The book is organized around specific episodes of conflict within the Trump administration, under chapter titles that include "Unhinged", "Shocking the Conscience", and "Paranoia and Pandemonium". For example, the book highlights a July 2017 meeting at the Pentagon at which Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, among other senior advisors and generals, attempted to brief the president on the current state and projection of military power, with Trump responding negatively to their approach and reportedly calling them "losers", "dopes", and "babies",[6] then abruptly leaving the meeting, prompting Tillerson to reportedly refer to him as a "fucking moron".[8] In another episode, Trump reportedly tried to undo the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, saying it's "just so unfair that American companies aren’t allowed to pay bribes to get business overseas." When Tillerson told him it would need action by Congress, Trump reportedly instructed an aide to draft an executive action to repeal the law.[9]
The authors document a pattern in which Trump fired any and all advisors who tried to educate him or restrain his impulses – the so-called "grownups in the room" – replacing them with advisors who "think their mission is to tell him, 'Yes.'"[5] The book suggests that this consistent pattern of reliance on personal loyalty, combined with a disregard for consequences, has placed Trump in opposition to conventional democratic power structures in Washington, D.C., with apparently chaotic results.[10] Rucker and Leonnig particularly criticize Robert Mueller and his report on possible obstruction of justice, which they cite as an example of how bureaucracy and fact-finding have failed to provide effective external restraints on Trump's behavior.[11]
The book also highlights apparent gaps in the president's geopolitical knowledge, relating a story about a meeting with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi in which the American president reportedly claimed, incorrectly, that India and China do not share a border.[12] Another account describes him visiting Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial while apparently having no understanding of what actually happened there.[6]
