Who IS the Author of A Warning the White House Tell-All?
It’s a sure bet that President Trump won’t be happy with the anonymously titled White House tell-all “A Warning,” set to hit shelves Nov. 19. But the online oddsmakers at U.S. Bookies think the real action is in trying to figure out who wrote the book.
The odds-on favorite is Vice President Pence, who denied he was “anonymous" when the same author painted a picture of chaos and incompetence in a September 2018 New York Times essay called “I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration." The author of that article sought to assure the citizenry that she or he was — likely unelected and unaccountable — a person close to the president subverting his efforts when they felt the commander-in-chief was going astray.
“(Pence) may have denied it when the anonymous insider first broke, but the use of the word ‘lodestar’ is one favored by Pence during his tenure as Trump’s deputy," according to U.S. Bookies spokesman Alex Donohue, referencing a term used in the Times essay. “If he’s fearing being stood down in 2020, or has presidential ambitions of his own, it makes sense with bettors for the veep to be the most likely candidate to be the explosive whistleblower.”
While Pence is the 2-3 favorite, U.S. Bookies thinks education secretary Betsy Devos is a solid candidate and makes her a 2-1 bet. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis are all 4-1 bets, while Jeff Sessions, who Trump harangued constantly for nearly 21 months over his refusal to involve himself in Robert Mueller’s investigation into interference in the 2016 presidential election, is a 5-1 pick to have ratted out his former boss. Sessions, then the nation’s attorney general, was urged by the president to launch an investigation into the Times’ essay before leaving in November.
First Lady Melania Trump, who rode out 2018 allegations the president had cheated on her with a porn star and a Playboy model after she gave birth to the couple’s son in 2006, is a long shot to have written the book at 50-1, according to U.S. Bookies. (Trump denies both affairs.) The online gambling site, which is U.K. based, is also giving 50-1 odds to anyone who thinks adviser Kellyanne Conway was the culprit.
In an interesting twist, they are offering 30-1 odds to anyone who thinks the president himself wrote the book. The president’s daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner are 12-1 bets as the upcoming tome’s writers. It’s entirely possible the author’s identity will never be known, in which case the betting house wins big.
The White House preemptively blasted the book Tuesday.
"It takes a lot of conviction and bravery to write a book anonymously,” White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said. "If you're still working for Trump, his stink won't ever wash off ... A juicy tell-all can't absolve you now, ex-Trumpers. You'll be remembered as enablers."
