‘A Warning’ by Anonymous: Book Analysis

A Warning was published in 2019 by a senior Trump administration official. We now have the identity of ‘Anonymous’, Miles Taylor. Taylor wrote this book not to criticize or launch a vendetta but to bring out the facts of the USA’s governing under the Trump administration from 2016 till 2019. Taylor journaled how the government worked for over four years in the pre-COVID-19 period. He discusses and reasons with America’s people the stakes in the coming 2020 Elections in a dignified and organized manner. Anonymous or Taylor deems the present elections to be crucial for the people of America. By the time this analysis will be published, the counting of votes in America would already be underway. For those who have still not read A Warning by Anonymous, it is a book you should read, especially if you are a discerning citizen of the USA who wants the best for his country. I have reviewed A Warning by Anonymous on my blog. Please check it out for your reference. This book puts forward logical arguments about specific situations in the past four years, which have disturbed the author to such an extent that he decided to bring out his anxieties to the general public. This is a short analysis of the book A Warning penned by Anonymous.
The author, disturbed by events and decisions during the last four years, has gone out of his way to pen this non-fiction book about the Trump administration until 2019. However, he was afraid that there would be ramifications if his identity was known and took recourse to hide his identity under the pseudonym, Anonymous. He has also advised the readers of his book to read it with an open mind free of constraint and not be egged on by the mob mentality tearing the USA apart. He had predicted turmoil, especially during the 2020 Elections. He humbly begs the readers, especially the Americans, to uphold the values of the Founders of America and keep their virtues and sacrifices in mind. He exhorts the reader only then to decide their course of action and choice of candidate. Most importantly, the reader should take heed not to react violently towards anyone based on race, religion, class, caste, creed, or for that matter, anyone in a government office with whom one disagrees. There is always a way to have a mature conversation over a topic of prime interest rather than taking recourse to violence, anarchy, civil war, etc.
The first part of A Warning studies the current President of the United States of America’s personality. It focuses on his positive points, which unfortunately seem to be few. There is a detailed list of character traits of the current President, which can shock any reader. One especially feels disgusted at the vulgar language used during crucial meetings in the President’s office. Anonymous creates a character trait list of what it means to be a good human being. It is a psychological analysis of personality based on which the current President of the USA is analyzed:
- Defining character traits
- Wisdom
- Sense of Justice
- Courage
- Temperance
One notices that the current President lacks in all these points or skews the critical understanding of these traits to confound their true meaning. According to Anonymous, even his best supporters find it very difficult to work with him because of this variable personality type of the President. Every day seems to be a new day with the President making the country’s governing difficult, taxing, painful, and substandard. In the past four years, many governing officials have more than anything else truly wanted to work with the current President and help fulfill the promises he made to the people of America during the 2016 Presidential Election campaign. These people are what the USA calls ‘the Steady State’. They need not have come into the job with the current President but decided to help in the government’s proper functioning according to the mandate of America’s people and in their best interests. It has been challenging for the Steady State to make any headway where the current President and his methods were concerned. He was always one step ahead of them instead of walking the path beside them and thinking logically to better his real family, the US citizens. Thus, Anonymous states that working with the President has drained and exhausted the nerves and sometimes the Steady State’s minds. He feels that if the current President gets a second term, there will be no Steady State to chalk out his policies or curb his will over many controversial matters. Anonymous, especially at this point, seems to fear the likely outcome of the Steady State’s disappearance and their place being taken by what he and others have termed as Apologists.
Now, the Apologists are those who, for various reasons, have decided to stick with the current government on the chance of gaining something in return for their service. Again, these Apologists don’t need to believe in these government policies and goals. They are just taking advantage of the situation they have unfortunately or fortunately been placed into. According to Anonymous, there are two types of Apologists:
- The Sycophants
- The Silent Abettor
The Sycophants are totally in favor of the mandate of the current President of the USA. According to Anonymous, on TV or YouTube, you can easily spot them. The ones nodding their heads to whatever the current President says all the time are the Sycophants. They applaud the President, and most believe in the acts and bills and words that come from his governance. The second is the Silent Abettor, who does not believe in what the current President says or does but has chosen to stay silent on the matter. Such a Silent Abettor carries out the current President’s wishes with the inclination to believe that they will gain something from him in the near uncertain future. Anonymous feels these Silent Abettors are worse than the Sycophants. According to Anonymous, you can even spot these Silent Abettors on TV or YouTube. They are the ones who do not nod or nod at the wrong times when the current President is speaking.
Indeed, the situation is frightening, but it gets worse. With the rise of the Apologists in the government, there is a chance that even if another candidate wins the 2020 Elections, according to Anonymous, there could be a lot of violence in the country because of the mob mentality instinct that the current President has brought to the surface during these past four years. If he does come back to power, there will be no one left to steady the course of his wrath, rage, anger, cynicism, evermore. Therefore, Anonymous has implored the people of America not to take recourse to violence under any circumstance. This is because the current President is keen on using an emergency or a civil war to stay in power. Anonymous has implored America’s people to vote wisely in 2020 regarding this issue and, through the ballot’s power, remove the person who seems bent on destroying the good name of the Republic.
