BREAKING UPDATE:
Confirming just about every claim the anonymous New York Times op-ed writer made against Trump – unmoored, amoral, impetuous, impulsive, erratic, adversarial, petty and ineffective – the unhinged president is now demanding that Attorney General Jeff Sessions investigate the source of the Times op-ed, alleging that the exercise of the writer’s right to freedom of expression is an act of treason, “national security,” according to the New York Times.
He is also “considering action against The Times.”
UPDATE:
A seething, paranoid president is taking names, making a list of “it wasn’t me’s,” trying to find the anonymous source that had the temerity to tell the truth at the New York Times.
Thus far, a series of docile, cowed Trump administration officials have denied writing the op-ed, calling the anonymous writer variously “a disgrace,” a “coward,” “gutless” and attacking the New York Times — the list continues to grow.
Some of the “deniers,” thus far: Mike Pence, Mike Pompeo, Jim Mattis, Dan Coats, Kirstjen Nielsen (she is too “focused on leading the men and women of DHS and protecting the homeland”), Jeff Sessions, Mick Mulvaney, Steven Mnuchin, Kevin Hassett, Rick Perry, Wilbur Ross, Robert Wilkie, Nikki Haley.
Will lie detector tests be next?
Trump apparently persuaded his wife, Melania Trump, to fire back at the anonymous source. However, even in her condemnation of the writer, Mrs. Trump found courage to support freedom of the press.
Freedom of speech is an important pillar of our nation’s founding principles and a free press is important to our democracy. The press should be fair, unbiased and responsible…
Original Post:
Forget about Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury;” forget about Omarosa’s “Unhinged;” forget about Bob Woodward’s “Fear.”
If authentic and if from “a senior official in the Trump administration,” as claimed by the New York Times – and I have no reason to doubt either claim — an Op-Ed essay just published by the New York Times is a stunning bombshell that essentially echoes Bob Woodward’s theme that there are “unsung heroes” in the White House who are trying to protect the country from a president who, as stated in the anonymous essay, “continues to act in a manner that is detrimental to the health of our republic.”
These “unsung heroes” are appointees who have “vowed to do what [they] can to preserve our democratic institutions while thwarting Mr. Trump’s more misguided impulses until he is out of office.”
In a rare step to publish an anonymous Op-Ed, the Times believes that it is “the only way to deliver an important perspective to our readers.”
In, “ I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration,” the senior official claims that, although the administration has had some successes (successes that “have come despite — not because of — the president’s leadership style, which is impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective .”), “[t]he bigger concern is not what Mr. Trump has done to the presidency but rather what we as a nation have allowed him to do to us. We have sunk low with him and allowed our discourse to be stripped of civility.”
The writer believes that the root of the problem is Trump’s amorality: not being moored to any discernible principles, his lack of affinity for conservative ideals, his anti-democratic tendencie, his impulsiveness, his erratic behavior.
Erratic behavior which “would be more concerning if it weren’t for unsung heroes in and around the White House. Some of his aides have been cast as villains by the media. But in private, they have gone to great lengths to keep bad decisions contained to the West Wing, though they are clearly not always successful.”
The author adds:
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.
“The result is a two-track presidency,” the writer says and cites North Korea and Russia as examples.
And, yes, the author brings up the 25th Amendment:
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.
After remembering the “lodestar,” the late Senator John McCain, “for restoring honor to public life and our national dialogue,” the writer says, “Mr. Trump may fear such honorable men, but we should revere them.”
He concludes:
There is a quiet resistance within the administration of people choosing to put country first. But the real difference will be made by everyday citizens rising above politics, reaching across the aisle and resolving to shed the labels in favor of a single one: Americans
There is no question, this thin-skinned, vindictive, petty president will launch a witch hunt of his own to identify the writer and to punish him or her, as he has done to other critics.
Lead image: Screen capture youtube.com
