A Warning: the most explosive passages from new tell-all book on Donald Trump
Anonymous author compares trump to an ‘elderly pantsless uncle’
A tell-all book has says US President Donald Trump flounders from crisis to crisis like “a 12-year-old in an air traffic control tower”.
The book, written by an anonymous author identified only as “a senior official in the Trump administration”, also describes the president as an “elderly uncle running pantsless” who often left senior White House staff “waking up in the morning ‘in a full-blown panic’”.
According to extracts of A Warning published in the Washington Post, officials considered resigning en masse last year in a “midnight self-massacre” to sound a public alarm about Trump’s conduct.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The Washington Post says the book paints “a chilling portrait of the president as cruel, inept and a danger to the nation he was elected to lead”.
However, the White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham derided the book as a “work of fiction”. Grisham added: “The coward who wrote this book didn’t put their name on it because it is nothing but lies.”
The Justice Department has warned the publisher and the author’s agents, that the anonymous official may be violating a nondisclosure agreement.
The book’s author says Trump moves from one crisis to the next, “like a twelve-year-old in an air traffic control tower, pushing the buttons of government indiscriminately, indifferent to the planes skidding across the runway and the flights frantically diverting away from the airport”.
Turning to Trump’s early morning Twitter rants, the author writes: “It’s like showing up at the nursing home at daybreak to find your elderly uncle running pantsless across the courtyard and cursing loudly about the cafeteria food, as worried attendants tried to catch him.
“You’re stunned, amused, and embarrassed all at the same time. Only your uncle probably wouldn’t do it every single day, his words aren’t broadcast to the public, and he doesn’t have to lead the US government once he puts his pants on.”
It also claims that that if a majority of the Cabinet agreed to remove Trump from office under the 25th Amendment, Vice President Mike Pence would support them.
However, Pence, who describes the book as “appalling”, told reporters: “I never heard anything in my time as vice president about the 25th Amendment. And why would I?”
Describing Trump as misogynistic, the author says: “I’ve sat and listened in uncomfortable silence as he talks about a woman’s appearance or performance.”
He also accuses Trump of putting on a Hispanic accent while complaining about migrants crossing the US-Mexico border.
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––For a round-up of the most important stories from around the world - and a concise, refreshing and balanced take on the week’s news agenda - try The Week magazine. Get your first six issues for £6–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
The real story behind the Stanford Prison Experiment
The Explainer 'Everything you think you know is wrong' about Philip Zimbardo's infamous prison simulation
By Tess Foley-Cox Published
-
Is it safe for refugees to return to Syria?
Talking Point European countries rapidly froze asylum claims after Assad's fall but Syrian refugees may have reason not to rush home
By Richard Windsor, The Week UK Published
-
Quiz of The Week: 14 - 20 December
Have you been paying attention to The Week's news?
By The Week Staff Published
-
Does Trump have the power to end birthright citizenship?
Today's Big Question He couldn't do so easily, but it may be a battle he considers worth waging
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
Trump, Musk sink spending bill, teeing up shutdown
Speed Read House Republicans abandoned the bill at the behest of the two men
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Is Elon Musk about to disrupt British politics?
Today's big question Mar-a-Lago talks between billionaire and Nigel Farage prompt calls for change on how political parties are funded
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Will California's EV mandate survive Trump, SCOTUS challenge?
Today's Big Question The Golden State's climate goal faces big obstacles
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
'Underneath the noise, however, there's an existential crisis'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Is the United States becoming an oligarchy?
Talking Points How much power do billionaires like Elon Musk really have?
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
'It's easier to break something than to build it'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Biden sets new clemency record, hints at more
Speed Read President Joe Biden commuted a record 1,499 sentences and pardoned 39 others convicted of nonviolent crimes
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published