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US President Donald Trump is privately seething after a new book by two of America’s most prominent political journalists exposed what insiders are describing as his “gross” late-night bedroom habits, leaving behind mountains of chip bags, ice cream cartons, and Starbucks wrappers, and even accidentally discarding White House sterling silver utensils with the rest of his snack trash.
The revelations come from the book titled ‘Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump’, a sweeping account of Trump’s second term authored by New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan. Published this week, the book has triggered what sources describe as an extraordinary personal meltdown from the 80-year-old US commander-in-chief, one so severe that he has reportedly imposed a blanket ban on his own administration staff speaking publicly about the book.
Chip Bags, Ice Cream and a Mystery Wet Carpet
According to the book, Trump “leaves huge amounts of trash in his bedroom because of all the snacks he eats.” Haberman and Swan write that as a habitual nighttime snacker, the US president would routinely leave behind empty potato chip bags, Starbucks wrappers, and ice cream cartons either in the trash or scattered on the floor.
The revelations do not stop there. White House staff were eventually forced to begin actively monitoring the trash cans near the president’s bedroom after discovering he was inadvertently throwing out White House sterling silver utensils along with his snack packaging.
Beyond the bedroom floor, the book also delves into Trump’s bathroom arrangements. The portion of carpet nearest the shower was frequently found to be soaked through, leaving staff uncertain as to why, though they were worried about mould developing underneath. Their workaround was to place a smaller piece of the same carpet, never a conventional bath mat, on top of the wet section. These carpet pieces were kept in rotation, swapped out regularly and dried to maintain the US president’s preferred setup.
‘It Makes Him Look So F—ing Gross’
The disclosures have sent shockwaves through Trump’s inner circle. According to Zeteo reporter Asawin Suebsaeng, who spoke to people described as very close to the US president, the book has “genuinely triggered” Trump in ways that are difficult to overstate. One senior Trump appointee told Suebsaeng directly: “It makes him look so f—ing gross. The US president sees everything, and he knows about the trash and bathroom sections, and thinks it’s complete bullshit that it got published.”
Sources told Zeteo that among all the damaging revelations in the book, it is specifically this detail, that the president leaves huge amounts of bedroom trash, that has “privately and absolutely infuriated” him and directly contributed to his decision to impose an intra-administration media blackout around the book.
Trump has reportedly been going around privately insisting, “I don’t do that!” and has characterised the claims as “libel,” dismissing the leaks as false and an invasion of his privacy. However, Suebsaeng reported that some aides have privately thought to themselves: “Uh… yeah, you do.”
A Leak Hunt That Turned on Itself
The snack scandal is only the latest fallout from what has been a bruising week for the White House since Regime Change hit shelves. Months before the book’s release, Trump had ordered a sweeping leak hunt to identify Haberman and Swan’s sources inside his administration. The effort ultimately stalled out, according to Zeteo, largely because too many of the senior officials tasked with finding the leakers were themselves among those leaking.
The book had already rattled the White House even before publication, with officials reportedly fearful that the authors had obtained audio recordings from within the White House Situation Room, one of the most secure spaces in the complex, where top officials deliberate on matters of national security and crisis.
The White House’s public response to the snack controversy was characteristically combative. When approached for comment about the Zeteo report, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle offered only a dismissive retort: “What the hell is a Zeteo?”
US President Surrounded by Yes-Men, Insiders Warn
While the bedroom habits may be generating the most personal fury from Trump, political analysts and reviewers have noted that the broader portrait painted in Regime Change carries far graver implications. As Haberman and Swan describe it, Trump spends his days at the Resolute Desk “in a series of rolling bull sessions, accompanied by a core group of intimates” supplemented by a rotating cast that, on any given day, might include “Republican lawmakers, titans of industry, former pro wrestlers, country musicians, Gulf royals, crypto bros, or friends of felons seeking pardons.”
The book’s central argument is not merely about personal habits, but about a vicious cycle of incompetence and moral corruption, an administration that has finally been structured to work exactly the way Trump wants it to, with too few voices willing or able to push back. Despite everything, it is the image of the US president padding through darkened White House corridors, leaving a trail of chip bags and displaced silverware, that has taken hold of the public imagination and ignited the fury of the man at the centre of it all. The White House did not respond to additional requests for comment at the time of publication.