Thread by @afneil

The most explosive charges in the Bolton book on Trump:

Trump urged China's President Xi to buy US farm products to help him win re-election: “He stressed the importance of farmers and increased Chinese purchases of soybeans and wheat in the electoral outcome”.

Trump indicated to Xi it was OK to build concentration camps for 1m Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang. He also told Xi that Americans wanted to change the US Constitution to have him serve more than two terms.

Trump was unsure if Finland was part of Russia and UK was a nuclear power [no and yes].

Trump obsessed with getting a copy of Elton John’s “Rocket Man” to North Korea's Kim Jon Un, whom Trump had described as Little Rocket Man.

Russia's Putin described Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as a "Hilary Clinton" to encourage Trump to think better of Venezuelan leader/dictator Nicholas Maduro. Trump warmed to the comparison. But also thought war in Venezuela would be “cool.”

Trump tweeted his defence of the Saudi regime in the Jamal Khashoggi murder because he thought it would distract from Ivanka Trump using a private email server.
Bolton, John Kelly (chief of staff) and Mike Pompeo (secretary of state) all considered resigning at various stages.

Trump defended Jared Kushner contacting Mexico as the only way to stop the migrant caravans heading for US border

Trump thought journalists should be jailed and executed (presumably in that order -- or maybe not).

Pompeo slipped slipped Bolton a note during negotiations with North Korea, saying the president was “so full of sh*t”, adding later there was “zero probability of success” in talks with NK.

Pompeo listened in to a call between Trump and the South Koreans from Saudi Arabia and told Bolton that he was “having a cardiac arrest”. Bolton said the call was a “near death experience.”

The White House is pushing back on all/most of these claims.