In the photos in the Oval Office, he was the advisor with the thick white mustache, just behind Donald Trump.
John Bolton, 71, only stayed in the White House for seventeen months, from March 2018 to September 2019, before being “fired” like so many other collaborators of the tempestuous president.
The former national security adviser, a "hawk" who had already served under Reagan before inspiring Bush Jr. for his Iraq war, is now settling accounts with his former "boss", who has everything attempted - in vain - to prevent its publication.
Result: "The Room Where it Happened", released in June in the United States and this Wednesday in France
(Editor's note: "The room where it happened", published by Talent Editions, 592 pages, 23.90 euros)
, has elapsed according to its American publisher to a million copies.
Nearly 600 gripping pages to describe a house gone mad, hence the billionaire president, "totally unfit for office" according to Bolton, manages the affairs of America ... and the world.
Reached by videoconference, this repentant Trumpist is investigating a prosecution, and warns: a second term for Trump would have "irreparable" consequences.
To have been struck by the Covid-19, then the way in which he staged his discharge from hospital, will that serve or harm Donald Trump?
JOHN BOLTON
.
Clearly Trump is convinced that his behavior will help his campaign.
He may have galvanized his electoral base well, but most people will deem him too reckless.
VIDEO. Covid-19: Trump takes off his mask as soon as he returns to the White House
What did you think of the Trump / Biden debate last week?
It was classic Trump!
This debate was like a typical day in the Oval Office.
That's how he behaves most of the time: he flouts all the rules, he invents facts and figures ... His goal was to confuse Biden, to push him to make mistakes, which would have been the reaction of everyone except maybe Mother Teresa.
I don't think he succeeded.
At least it's a good thing the whole world sees it, because that's how they try to shape the world, just by stating what they want to believe.
This is why Trump should not be reelected.
If he behaves so badly today, imagine what he will do in a second term!
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What could be worse if he is re-elected?
The damage created over the past four years is repairable, and even - hopefully - quite quickly.
But eight years of Trump, the impact will be very different.
On issues related to national security, most of his decisions were motivated by the negative reactions he feared provoking among his electorate, and not by the pursuit of a strategy.
This logic prevailed for the withdrawal of American troops in Syria, but also on Iraq, Afghanistan, the Iranian or North Korean nuclear program ... If it is back in the White House, this safeguard will fall because it will be freed from any political hindrance
(Editor's note: according to the 22nd amendment to the Constitution, a president can only serve two terms, consecutive or not)
.
Should the European Union expect a trade war, like Trump did with China?
The most serious threat will concern NATO.
In June 2018, he had come close to withdrawing from this alliance.
I am not sure that on both sides of the Atlantic, we realize that.
American opinion seems extremely polarized.
Can the lines move?
Very few Americans say they are undecided.
Whether pro-Biden or pro-Trump, voters are firmly on their choice.
The debate has not changed this finding, as early polls showed, which gave Biden a slight winner.
Nor does the recent death of judge
(Editor's note: Supreme Court)
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and her replacement process.
This crucial event in the context of the end of the campaign, however, has no impact on public opinion ...
VIDEO. United States: Trump-Biden debate turns into rat race
Your former boss is clearly lagging behind in the polls, can he still turn the tide?
Of course he can still win!
A month is an eternity in politics in America today.
No one has forgotten the trauma of 2016, with all those polls that made Hillary Clinton victorious.
Without forgetting the famous "October surprise", able to reverse the dynamics of the candidate left behind, and to shake up all forecasts.
Trump still has that option.
Trump seems to cultivate a special relationship with certain autocrats like Erdogan or Xi Jinping.
How to explain it?
Authoritarian rulers fascinate him, not least because he confuses a good personal relationship with a foreign ruler and the bilateral relationship between the two countries.
According to his logic, if he has a good feeling with Xi Jinping, then the United States and China will get along well.
While that partly matters, that is obviously not how it works.
Yet he was tough on China ...
It has only been tough for the last four or five months, but for three and a half years he has been tolerant of Beijing's abuses against the Uighurs, he has backed off in Hong Kong on the principle of one country two systems ... In the spring of 2019, we wanted to make a statement on the 30th anniversary of the Tian'anmen Square massacre, but Trump refused.
He has changed his attitude since the coronavirus, when it became clear that China was lying about what was really going on in Wuhan, with the consequences that we know about the management of this disease in the rest of the world.
So yes, he imposed sanctions, but if he got tough, it's because he thinks that this attitude will earn him votes on November 3.
If re-elected, he can make a 180-degree turnaround.
How would you describe the way he behaves with foreign leaders, especially with Macron?
I don't think he understands much of the topics that are discussed.
He feels that his instinct will tell him what is right and wrong.
Macron thinks he can manipulate Trump and he has done so on the subject of Iran, trying to play Trump's vanity.
Many foreign leaders regard him with contempt.
They'll be polite and laugh at his jokes, grit their teeth when they hear him say certain things, but behind the scenes they take him for a buffoon.
Is there something to save in his balance sheet?
Its action in North Korea?
Trump has no philosophy, he does not act on grand strategies.
Working in the White House is like being inside a pinball machine, with decisions made in fits and starts.
On North Korea, the three meetings with Kim Jong Un were huge media events, with Trump the center of attention.
But he has no better understanding of how to strike a North Korean nuclear deal than the chair I'm sitting on.
As for the recent agreement between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel, it is due to the titanic changes in the geostrategic reality in the Middle East.
Partly caused by the Iran nuclear deal in 2015, where Gulf Arabs lost all inhibition about a rapprochement with Israel, because they and Israel share the same analysis on the Iranian threat.
You worked with him for 17 months, do you regret it?
It is an honor to work for the government at such a high level.
At that time, in April 2018, despite everything being said about Trump, I thought the gravity of the presidential office would influence him, that he would change the way he made decisions.
I was wrong.
I don't think he fully understands what it means to be president, or how government works.
He never learns anything.
George W. Bush Jr or Ronald Reagan knew little about foreign policy, perhaps it is not obligatory for an American president to be an expert in these subjects?
I worked for these two presidents, it's fair to say that no American president comes to the White House already knowing everything he needs to know, no one has 360 ° knowledge.
But when they need to learn, they do.
While Trump doesn't care.
He looks at the personal dynamics between him and the foreign leaders and thinks that is how he can make deals.
It's worrying because it doesn't absorb any of the important information that Vladimir Putin knows like the back of his hand.
Donald Trump walks into the Oval Office every day, looks around and says
"what's up today?"
"
.