Gordon Sondland says MAGA 'sycophants' like Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and Marjorie Taylor Greene don't know how to manage Trump

• Gordon Sondland said MAGA "sycophants" don't know how to deal with Trump.

• People have to stand up to a "guy like Trump" to earn his respect, Sondland wrote in his new book.

• Sondland's book, "The Envoy," is slated for release on October 25.

Gordon Sondland said MAGA "sycophants" don't know how to manage Trump effectively.

The one-time ambassador to the European Union, who was fired by former President Donald Trump in 2020, penned an account of his time working for Trump in his upcoming book, "The Envoy."

Sondland wrote that he gained Trump's respect through his straightforward approach, an attitude that he called essential for aides who want to "survive" Trump and "come out intact."

"None of the politicians in office, from Ted Cruz to Josh Hawley to Taylor Greene to Tom Cotton, know how to adopt this approach. They're sycophants who built careers on dissembling and playing roles that aren't authentic," Sondland wrote.

Sondland added that for a "guy like Trump," sycophancy was not the way to "get things done."

In the prologue of his book, Sondland said he thinks Trump is a "man with a fragile ego" who needs his pride boosted like "an addict would feed a habit." But beyond flattery, Trump's allies need to understand "what motivates him" to "deal with him accordingly," Sondland said.

"To deal with a bully, you have to stand up to him. To deal with an egomaniac, you have to feed that ego," Sondland wrote.

Sondland peppered his book with anecdotes from his private interactions with Trump. He said he once called Trump out for eating Tic Tacs and not sharing them. Sondland said Trump was "slightly sheepish" about the comment and offered him some mints.

"When you call him out on not acting like a normal person, it catches him off guard — and then he kind of likes it. People do it too infrequently," Sondland wrote.

Sondland testified against Trump in November 2019 in the former president's first impeachment trial. Sondland said Trump's team leveraged military aid and pressured Ukraine to investigate Hunter Biden, the son of then-former Vice President Joe Biden. His testimony undermined Trump's claim that there was no quid pro quo of any sort.

Trump was impeached in December 2019. He was acquitted by the Senate in February 2020.

Representatives for Cruz, Hawley, Greene, and Cotton did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

"The Envoy" is slated for release on October 25.

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