NY Times editorial bombshell

[phiwum]

Well, at least the editorial clarifies one thing: the "deep state" of entrenched bureaucrats is real, and is really working to undermine the Executive branch.

Sorry? The deep state is supposed to be the holdovers, not the appointees by the President. This has **** all to do with the alleged deep state, unless the NYT is baldly lying about the source.

 

[phiwum]

Is that a rhetorical question? The answer is obviously "yes".

Ridiculous.

 

[phiwum]

Or the author handed the text to a cut-out, who forwarded it to the New York Times under their own name. The editor would get in direct contact with the cut-out, who would claim to be the real author. The editor would have no way of knowing it was a trick.

Could be aliens too.

 

[trustbutverify]

Not this Republican. I didn't read it and don't care who wrote it. It's clearly fake news, by any reasonable standard.

Nonsense.

If a senior official in the Trump administration is claiming that the POTUS is so phenomenally incompetent and deranged that his own hand chosen staff must covertly undermine him to protect the country from the last dying embers of his debauched mind, that is entirely legitimate news and, of course, must be published. Not publishing the op-ed would be journalistic malpractise.

 

[Distracted1]

Nonsense.

If a senior official in the Trump administration is claiming that the POTUS is so phenomenally incompetent and deranged that his own hand chosen staff must covertly undermine him to protect the country from the last dying embers of his debauched mind, that is entirely legitimate news and, of course, must be published. Not publishing the op-ed would be journalistic malpractise.

Clearly he is competent enough to know that his supporters are so deranged that they would even support him if he murdered someone in the middle of Fifth Ave.

 

[trustbutverify]

Clearly he is competent enough to know that his supporters are so deranged that they would even support him if he murdered someone in the middle of Fifth Ave.

Yes, he is competent enough to realize that. Doesn't require very much competency, however.

 

[Minoosh]

If a senior official in the Trump administration is claiming that the POTUS is so phenomenally incompetent and deranged that his own hand chosen staff must covertly undermine him to protect the country from the last dying embers of his debauched mind, that is entirely legitimate news and, of course, must be published.

I can't recall now but something was posted on ISF in the last year or so about aides working around Nixon when he was mired in depression, and drinking pretty heavily. Aides who protect the president from himself (and yes, this is enabling, but the specifics matter, IMO) might not be all that rare. Snopes rates as "unproven" if Reagan had any early dementia while in the White House.

I'm not enough of a historian to speculate about anyone else.

 

[BobTheCoward]

Nonsense.

If a senior official in the Trump administration is claiming that the POTUS is so phenomenally incompetent and deranged that his own hand chosen staff must covertly undermine him to protect the country from the last dying embers of his debauched mind, that is entirely legitimate news and, of course, must be published. Not publishing the op-ed would be journalistic malpractise.

If it is news, then it needed to come out of the op ed section and had the claims investigated and collaborated by a reporter.

 

[Minoosh]

What do you consider "legitimate", non fakenews media outlets?

Two sources for every line in the op-ed.

That's an answer to a totally different question from the one I asked. I was asking what news outlets you consider not fake news.

BrooklynBaby, can you answer the question that was asked? It's not that complicated.

 

[acbytesla]

I can't recall now but something was posted on ISF in the last year or so about aides working around Nixon when he was mired in depression, and drinking pretty heavily. Aides who protect the president from himself (and yes, this is enabling, but the specifics matter, IMO) might not be all that rare. Snopes rates as "unproven" if Reagan had any early dementia while in the White House.

I'm not enough of a historian to speculate about anyone else.

Woodrow Wilson was close to a vegetable his final year. Many a historian has said that his wife Edith was the defacto President. The staff covered for both of them.

 

[Ziggurat]

Sorry? The deep state is supposed to be the holdovers, not the appointees by the President. This has **** all to do with the alleged deep state, unless the NYT is baldly lying about the source.

You seem to believe the NYT said something about the author that they never actually said. Senior officials can indeed include holdovers, as well as non-political positions. That doesn't require the NYT to have lied.

 

[Venom]

Well, at least the editorial clarifies one thing: the "deep state" of entrenched bureaucrats is real, and is really working to undermine the Executive branch.

Sorry? The deep state is supposed to be the holdovers, not the appointees by the President. This has **** all to do with the alleged deep state, unless the NYT is baldly lying about the source.

Considering this wasn't long after he'd appointed the same people in office now this was a little hasty.

Trump will never have "Deep State people". That's one of the reasons I voted for him.

Yikes...

 

[kellyb]

You seem to believe the NYT said something about the author that they never actually said. Senior officials can indeed include holdovers, as well as non-political positions. That doesn't require the NYT to have lied.

This is a serious, non-snarky question:
Are you laying out a case that the "deep state" as it's referred to is real, and is comprised of high-ish level bureaucrats who are holdovers from one administration to the next?

 

[William Parcher]

Woodrow Wilson was close to a vegetable his final year.

He had started a good friendship with a butternut squash and spoke kind words to it.

 

[BrooklynBaby]

BrooklynBaby, can you answer the question that was asked? It's not that complicated.

I thought the question and my answer were very easy to understand. What is it you wish to know?

 

[BrooklynBaby]

This is a serious, non-snarky question:
Are you laying out a case that the "deep state" as it's referred to is real, and is comprised of high-ish level bureaucrats who are holdovers from one administration to the next?

What else could it possibly be?

 

[kellyb]

I thought the question and my answer were very easy to understand. What is it you wish to know?

What media outlets do you consider legitimate and not fakenews?

 

[kellyb]

What else could it possibly be?

Something like that, but I'd include lower level people, private intelligence agencies and operatives/professionals, and others with security clearances as well.

 

[Cain]

On the political betting site Predictit.org, Fiona Hill (who?) shot out to first place, but she's recently come down a few cents. Based on these share prices, nobody knows. Yet.

https://www.predictit.org/Market/4823/Who-will-NYT-confirm-as-anonymous-op-ed-author-in-2018

 

[The Great Zaganza]

I can't recall now but something was posted on ISF in the last year or so about aides working around Nixon when he was mired in depression, and drinking pretty heavily. Aides who protect the president from himself (and yes, this is enabling, but the specifics matter, IMO) might not be all that rare. Snopes rates as "unproven" if Reagan had any early dementia while in the White House.

I'm not enough of a historian to speculate about anyone else.

There is a big difference, though:
"Lodestar" and his like-minded WH seniors don't shield the nation from Trump's mental problems (such as Depression, Dementia, Alcoholism) but from his moral problems: they fully admit to acting because they disagree with his decisions, not because they know that he would regret those decisions once he's sober again.