In contrast to the aftermath of most presidencies, where high-profile political appointees hit the cable circuit and publish books touting their successes during their government service, former notable Donald Trump advisors are instead spilling the beans about what really went on behind the scenes in the Oval Office.
Little of it, as MSNBC Maddowblog's Steve Benen points out, is flattering to the one-term president.
The latest to jump on the bandwagon is former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who has a new book coming out titled, "A Sacred Oath: Memoirs of a Secretary of Defense During Extraordinary Times," that documents outrageous and "shocking" requests and demands made by Trump during Esper's one year as a department head.
As Benen explains, no one who has watched administrations come and go has ever seen so many administration officials dish dirt on the person who elevated them to a cabinet position.
According to Benen, "Indeed, it’s an extraordinary list."
Adding Esper to the list of those who were "reticent" to go public when still serving the former president, Benen wrote, "Former Attorney General William Barr, for example, recently rejected the idea of Trump returning to the White House. Former White House National Security Advisor John Bolton hasn’t just denounced Trump, last week Bolton agreed that the former president was a national security threat to the United States."
"John Kelly, meanwhile, served as Trump’s White House chief of staff for 17 months, working side-by-side with the then-president every day in the West Wing. Now, Kelly can barely contain his apparent contempt for Trump," he added.
Add to that, "former Defense Secretary James Mattis, wrote a rather extraordinary rebuke of Trump, condemning the president for being divisive, immature, and cavalier about abusing his powers," he wrote while also including former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson who revealed Trump was “pretty undisciplined,” “doesn’t like to read,” and repeatedly asked him to break the law.
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Writing that is just a partial list of former Trump administration staffers who have turned on the ex-president, Benen offered, "Many of these former officials had a front-row seat, watching how the Republican tried to lead, how he processed information, how he evaluated evidence, and how he made decisions. And now that these men and women have left the administration and had an opportunity to reflect on their time on Team Trump, they’re eager to let the public know that Trump is unsuited for national leadership."
"History offers plenty of examples of presidents who’ve clashed with one aide or another, but we’ve never seen anything like this," he concluded.
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