This archive report was first published on 8 November 2019.
Published on November 8, 2019, 'A Warning' by Anonymous has been met with both criticism and praise. The author's intention is to reach a broad audience, but the book's content suggests a more specific target: undecided voters who have been out of the loop for the past three years.
Anonymous has been accused of writing an opportunistic book, but the author has announced plans to donate a portion of the royalties to nonprofit organizations focused on government accountability. However, the book's content reveals a dyed-in-the-wool establishment Republican, praising American exceptionalism and national security, while criticizing President Barack Obama's 'out of touch' policies.
The 'last straw' for Anonymous was not Mr. Trump's response to the Charlottesville rally in 2017 or the migrant family separations at the border, but rather his decision to limit the nation's recognition of John McCain's legacy after the senator's death. Anonymous believes the president 'deserves to be fired,' but only in the sense that his contract shouldn't be renewed. The author advocates for not re-electing Mr. Trump, allowing the country to 'undertake the arduous task of moral repair' and 'restore the soul of its political system.'
Anonymous draws an analogy between the passengers on United Flight 93 and the American spirit, but this has been used before by another anonymous author, Publius Decius Mus, to argue for voting for Mr. Trump in the 2016 election. The discrepancy in the analogy is striking, and Anonymous fails to register it. Furthermore, the author does not square this analogy with the episode of senior officials contemplating a replay of the Nixon administration's Saturday Night Massacre.
