News stating that the President could give Alaska away to Russia and that would be perfectly legal… I’m suprised it didn’t happen yet.
Just a side note:) Finland was part of Russian Empire back in XIX century