Trump begged Chinese President Xi Jinping to help him win re-election, Bolton says

John Bolton.
(Image credit: Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images)

In his forthcoming book, The Room Where It Happened, former National Security Adviser John Bolton reportedly writes, "I am hard pressed to identify any significant Trump decision during my tenure that wasn't driven by re-election calculations."

President Trump was so focused on remaining in office, Bolton alleges, that he "stunningly" pleaded with Chinese President Xi Jinping to purchase a lot of American agricultural products like soybeans and wheat to boost his approval in states with a large population of farmers so he could "ensure he'd win."

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.