On September 5, 2018, a New York Times article titled “I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration” saw an anonymous senior official pledge to the world that patriotic stalwarts were working behind the scenes to blunt the most extreme manifestations of US President Donald Trump’s capricious leadership, directing his erratic outsider rule toward productive ends. While the author is no closer to revealing their identity today, they are much closer to cashing in on a tell-all book that expands on the NYT story.
“A Warning,” published by Twelve, will hit shelves on November 19. The author’s identity has been known to the Times since the 2018 story was published, but the book publishers, like the news outlet, have declined to reveal the author’s name. Accordingly, the book is attributed merely to “Anonymous.”
“Picking up from where those first words of warning left off, this explosive book offers a shocking, firsthand account of President Trump and his record,” reads a statement about the book’s release, according to the Washington Post.
The Post noted the author is being represented by Matt Latimer and Keith Urbahn of Javelin, who also represented two other Trump administration officials who authored books after departing office: former FBI Director James Comey and former White House aide Cliff Sims.
“There obviously will be those who want the author to reveal themselves publicly, but there are good reasons for that not to happen,” Latimer told the Post Tuesday. “The author feels their identity is almost irrelevant because there is scarcely a sentiment expressed in this book that is not shared by numerous others who have served and continue to serve this administration at its highest levels.”
"The Author of A WARNING refused the chance at a seven figure advance and intends to donate a substantial amount of any royalties to the White House Correspondents Association and other organizations that fight for a free press that seeks the truth," Latimer told CNN, adding that the book "was not written by the author lightly, or for the purpose of financial enrichment. It has been written as an act of conscience and of duty."
Latimer refused to confirm whether the author remains part of the Trump administration.
When the NYT op-ed broke, it led to a manhunt across party lines, and the president lambasted the article as “a disgrace” and suggested that the author was guilty of “treason.”
The author had few kind words for Trump, calling him “impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective,” noting that “his impulsiveness results in half-baked, ill-informed and occasionally reckless decisions that have to be walked back.”
Crunching the numbers on word use and syntax, WikiLeaks concluded the author was “likely to be an older (58%), conservative (92%) male (66-87%).” Journalist Alexander Rubinstein, then a Sputnik writer, noted comparisons between the paranoia produced by the anonymous insider claim and CIA tactics used against foreign governments to produce that same paranoia.
However, the author denied they were part of a “deep state” of unelected officials seeking to overthrow the president, but rather a “steady state,” something analysts like political cartoonist Ted Rall agreed with, noting the official was most likely appointed when or after Trump was elected in November 2016.