Book: Aides label Trump's behavior 'Defiance Disorder'

A new book from longtime Washington media reporter Howard Kurtz says that White House aides privately describe surprise actions by President TrumpDonald John Trump Dems flip Wisconsin state Senate seat Sessions: 'We should be like Canada' in how we take in immigrants GOP rep: 'Sheet metal and garbage' everywhere in Haiti MORE that catch his staff off-guard as "Defiance Disorder."

The term refers to Trump's habit of doing whatever his advisers are most strongly urging him not to do — and then leaving them to deal with the clean-up, according to excerpts of the Kurtz book reported by The Washington Post.

As an example, the book highlights Trump's decision to announce on Twitter that he was barring transgender people from serving in the military. When then-chief of staff Reince PriebusReinhold (Reince) Richard Priebus Intel Dem decries White House 'gag order' after Bannon testimony Overnight Cybersecurity: House votes to renew NSA spying | Trump tweets spark confusion | Signs Russian hackers are targeting Olympics | Bannon expected to appear before House Intel panel Bannon to appear before House committee for Russia probe: report MORE heard the news, just as he was about to attend a meeting where four options on the decision were to be considered, he said, "Oh my God he just tweeted this," according to the Kurtz book.

Kurtz's book, titled “Media Madness: Donald Trump, The Press, And The War Over The Truth,” will be released on Jan. 29.

It comes on the heels of Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,” which roiled Washington, D.C., with its own shocking details about the administration.

Another anecdote in Kurtz's book that is a hallmark of Trump's "Defiance Disorder" came when White House advisers were surprised by Trump's tweet charging the Obama administration with wiretapping Trump Tower.

“Priebus knew the staff would have to fall into line to prove the tweet correct, the opposite of the usual process of vetting proposed pronouncements,” Kurtz wrote in the book.

“Once the president had committed to 140 characters, he was not going to back off.”

Kurtz hosts Fox News’s “Media Buzz” and previously wrote for The Washington Post.

Let's block ads! (Why?)