p. 315
“

Trump's reflex effort to talk his way out of anything, however, even a public health crisis, only undercut his and the nation's credibility, with his statements looking more like political damage control than responsible public-health advice. One particularly egregious example was a news report that the Administration tried to classify certain public-health information regarding the United States on the spurious excuse that China was involved. Of course China was involved, which is a reason to disseminate the information broadly, not restrict it. This, Trump was reluctant to do throughout the crisis, for fear of adversely affecting the elusive definitive trade deal with China, or offending the ever-so-sensitive Xi Jinping.

— John R. Bolton

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Trump's reflex effort to talk his way out of anything, however, even a public health crisis, only undercut his and the nation's credibility, with his statements looking more like political damage control than responsible public-health advice. One particularly egregious example was a news report that the Administration tried to classify certain public-health information regarding the United States on the spurious excuse that China was involved. Of course China was involved, which is a reason to disseminate the information broadly, not restrict it. This, Trump was reluctant to do throughout the crisis, for fear of adversely affecting the elusive definitive trade deal with China, or offending the ever-so-sensitive Xi Jinping." in the context of "p. 315" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "John R. Bolton" (The Room Where It Happened (2020)) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
John R. Bolton

About John R. Bolton

John Robert Bolton (born November 20, 1948) is an American diplomat, Republican consultant, attorney and political commentator. He served as the 25th United States Ambassador to the United Nations from 2005 to 2006, and as the 27th United States National Security Advisor from 2018 to 2019.