Serve Trump, then tell all
It seems pretty easy for just about anyone who has dropped by Donald Trump's White House to get a lucrative book deal. Any insight into the inner workings of the Trump administration is golden, even if the person providing it only lasted a few days.
By the end of his first term, at least 20 books will have been written about Trump's political dealings, several of them by former Washington insiders, including staff members, FBI officials, politicians, advisers and journalists.
The latest former official to pen a tell-all book is John Bolton, Trump's third national security adviser in three years, whom the president pushed out after just 17 months on the job. Bolton apparently has lots of juicy tidbits to reveal in the book scheduled for release next year.
Sadly, we are all too willing to give these former Trump enablers our undivided attention. Many of them were willing to sell their souls for a chance to promote their own agenda, and when they failed, they looked to us for sympathy.
Not long ago, some were pretending in public as though Trump were a capable world leader, all the while taking notes or recording conversations for a book that would tell the true story of his inefficacy. People who once were willing to kiss the ground Trump walks on would have us believe that they experienced some sort of epiphany once they left Washington.
We're not that dumb.
Most recently, we've had Anonymous, the unknown author who is giving us "A Warning." The person still works in Trump's White House, but doesn't have the guts to identify him- or herself.
Anonymous claims that the administration is in such disarray that senior members of Trump's team once considered sabotaging the president to get him to resign. According to the book, people in his inner circle fear that Trump is in the pocket of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and staffers all have "draft resignation letters in our desks or on our laptops."
We should take the exposé with a grain of salt. Anyone who publicly criticizes the boss while still getting a paycheck cannot be trusted.
Make no mistake. This unnamed "senior official" is no whistleblower. This isn't a Deep Throat or a concerned informant who risked his or her career, and possibly their life, by reporting alleged corruption by Trump and his associates.
If anything, this is the work of a coward. Which brings us back to Bolton.
Bolton, who was part of Trump's team during the time of the events that are now central to the impeachment hearings, has refused to testify without a court order. Though his lawyer has confirmed that Bolton has information that would be useful in the probe, Bolton has chosen to hold onto it, possibly saving the juiciest details for his book.
These are desperate times in America right now. We don't need selfish people who are only out to benefit themselves. We need folks who are willing to do the right thing — while they are in the White House and when they leave.
Dahleen Glanton is a columnist for the Chicago Tribune.