A message of ‘resistance’ from within Donald Trump’s White House
The New York Times has just published an op-ed piece by a senior official in the Trump administration. The newspaper's editorial board knows the identity of the author, but is allowing the piece to be published anonymously.
Clearly, this is something of a reaction to Bob Woodward's new book, "Fear," which made headlines this morning, describing a President Donald Trump whose aides are secretly pilfering documents from his desk to keep him from signing the ones that would cause the most damage. A few choice paragraphs:
It may be cold comfort in this chaotic era, but Americans should know that there are adults in the room. We fully recognize what is happening. And we are trying to do what's right, even when Donald Trump won't…
This isn't the work of the so-called deep state. It's the work of the steady state.
Given the instability many witnessed, there were early whispers within the cabinet of invoking the 25th Amendment, which would start a complex process for removing the president. But no one wanted to precipitate a constitutional crisis. So we will do what we can to steer the administration in the right direction until – one way or another – it's over.
I’m searching for a precedent to this extraordinary decision by the Times, but I haven’t found one. This goes well beyond Deep Throat and Watergate.
The reaction from the White House is predictable:
.@PressSec denounces anonymous author of @NYTimes op-ed claiming to be a Senior Admin Official secretly working against some @POTUS policies. Sanders calls the writer "a gutless anonymous source" and "a new low" for the Times. Says the essay is "pathetic, reckless & selfish."
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) September 5, 2018
Over at WSB Radio, Erick Erickson has weighed in:
A dear friend of mine who works for President Trump tells me he loves the guy, but that they all spend an inordinate amount of time stopping his worst impulses. He says he feels deeply betrayed by this op-ed because it will hurt all of their efforts to help the President do right
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) September 5, 2018
About the Author
Jim Galloway, the newspaper’s former political columnist, was a writer and editor at the AJC for four decades.
