The only surprise about the controversial book depicting the US president Donald Trump as a man utterly unprepared for the responsibilities of high office and presiding over a chaotic White House is that anybody is surprised.

The president’s record since he was inaugurated almost a year ago has provided a mountain of evidence to suggest that he is probably the most unsuitable candidate ever to be elected to the highest office in the United States.

His ill-informed comments on a range of domestic and international issues have amply confirmed the worst fears that he has no idea of how to conduct himself as president and is totally out of his depth on foreign policy.

His conduct of international relations has been a disaster and has already done lasting damage to America’s influence in the world and with it the democratic liberal values for which it was the standard bearer.

Trump’s decision to pull the US out of the Paris climate change agreement will damage the planet, while his casual dismissal of a nuclear agreement with Iran and his decision to relocate the US embassy to Israel in Jerusalem has made the already tense situation in the Middle East even worse.

His abdication of America’s role as a global leader will have profound consequences .

Hand in glove with his disastrous policy initiatives has come chaos in the White House with a succession of sackings and resignations, the most spectacular being that of Steve Bannon. It would be comical if it were not so serious.

Whether every detail of the claims being made in Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House is true is not the crux of the issue.

Indeed, in the past, the author has sometimes shown himself to be free and easy with the facts.

The important point is that Trump has demonstrated through his actions in office just how incompetent he is and that is something the world will have to endure.