Daily Kos has been granted permission to publish selected excerpts from A Warrning: Please Somebody Do Something About Our Idiot President by Anonymous, the senior administration official who stepped forward last year to assure the public that Donald Trump's most dangerous impulses were being thwarted by themselves and other patriotic Republican staffers. We thank the author for their anonymous generosity.
Preface
Donald Trump is an idiot. He is dangerous, immoral, narcissistic, obsessive, and frequently criminal. He can be goaded by adversaries into betraying our national security at the drop of a hat. He is so incurious that for the first two years of his term we were convinced that he was actually illiterate. He spends his days staring at nearby television sets, waiting for mentions of his name and becoming alternately pleased or irate with each one. He is without a doubt a danger to our nation, and with each passing day he further corrupts and erodes our institutions, our international alliances, and the rule of law itself.
Someone must step forward, for the sake of our very nation. Everyone who has worked or still works in this administration knows that Trump is at best a petty criminal and at worst an authoritarian bending each agency into something grotesque. It is obvious to all, and it is time we, or at least someone among us, speak out.
By someone, of course, I do not mean me. Trump is dangerous, to be sure, and his decisions continue to sabotage this nation and destabilize others. But I have a mortgage. I have a career to protect, one that pays very well and places me near the top ranks of power, and if I were to speak out publicly to testify to the nation on the sheer scope of Trump's incompetence and corruption it is possible that this nightmare could end sooner. I would lose all Republican social standing.
I did take the choice seriously. I made a list of the pros and cons of stepping forward.
PROS:
— U.S. no longer governed by unstable madman
— Less chance of nuclear war (hellscape/radiation mutants?)
— Could save democracy itself
CONS:
— Would have to look for a new job
— Would be widely detested in Republican Party
— Could no longer go on Tucker Carlson show
— Mean tweets (possibly many)
Our nation is in great danger, but it should not be left to someone like me to be the voice that steps up to identify these threats. I have a mortgage. I have a career that I like very much. If I keep my mouth shut I can keep the gravy train rolling, and I think I am doing more than my share by writing anonymously about these dangers. Someone with no mortgage and no career ought to be doing the real heavy lifting here.
Nikki Haley is right out. She wants to be president and will hand-polish Donald's hairpiece from now until three days after his death if it will keep Fox executives calling. I'm not sure Sarah Sanders was even human—a half dozen of us had a long argument one evening about whether she could be an MIT-built robot programmed to lie.
What about Rex Tillerson? Where did he go? That man has more money than God, he could speak up and nobody could do a thing to him. Rex knew Trump was out of his mind within two hours of meeting him, and he wasn't shy about saying so. Jesus Christ, Rex, step up here. It's not like you care whether Sean Hannity still talks to you. Do you even HAVE a mortgage? I bet you don't.
Someone must put a stop to our dangerous national nightmare. I have written this book in the hopes that it will prod others to speak out, publicly, to tell America what they know, and named it A WARRNING to make clear that it is a warning. The extra R is because I Really mean it.
I need no thanks: Surely all great patriots would be willing to speak out to help protect their nation so long as their name was left out of it and many of the most juicy tidbits were scrubbed out to protect their identity and career. With that in mind, let me now tell you about how very screwed we are, as a country, and how we will be lucky to survive long enough for me to see my first royalty check.