The Crisis Business: John Bolton and Cashing In on the Fall of America

The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir by John Bolton is open for pre-orders. For $32.50, you can guarantee a copy to arrive on your doorstep on March 17, 2020. In a month and a half, you’ll be able to read for yourself exactly what President Donald Trump said to Bolton, his adviser, that caused Bolton so much concern that he offered to testify before the Impeachment Trial.

That’s good, because what Bolton has intimated to the press is that Trump told him explicitly that the hold up with aid to Ukraine that caused this entire impeachment crisis was predicated on wanting an investigation into Joe Biden, a political rival. That information was leaked to the press and set off a firestorm late Sunday and early Monday, pushing The Room Where It Happened to the top of rankings and no doubt setting the path to bestseller status.

Of course we live in a dog-eat-dog, neoliberal system where everyone is encouraged to get theirs, but there’s something especially seedy about this transaction. Imagine, if you will, John Bolton, a man who witnessed a crime against the United States being committed, a man who recognized the illegality of Trump’s actions, sitting down with a press agent, a literary agent, a branding agent, a publishing agent, one agent after another, deciding how to best capitalize off of his knowledge.

Now, imagine a man watching a house fire. He sees the smoke, the flames rippling through the walls. He knows there are people in that house, either suffering the suffocating smoke or feeling the heat of the fire. He has time to save them. He has time to be hero. Imagine him consulting with a gaggle of brand experts as to the best way to be the hero AND maximize profit.

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This is the Era of Trump. Already we have seen “Anonymous,” an administration official so troubled by Trump’s behavior that they penned an Op-Ed for the Washington Post, assuring Americans there were still adults in the room. Undoubtedly Anonymous was paid by The Post a hefty sum that more than made up for the exclusive rights. But that’s merely child’s play compared to Anonymous’s next act: A Warning. That book was an immediate bestseller despite offering nothing new in the way of information regarding Trump and only repeating anecdotes and stories we’d all either heard or assumed anyway.

Regardless, there was money to make. It didn’t matter that the anonymous nature of the project gave Trump supporters the ability to pretend like it was a fakery or a hoax. Never mind that an official going in front of the country, showing their face, their legitimate concern, could have made a difference. There were careers to make. Retirements to pad.

It's nothing new. Everyone has a book. Trump has books. His Fox News toadies all have books. His son even has a book.

Books. Books. Books.

Let no one tell you otherwise: Donald Trump is a hell of a golden goose.

His emergence on the political scene in 2016 was a godsend for every huckster, grifter, low-level goon, and outcast who wanted a chance to worm their way into a campaign. Traditional staffers and experts stayed clear of Trump’s looming disaster, believing, rightfully, it would kill their careers, but those who were desperate to get their hands on money lined up at Trump Tower and kissed the ring over and over and over again.

Maybe foremost among these men was Paul Manafort, a washed up political consultant who had hung around the fringes of Republican politics for decades without much in the way of employment. Despite some dirty tricks here and there, Manafort found his riches in Europe, where he happily committed crimes and did the dirty work of corrupt officials and, by extension, Vladimir Putin and the Russians. Manafort happily cashed his checks as he made sure democracy was suppressed. When he came onboard at the Trump Campaign he found a home with others like him. Mercenaries who had no other concern besides getting paid.

Money trumped patriotism.

Money trumped ethics.

Money trumped duty and basic human dignity.

Politics, for these people, became a pastime, a way to profit and ensure power could be used to make more profit elsewhere. Donald Trump lived this ethos more than most. He never wanted to be president. It was a stepping stone to what came next. A new NBC reality show. Possibly a media competitor to Fox News. His eyes were on what politics could get him, not what he could do for politics.

And, sadly enough, that ideology filtered through our media. Everyone now has heard the disgusting remarks. Jeff Zucker of CNN saying Trump was good for business. Les Moonves admitting Trump was bad for the country but great for CBS. They plastered him on their networks, gifted him billions in free airtime and advertising, created a cult of personality that centered all of American politics around the orbit of Donald John Trump. The reason: because Trump’s violent rhetoric, obvious incompetence, and dangerous volatility were incredibly valuable assets.

All of it because money trumped patriotism.

Money trumped ethics.

And money trumped duty and basic human dignity.

What did it matter if Trump was giving strength to burgeoning fascism and endangering lives if it meant profit?

Nothing.

It didn’t matter because profit is everything.

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The political question of the moment is whether John Bolton will tell America what he knows.

Republicans in the Senate seem to be heeding his warning and taking his declarations seriously. There’s a growing push to subpoena him to testify before the trial and it could possibly break the Republican plan to sweep Trump’s crimes under the rug.

Make no mistake, Bolton could blow this whole thing open. He’s an established figure a mainstay of the American Right who has earned his wings by appearing on Fox News regularly and advocating for every war and half-baked attack the military state has ever so much as considered. And then some.

Bolton standing in front of the country and detailing what Donald Trump said and when he said it could possibly, if everything happens exactly right, set off a chain of events that none of us could predict.

Yes, the political question of the moment is whether John Bolton will tell America what he knows.

The answer is that he’ll tell America when the book numbers hit their ceiling. Like every good capitalist, he’ll sell when his stocks are at their highest.

The real question, however, is whether we’ll ever escape the downward spiral of a society where calamity and disaster are its most profitable products.

Jared Yates Sexton is an author and political analyst whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The New Republic, Politico, The Daily Beast, and elsewhere. Most recently he’s the author of American Rule: How A Nation Conquered The World But Failed Its People, forthcoming from Dutton/Penguin-Random House in Fall 2020. He can be found on Twitter @jysexton.