Anonymous author likens Trump to a pantsless old man wreaking havoc at his nursing home

Several excerpts from A Warning, the upcoming book by a person who says they are a senior Trump administration official, were released on Thursday night, each one more damaging for the president.

A Warning is set to come out on Nov. 19, and the author — who wrote an op-ed for The New York Times last year, saying they were part of a resistance inside the White House — paints President Trump as a bumbling simpleton devoid of empathy and integrity. He's also a loose cannon, the author said, and staffers wake up in a "full-blown panic" over the things he says in early morning tweets.

"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," the person writes. "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 U.S. government once he puts his pants on."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

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.

Sign up

There's no use putting together reports on complicated matters for Trump, the author said, because he's unable to comprehend the information. Getting him to read and discuss a report titled "Integrated National Strategy for Indo-Pacific Partnership and Defense" would "be like speaking Aramaic to Trump through a pillow," the author writes. "Even if he tried very hard to pay attention, which he didn't, he wouldn't be able to understand what the hell he was hearing."

The author also writes that they heard Trump talk about women's looks, their weight, and their clothing, and he used a mocking Hispanic accent while talking about migrants crossing the southern border. Read more at The Washington Post and NBC News.