NY Times editorial bombshell

[Mycroft]

I can't believe there isn't a thread about this already, but yesterday's New York Times contained an anonymous editorial by a "senior official in the Trump administration" who says:

"President Trump is facing a test to his presidency unlike any faced by a modern American leader.

...

The dilemma — which he does not fully grasp — is that many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.

I would know. I am one of them.

...

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."

Jimmy Kimmel has put forth a theory that Mike Pence wrote it.

 

[Upchurch]

Its being discussed in the Trump Presidency thread.

 

[TurkeysGhost]

If Mike Pence didn't write it, the author including the "lodestar" language was pretty clever. Dropping as many red herrings as possible would simultaneously protect the author's true identity and sew maximum chaos into the White House, which would probably qualify as resistance behavior.

Whoever wrote that op-ed must have known that it would be closely scrutinized. I don't think it's far fetched that some deliberate misdirection would be used.

 

[uke2se]

Whomever wrote it should stop being such a pussy and work to invoke the 25th. In the article they identify Trump as completely unable to perform his duties, and if the author is to be believed as a senior official, he or she swore an oath to protect the constitution of the US.

What is being described in the article is that Trump officials are actively sabotaging the President. However bad the President is, this is a real problem, and however funny we think it is, it's treasonous behavior.

If Trump is unfit (he absolutely is), he should be removed.

 

[TurkeysGhost]

Whomever wrote it should stop being such a pussy and work to invoke the 25th. In the article they identify Trump as completely unable to perform his duties, and if the author is to be believed as a senior official, he or she swore an oath to protect the constitution of the US.

What is being described in the article is that Trump officials are actively sabotaging the President. However bad the President is, this is a real problem, and however funny we think it is, it's treasonous behavior.

If Trump is unfit (he absolutely is), he should be removed.

I tend to agree with this. While it brings me happiness that the Trump administration is severely dysfunctional, this isn't a move that I can really praise.

The author is trying to have his cake and eat it too. Taking a firm, open stance against the presidency would mean losing the ability to push their own agenda.

That's the whole devil's bargain with Trump for the establishment conservatives. They get their tax cuts and judicial appointments, but have to deal with Trump's worst qualities. No amount of foot dragging will clean their hands of this presidency.

 

[kellyb]

Aug 28:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day/lodestar-2018-08-28

It's being discussed on the webster's twitter account, too:

https://twitter.com/MerriamWebster/status/1037447893274292229

I am truly curious about what inspired/"triggered" them to choose that word 2 days before McCain died...

Someone could just email them and ask, too:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/contact-us

Email would probably have a better chance of getting a response than social media.

 

[Squeegee Beckenheim]

Whomever wrote it should stop being such a pussy and work to invoke the 25th. In the article they identify Trump as completely unable to perform his duties, and if the author is to be believed as a senior official, he or she swore an oath to protect the constitution of the US.

What is being described in the article is that Trump officials are actively sabotaging the President. However bad the President is, this is a real problem, and however funny we think it is, it's treasonous behavior.

If Trump is unfit (he absolutely is), he should be removed.

Yup. S/he doesn't come out of this well, even if s/he is trying to paint him/herself as the hero.

 

[Bob001]

I can't believe there isn't a thread about this already, but yesterday's New York Times contained an anonymous editorial by a "senior official in the Trump administration" who says:
....

I just note that an editorial is written by a newspaper's editorial staff (usually separate from the news staff) to express the opinion of the newspaper itself. What the NYT printed was an op-ed (opposite the editorial page) column or article in which the writer is speaking for him/herself.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/05/business/media/new-york-times-trump-anonymous.html

The Times' news staff is now tasked with uncovering the identity of the writer that the editorial staff is committed to keeping secret.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/05/trump-anonymous-new-york-times-oped-809111

 

[kellyb]

It reads to me like it was written by Kissinger, who used the word "lodestar" at McCain's funeral. Whoever wrote it seemed to be going for maximum "destabilization" of the Donald's brain cells. LOL "The news media demonizes Trump's closest aids and staffers, but THEY are heroes because they are sabotaging him behind his back! Those who he believes are his closest friends are secretly his enemies"

 

[kellyb]

I think it was Nikki Haley.
She's friends/friendly with Kissinger, hates Russia...all the ideological alignments with the letter are correct, as far as I can tell.

 

[The_Animus]

The anonymity was supposedly to protect the person from being fired. Trump can't fire his VP so it makes me think it's not Pence.

 

[TurkeysGhost]

The anonymity was supposedly to protect the person from being fired. Trump can't fire his VP so it makes me think it's not Pence.

He couldn't fire Pence, but he could certainly quarantine him from the day to day business of the white house. "We installed an xbox in your office, don't come out until dinner time".

 

[kellyb]

Also, "steady state, not deep state"?

That is THE MOST HENRY KISSINGER thing ever said. lol

#NYTanon = Nikki Haley

 

[angrysoba]

Whomever wrote it should stop being such a pussy and work to invoke the 25th. In the article they identify Trump as completely unable to perform his duties, and if the author is to be believed as a senior official, he or she swore an oath to protect the constitution of the US.

What is being described in the article is that Trump officials are actively sabotaging the President. However bad the President is, this is a real problem, and however funny we think it is, it's treasonous behavior.
If Trump is unfit (he absolutely is), he should be removed.

Why is it "treasonous"?

 

[TragicMonkey]

I think it's just the start of operations plotted by that Machiavellian mastermind, Omarosa. She may be out of the White House but she left behind her own personal Operation Gladio. Her agents and allies will continue to work her agenda to topple the orange one and send him gibbering to the madhouse. He will rue the day he crossed the mighty Omarosa, if he's not ruing already. A ruer he shall be, so much ruing, my stars.

 

[Bob001]

....
What is being described in the article is that Trump officials are actively sabotaging the President. However bad the President is, this is a real problem, and however funny we think it is, it's treasonous behavior.
...

Treason is action against the nation. Trump, despite his delusions, is not the same as the nation.

 

[kellyb]

I think it's just the start of operations plotted by that Machiavellian mastermind, Omarosa. She may be out of the White House but she left behind her own personal Operation Gladio. Her agents and allies will continue to work her agenda to topple the orange one and send him gibbering to the madhouse. He will rue the day he crossed the mighty Omarosa, if he's not ruing already. A ruer he shall be, so much ruing, my stars.

 

[TragicMonkey]

Treason is action against the nation. Trump, despite his delusions, is not the same as the nation.

At least we can be certain Trump will never quote Louis XIV on the matter. Because he's never heard of him.

 

[angrysoba]

At least we can be certain Trump will never quote Louis XIV on the matter. Because he's never heard of him.

"I know the guy! Lewis, smart guy, ex-Ivy League. Says GREAT things about me, Lewis ex-Ivy!

 

[Belz...]

If Mike Pence didn't write it, the author including the "lodestar" language was pretty clever. Dropping as many red herrings as possible would simultaneously protect the author's true identity and sow maximum chaos into the White House, which would probably qualify as resistance behavior.

Whoever wrote that op-ed must have known that it would be closely scrutinized. I don't think it's far fetched that some deliberate misdirection would be used.

Trump's and Huckabee Sanders' reactions seem to indicate that the source is genuine, which helps corroborate Woodward's and Wolff's books. And everything else we suspected and heard about.