In the wake of the fallout from the Bob Woodward book “Fear” which outlined a chaotic West Wing and unhinged President of the United States, the New York Times Wednesday published an op-ed from an anonymous ‘senior Trump official’ entitled “I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration”.
First off, the Times made it clear that the ‘rare step’ they’re taking in keeping the author’s name anonymous was done to protect this individuals job in the Trump administration. The Times continued by stating that publishing the essay ‘anonymously’ will ‘deliver an important perspective to our readers.’
That’s fair and typical as journalist and news outlets never release the name of an anonymous source to not only protect the source’s identity but also to protect the organizations own interests. If the Times went out and told the World who this source was why in the hell would any future sources come to them with anything?
Anyways, the op-ed in and of itself was jaw dropping. Aside from the usual shit storm we get from the White House which usually abundantly resides in the President’s Twitter feed, this op-ed essentially continued an unprecedented 24 hours of corroboration stemming from the Woodward book. More so though it gave a glimpse into the executive branch of government that features Trump big-wheeling around the White House, knocking over vases and shitting his pants while staffers, aides and cabinet members try to clean up the mess. In fact, the anonymous writer described as such as individuals “working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.”
Via the New York Times:
The root of the problem is the president’s amorality. Anyone who works with him knows he is not moored to any discernible first principles that guide his decision making.
Although he was elected as a Republican, the president shows little affinity for ideals long espoused by conservatives: free minds, free markets and free people. At best, he has invoked these ideals in scripted settings. At worst, he has attacked them outright.
In addition to his mass-marketing of the notion that the press is the “enemy of the people,” President Trump’s impulses are generally anti-trade and anti-democratic.
The op-ed continued by stating:
To be clear, ours is not the popular “resistance” of the left. We want the administration to succeed and think that many of its policies have already made America safer and more prosperous.
But we believe our first duty is to this country, and the president continues to act in a manner that is detrimental to the health of our republic.
That is why many Trump appointees have vowed to do what we can to preserve our democratic institutions while thwarting Mr. Trump’s more misguided impulses until he is out of office.
To further add this particular ‘resistance’ has nothing to do with the ‘popular resistance’ as the author states, they do beat their chest at the ‘ceaseless negative coverage’ of the Trump White House that doesn’t pay attention to the ‘effective deregulation, historic tax reform, a more robust military and more.’
So don’t be completely fooled by this. Sure there’s some semblance of a ‘grown up’ in the West Wing but that grown up has also been pretty complicit of an administration that locks up children at the border, continues to overly spend on the military, sit back as Obama-care fails to be maintained and celebrates tax cuts for the rich.
In the immediate aftermath of the op-ed being published, the White House responded with press secretary Sarah Sanders calling the op-ed ‘pathetic’ and ‘gutless’ while adding that the NYT should apologize. Ironically missing though was any denial that anything that was said was untrue.
Response to anonymous @nytimes op-ed. pic.twitter.com/RIOaXhyg1N
— Kayleigh McEnany 45 Archived (@PressSec45) September 5, 2018
Trump also responded with this…
The Failing New York Times! pic.twitter.com/SHsXvYKpBf
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 5, 2018
This…
TREASON?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 5, 2018
and finally this…
Does the so-called “Senior Administration Official” really exist, or is it just the Failing New York Times with another phony source? If the GUTLESS anonymous person does indeed exist, the Times must, for National Security purposes, turn him/her over to government at once!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 5, 2018
So Trump wants this person turned over for “National Security purposes”. That’s rich considering this is the same guy that was blabbering out secrets to the Russians like he was some sixteen year old girl on their cell phone.
Anyways, I’m hard pressed to offer up any sympathy to Donald Trump as his administration continues to rot from within. On that same token though, I’m not going to anoint this anonymous ‘Trump official’ a hero considering the damage that has already been done to the Country and it’s reputation.
