I wrote this book to alert the American people about the dangers posed by President Trump as I have seen firsthand. I’ll be answering your questions on Reddit from 7 – 8 PM EST.

Ask me anything. https://www.amazon.com/Warning/dp/1538718464

Proof: https://twitter.com/twelvebooks/status/1199436679964250113

Comments: 2380 • Responses: 21  • Date: 

tafor83669 karma

Why be be anonymous instead of showing accountability so there is trust?

Anonymous_A_Warning679 karma

Good evening. Thank you for taking the time to join tonight. Not everyone will agree with my rationale, but anonymity has a long tradition in American politics, as far back as the birth of our Republic. When debating whether or not to ratify the new Constitution, for instance, the Founding Fathers wrote public essays about the controversial subject and disguised their names under pseudonyms. They hid their identities, not because they were scared to debate the issue openly, but because they wanted the public to focus on the message and not the messenger. They didn't want their personal involvement to be a distraction. I'm not Alexander Hamilton or James Madison by any stretch, but I don't believe they were cowards for using anonymity as a tool to refocus the debate. Trump thrives on distractions, and anonymity is a way to deprive him of his favorite weapon of mass distraction--personal attacks--and force the discussion to center on the substance, his character.

We've seen this on full display in the past few weeks, as the President has mercilessly attacked honorable public servants, from an anonymous whistleblower to aides on his own National Security Council. He can't win on ideas, just on mud slinging and personal attacks. So he's trying to use the long arm of government to unmask and undermine his critics.

BadBitch_NonComittal260 karma

Will you pledge to donate profits from your book to ACLU or some type of charity? Just to make it less sleazy... somehow?

Anonymous_A_Warning142 karma

Thanks for the question and for taking the time tonight. My motive in writing this is not financial, and I'm not seeking to profit off of this warning. If there are royalties from the sale of this book, I've pledged to donate them substantially to nonprofit organizations focused on government accountability and on supporting those who stand up for the truth in repressive regimes around the world. Here at home, I hope one of the recipients will be the White House Correspondents' Association to help support a new generation of young reporters in a time when truth is under attack. I will have more to say on this in the near future.

Ty__Webb210 karma

Why do you have so little integrity to come out publicly and speak?

Anonymous_A_Warning46 karma

Trump will hear from me, in my own name, before the 2020 election.

Minifig81164 karma

Suppose Trump wins the 2020 election. What should we as American people be on the look out for ? What did you leave out of your book ?

Anonymous_A_Warning173 karma

For starters, my original argument has been thoroughly debunked. In the New York Times op-ed, I suggested that the "Steady State" of top officials in the Administration could ameliorate Donald Trump's lapses in judgment. I was dead wrong. No one can thwart his attraction to wrongdoing. Americans cannot and should not rely on a group of unelected bureaucrats to maintain stability. Their confidence in the Executive Branch should be measured primarily by their faith in the President himself, not be the people around him, even if those people are able to dissuade him sometimes from making poor decisions.

That said, anyone should be able to see the chaos has worsened as the guardrails have come off. The President has little handle on the day-to-day operations of the federal government and is trying to run our Administration with a skeleton crew. He is hurtling between different controversies and ignoring important matters of state, abusing his power with some regularity, undercutting vital democratic institutions daily, and debasing the national dialogue tweet-by-tweet. We can expect this and much, much more if he is reelected. The last guardrails are coming off, and if reelected he will feel emboldened to follow those dangerous impulses to unknowable and alarming ends.

There is a great deal that was left out of the book, out of necessity. But there is more to come, in due course.

LilHomieDonkeyDick103 karma

Do you think Trump is suffering from Dementia or some other serious neurological disorder?

Anonymous_A_Warning126 karma

Any objective measure of his conduct, whether in public or private, would point to the reality that something is very, very wrong with our President. If there were a diagnosable disorder, we'd be unlikely to know the truth, as it's become almost second-hand for the President to dispatch aides to lie on his behalf, including about his stability and mental acuity.

wwarfield101 karma

Has the state dept officials testifying made you proud? Will you ever identify yourself?

Anonymous_A_Warning113 karma

Yes, as an American, I am proud of all the individuals who have come forward to tell the truth about corrupt behavior in the White House, whether they have chosen to protect their identities as whistleblowers or to testify before Congress. To the last question, yes.

sniffles1194 karma

Serious question, why aren't there more whistleblowers?

Anonymous_A_Warning64 karma

There are more potential whistleblowers; they just haven't made the decision to come forward yet. I assure you many people have witnessed the President's corruption. They are hesitant to speak up because they see what he does to his critics. The anonymous intelligence community whistleblower, and the brave public servants testifying before Congress, will hopefully convince them to be on the right side of history.

Thank you everyone for the great questions. We might do this again soon. Have a happy Thanksgiving.

pdett92 karma

Just how illiterate is Trump? Aside from his weasel words and outrageous claims of "best-ever" everything, his vocabulary seems to consist of strong, sad, beautiful, and disgrace. He speaks like a child.

Anonymous_A_Warning189 karma

The children I know tend to speak more respectfully.

