CONSEQUENCES

Anonymous Author Says Trump’s McCain Flag Stunt Was ‘Last Straw’ That Provoked Them to Speak Out

The anonymous administration official was incensed by Trump’s initial refusal to lower the flag at the White House when the senator died.

The “senior Trump administration official” who’s penned a tell-all book about their experiences said they were provoked into speaking out following President Trump’s disrespect for late Sen. John McCain. In its review of A Warning, The New York Times reports the author claims to have been spurred into action when McCain died last year and Trump initially refused to lower the flag at the White House to the traditional half-staff. “President Trump, in unprecedented fashion, was determined to use his office to limit the nation’s recognition of John McCain’s legacy,” the anonymous author wrote in the book. Another excerpt from the book read Thursday on MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show details a near-daily “five-alarm fire drill” that leads senior officials to drop plans and race to the White House to stop Trump from enacting a “wacky or destructive idea.” The author claimed: “Staff throw up the Bat-Signal, calling a snap meeting or a teleconference. ‘He's about to do something,’ one warns the group, explaining what the president is about to announce.”