Anonymous states that the current President has not acted as a statesman in the last four years. He has been picking fights with America’s century-old European allies and has been consorting with dictators who have always been and are the USA’s enemies. These dictators have shown no change in their attitude towards the USA even after several meetings with the current President. Anonymous asks, why does he then insist on meeting them and praising their way of governance? Also, Anonymous finds it odd that when it is a golden rule to be public about the talks one has with foreign leaders, the current President always conducts his meetings with only these dictators and totalitarian regime rulers behind closed doors. What are they discussing? Why the secrecy with someone who has never been pro-America? Anonymous says that the current President is otherwise fond of publicly disclosing secret matters relating to the CIA, FBI, and other Secret Services, which he should be keeping to himself! Then why mingle with these dictators? There is a reason. Because the current President has a weakness for strongmen, men who have large armies, have established a totalitarian regime in their country, and have curbed the press’s freedom or erased the press. Several instances mentioned the President congratulating these dictators on their governance. The current President even wishes aloud that he wanted to make the USA like these countries, like Russia, China, North Korea, UAE, Iran, etc. The current President has isolated the USA at this crucial moment in history from all its allies and has brought the USA’s staunchest critics and, yes, enemies at times closer to the borders. If there is a war, the USA will be alone because of his poor foreign relations skills.
Anonymous focuses on something which even gets me worked up at times – Fake News. He narrates the fake news not only telecast to the American people on TV and in their newspapers but also the fact that the current President seems to be the biggest spreader of falsehood in history. He has turned the GOP into a mess of contradictions. He has not upheld the GOP’s values and core beliefs but has ruined it all to suit an ulterior motive that even the author of this book is unaware of. One of the biggest fake news created by this President was the topic of the Deep State. As we know by now, and according to Anonymous, there is no such thing as a Deep State. It’s just a concoction of the present government to distract its citizens from the government’s important acts and bills. Frighteningly, the current President talks about the naivety of the USA’s citizens in this regard, thereby degrading them when the cameras are not focused on him.
Anonymous has also been extremely fair and has played the devil’s advocate in this book titled A Warning. He has mentioned the faults and failings of previous governments like the Obamas, the Clintons, the Bush’s. He has highlighted the policies of the current President that have been beneficial to the country. But to start a civil war only for those policies is lunacy. Using those few policies to keep a very controversial and volatile, and violent president in power would be nothing short of detrimental to the country. Anonymous says that even now, instead of focusing on his government, the current President still harkens back to the previous governments’ faults. The questioning is acceptable. They were not the best, but the current President had four years to prove himself. What did he do? Why keep on crying over spilled milk?
Those who were the reason why the current President got elected to the office were sure that the Obama government did not fulfill the wishes laid down in its agenda. According to his detractors, President Barack Obama rarely listened to what Congress had to say about specific acts, bills, and many other crucial matters. But the fact remains that if anyone has not paid heed to Congress and has reduced Congress’s power in the past four years, that person is the current President of the USA. He has completely ignored the most critical organ of the government that does not think in terms of Republican, Democrat, or Independent but instead thinks, rationalizes, and debates policies that should work well for every USA citizen. This is because they come from different political backgrounds representing their constituents – people who can’t debate these topics. After all, they have their lives to live.
Since the founding fathers’ time, Congress’s relevance and humbling power was something that even we in developing Third World countries hold as very important. Congress always represents the entire country. As a citizen of America, if you are not concerned about Congress, you would be making a fatal mistake. Remember, the Executive body and the Judicial body have already been revamped by this President to suit his needs. Don’t allow Congress to fall into his grasp or be discarded entirely from governance. You will be making an irrevocable mistake.
Now, at the last juncture, I want you to recall History. Anonymous claims to have been a student of History. He relates how a similar situation like the one the USA is currently going through took place in Athens three decades before Socrates would be put to death. Athens was being ruled by the people directly. However, there was chaos in Athens’ government because of so many voices trying to be heard. But there was freedom of speech along with various other freedoms. Athens was the moral state from which the USA’s Constitution and my own country India has had its beginnings. In comes, a man called Cleon, who is a bad-mouthed individual. He makes false statements, creates animosity, and stirs up the mob mentality in Athens’s people. He would have successfully started a riot if it were not for the situation being quelled by a new leader. However, the quelling only lasted for ten years, after which the situation in Athens crumbled.
This is not a story. It is facts. It is history. It happened to Athens several years ago and can repeat itself. Why should one person decide the future of a nation of so many beautiful people? Why must anarchy be sought after when things can be discussed over a conversation. When are we going to learn to agree to disagree and yet be agreeable with each other? That is what Anonymous wants to ask the readers of this book. Grab a copy of this book and read it. It will change the way you look at specific individuals in the USA.
I read this book during the latter part of the campaign leading to D-Day. By the time this analysis will be published, America’s fate will be known to the world. Everyone is sitting on the edge of their seat, wondering what America will elect for itself – Freedom or Servitude. I hope the 2020 Election goes well for America, whatever be the result. America must always remember it’s past, it’s Constitution. The Founding Fathers and the whole world is watching every move they make. Because like it or not, America is the blotting paper upon which other governments will take a cue and work on. America was always great. That is a fact, and it will remain a fact.
I enjoyed doing a short analysis of this book. Do grab a copy of the book either from your nearest bookstore or your Kindle. I will be continuing to post American book content in the coming days. This is in keeping with the fact that the 2020 American Elections are still underway. I wish to celebrate books, novels, non-fiction, short stories, and American writers’ essays. I recently reviewed an American non-fiction book on my blog. It’s titled To Obama: With Love, Joy, Hate, and Despair by Jeanne Marie Laskas. Do check it for your reference.
If you are interested in book reviews, book analysis, short story analysis, poems, essays, essay analysis, and other bookish content, you can check out my blog insaneowl.com. If you are interested in purchasing my books, you can check out the products page on my blog or my author’s page on Amazon. There is a lot of good stuff to buy! Happy reading to you always!
Copyright © 2020 Fiza Pathan
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