Trump aides believe president suffers from 'Defiance Disorder' of doing whatever they tell him not to do, claims new book

White House aides reportedly say President Donald Trump’s surprise actions and tendency to disregard the advice of his advisers is a symptom of “Defiance Disorder”.

The term refers to how Mr Trump has a habit of doing whatever his advisers urge him not to do – and then leaves them to clean up the mess, according to excerpts from a new book by longtime Washington reporter Howard Kurtz.

As examples, Mr Kurtz points to Mr Trump’s decision to announce on Twitter that his administration would bar transgender troops from serving in the military.

Mr Trump’s chief of staff at the time, Reince Priebus, heard the news just as he was about to attend a meeting on the issue.

The White House had recently finished an official policy review on transgender individuals serving in the military, and Mr Priebus and Mr Trump had agreed to meet to discuss four policy options.

“Oh my God he just tweeted this,” Mr Priebus said, according to Mr Kurtz. There was, as the author writes, “no longer a need for the meeting.”

Mr Trump’s surprise announcement sparked chaos and received bipartisan criticism.

The excerpts of Mr Kurtz’s book were published by the Washington Post.

The book, titled Media Madness: Donald Trump, The Press, And The War Over The Truth, will be released on January 29.

Its release comes on the heels of Michael Wolff’s book Fire and Fury - a controversial account of the Trump presidency that roiled Washington.

Mr Kurtz hosts Fox News’s Media Buzz and previously wrote for the Washington Post.