FemmeNatale8979 karma

Hello! This question is by no means an attempt to pressure you to do so, but do you think that you'll ever unveil your identity in the future?

Anonymous_A_Warning109 karma

As far as anonymity is concerned, I will not keep my identity shrouded in secrecy forever. I am not afraid to use my own name to express concern about the current occupant of the Oval Office. Donald Trump has not heard the last of me. There is more to come. Other people who are currently serving, and who have left, are also considering adding their voices before votes are cast in 2020. We talk about this with some regularity. In the meantime, Trump must answer to the American people for his own conduct instead of redirecting their attention.

bpaps50 karma

Will you consider making your identity public and do everything you can before the election to prevent another victory for Trump?

Anonymous_A_Warning172 karma

The only credible way to stop Trump is at the ballot box--and by a convincing margin. He has to be defeated badly enough that Republicans will recognize they cannot support Trump's claim of voter suppression, or tampering, or fraud. He will never willingly acknowledge defeat and will fuel conspiracy theories for years to come. That will be dangerous for the country, so we've got to deprive him of those arguments with decisive electoral action.

GSL201961 karma

How does the President have such a hold over the Republicans? Why are none, for the most part, holding him accountable for his actions/decisions?

Anonymous_A_Warning-189 karma

It's not just Republicans. We've all been guilty of falling into tribal political traps and supporting people who, under normal circumstances, we'd disavow. It's one of the greatest dilemmas of our time. The echo-chamber effect of the social media era has been disastrous for civic wellbeing, and it needs to be a major focus of our national restoration.

Enticeus60 karma

In a few words, what would you say to a Trump supporter to get them to look honestly at Trump's actions and how they harm our country and democracy?

Anonymous_A_Warning59 karma

That's why I wrote this book. I didn't write it for the chattering classes and the Washington insiders desperate for a tell-all and a hot scoop. I wrote it as a wake-up call to Americans who, like me, hoped for the best when it came to the Trump Presidency and wanted him to succeed. I want them to see what I've seen firsthand, which is that the man has daily displayed his unfitness for office and, frankly, that he's a danger to the country. I don't make these comments lightly. But as public servants our oath is not to a man, it's to the Constitution.

Competitive_Ride47 karma

Does everyone who works in the White House secretly hate Trump? I can't imagine working for someone with a personality like that.

Anonymous_A_Warning58 karma

You'd be surprised (or maybe not) how remarkably widespread the sentiments conveyed in A Warning are shared--almost hourly--among folks in all corners of the White House and the Administration. The President knows this and fears this, which is why he's ordered us to ignore this book.

I-Am-Disgruntled44 karma

Is it possible to undo all the damage Trump has done to our national security?

Anonymous_A_Warning21 karma

If there is a second term, I have doubts about a strong affirmative answer.

ibleedpolygons44 karma

What can the average concerned citizen do to truly make a difference so that he doesn't win again in 2020?

Anonymous_A_Warning145 karma

I am going to offer what--in any other year--would be the worst advice you could possibly offer during the holiday season: It's time to talk politics this Thanksgiving. I'm not suggesting arguing with your relatives and friends about Trump, but rather engaging earnestly with one another about the divisions that have split our country. Ask each other, what is at the source of the discord? How do we emerge from this era not divided but unified? What can we each do to better understand the other side and debate with dignity, not malice? Those are the political questions to be confronted around Thanksgiving dinner. For many, this will be their last chance to have that dialogue at home before campaign season heats up and detracts from civil discourse.

okaynice197 karma

[deleted]

Anonymous_A_Warning86 karma

(I'm so sorry. Blame me if it goes poorly. It might.)

geekything40 karma

Do you believe Trump will be successfully impeached? Will this lead to civil war?

Anonymous_A_Warning29 karma

There is no doubt in my mind that Donald Trump demanded a quid pro quo from Ukraine in order to disrupt the 2020 election. Everyone in the White House knows this, including the President himself. Now the question is whether it rises to the level of "high crimes and misdemeanors." I personally think that it now does. To be clear, I I am not cheering on the President's impeachment, and at the outset of this process I believed firmly in reserving judgment until the facts were on the table. Impeachment is a sobering, last-resort process for holding the commander in chief accountable, not something to be undertaken because we think the President's tweets are vile and his rhetoric is ugly. We politicize this at our own peril. If Congress goes about it the wrong way, impeachment will further divide our nation.

aliensinthewater35 karma

Where is the off ramp? Do you believe your book provides clues or tangible examples of behaviors of which the republicans can find reasons to distance themselves from the president?

Anonymous_A_Warning20 karma

I hope so. Our lodestar must be the Party's founding principles, and the President has veered far from them--the notions of free minds, free markets, and free people. As simple as it sounds, a return to those principles will free Republicans of the baggage with which Trump has saddled them. Lincoln and Reagan are turning over in their graves, not only because Trump compares himself to them regularly, but because he could scarcely quote either of them, let alone live up to them.

The_Ironhand23 karma

What do we do if we can't stop this?

Anonymous_A_Warning-69 karma

Unite around what brought us together in the first place--American values. We are more than one man.