I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration

"I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration"
The graphic published along with the essay
Author An anonymous senior Trump administration official, the identity of whom is being withheld by the New York Times's editorial board
Country United States
Language English
Published in The New York Times
Publication type Op-ed
Publisher Arthur Gregg Sulzberger
Media type Newspaper
Publication date September 5, 2018

"I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration" is an anonymous essay published by The New York Times on September 5, 2018. The author is described as a senior official working for the administration of Donald Trump.

The op-ed criticizes Trump and says that many current members of the administration deliberately disobey or ignore his suggestions and orders for the good of the country. It also says that some cabinet members in the early days of the administration discussed using the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution as a way to remove the President from power.

The New York Times editorial board said that it knows the author's identity but granted the person anonymity to protect them from reprisal.[1][2] The publication of this editorial was unusual because few New York Times anonymously written pieces have been published.[3]

Political environment

The essay was published on September 5, 2018. During the week that the article was published, the book Fear: Trump in the White House by political author Bob Woodward was being promoted in the media ahead of its September 11 release date. Woodward's book depicts the Trump administration as being engulfed in chaos and internal opposition to Trump's impulses.[4] The day before the essay's publication, the US Senate Judiciary Committee began public hearings on controversial US Supreme Court candidate Brett Kavanaugh. This timing was also two months prior to the 2018 US elections. The timing has been questioned as a possible calculated diversion, although The New York Times editorial board denied this.[1] The essay praised Sen. John McCain, whose death occurred 11 days prior to the essay's publication.[5]

Contents

The author of the essay writes that they, and many of their colleagues, deliberately fail to follow some directives from the President when they feel the proposal would be bad for the country, "working diligently" to block his "worst inclinations".[6] The author writes, "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".[7] The author expresses support for a traditional Republican platform, and particularly the Trump tax policy, while disagreeing strongly with the Trump foreign policy, and taking pride in colleagues' efforts to shift that policy in regard to Russia. The paper's editorial page editor summarized the column's perspective as "that of a conservative explaining why they felt that even if working for the Trump administration meant compromising some principles, it ultimately served the country if they could achieve some of the President’s policy objectives while helping resist some of his worst impulses."[1]

Identity of the author

The New York Times has said they were working with a single author, not a group of officials, and that the text was lightly edited by them, but not for the purpose of obscuring the author's identity. They said the definition of "senior administration official" was that used in regular practice by journalists to describe "positions in the upper echelon of an administration, such as the one held by this writer."[1]

The newspaper's editorial page editor, op-ed editor, and publisher know the identity of the author. Patrick Healy, the newspaper's politics editor, said that no identifying information has been leaked to The New York Times's newsroom. The agreement between the newspaper's editorial department and the author does not prevent the newspaper's news department from investigating the identity of the author.[8]

According to James Dao, the paper's editorial page editor, the author was introduced to them by a trusted intermediary, and the author's identity was verified by background checking and direct communication. He said the use of an anonymous, vaguely described identity was believed to be necessary to protect the author from reprisal, "and that concern has been borne out by the President’s reaction to the essay."[1] In response to a reader's question about whether the paper might have to reveal the author's name, Dao replied "We intend to do everything in our power to protect the identity of the writer and have great confidence that the government cannot legally force us to reveal it."[1]

Several theories about who wrote the op-ed have been offered. Some theories looked at which administration officials have a record of using certain words that appear in the essay. Specifically, the theories focused on the use of the words "steady state", "lodestar" and "first principles".[9] Some offshore bookmakers are taking bets on who the anonymous author turns out to be; Mike Pence is the favorite at one site, while Jeff Sessions leads the field at another.[10]

More than 30 senior administration officials have denied authoring the editorial:

U.S. Senator Rand Paul suggested that the President force members of his administration to take polygraph examinations. Presidential advisers did consider polygraph exams as well as requiring officials to sign sworn affidavits. Reports surfaced that the administration came up with a list of about a dozen people who are suspected to have authored the editorial.[19] By September 7, Trump said that the Justice Department should open an investigation to determine who wrote the essay. However, the Justice Department would only be able to open an investigation if it is determined that the editorial publicized classified information.[20]

Reaction

Trump reacted in private with what was described as "volcanic" anger.[21] Via Twitter he said the author was "failing" and "probably here for all the wrong reasons".[2] He also questioned via Twitter whether the aide was another "phony source" invented by the "failing New York Times". Trump tweeted: "If the GUTLESS anonymous person does indeed exist, the Times must, for National Security purposes, turn him/her over to government at once!"[3][22] He later tweeted: "TREASON?"[6]

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders called the author a "coward" and said they should resign.[3] Some Democrats, including Robby Mook and Peter Daou, criticized the author for not doing enough to stop Trump. Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) commended the author for speaking out against the President, but criticized the author for maintaining anonymity, saying, "This is the problem with a lot of Republicans, including in the House: they privately say he's wrong, but they don't do anything about it".[23] Former President Barack Obama warned that the op-ed should be viewed as a sign of "dangerous times" rather than as a source of comfort, criticizing the actions of the author as undemocratic.[24]

Georgetown University political scientist Elizabeth N. Saunders noted that while it is accurate that staff within administrations often push back on the sitting president's views and that staff leak things to the press, the extent to which senior advisers within the Trump administration push back against him is "essentially unprecedented".[25] Cato Institute scholar Julian Sanchez questioned the author's motives: "Because I can pretty much guarantee that this: (1) Triggers an epic tantrum and makes Trump even more paranoid than he already is, & (2) Sets off a mole-hunt that results in suspiciously competent persons being purged & replaced with loyalist nuts and/or Trump family members."[26]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "How the Anonymous Op-Ed Came to Be". The New York Times. September 8, 2018. Retrieved September 15, 2018.
  2. 1 2 Rascoe, Ayesha (September 5, 2018). "White House Rejects NYT Column Attributed to Anonymous Official That Criticizes Trump". NPR. Retrieved September 5, 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 Diamond, Jeremy; Sullivan, Kate (September 5, 2018). "Trump slams damning New York Times op-ed as 'gutless'". CNN. Retrieved September 5, 2018.
  4. ↑ Woodward book 'Fear' reflects chaos in White House, says Kelly called Trump an 'idiot'
  5. ↑ Wingett Sanchez, Yvonne. "'Lodestar' John McCain quoted in anonymous 'New York Times' essay attacking Donald Trump". USA TODAY.
  6. 1 2 Segers, Grace (September 6, 2018). "Anonymous senior Trump official writes op-ed on "resistance" within administration". CBS News. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
  7. ↑ Wilkie, Christina (September 5, 2018). "'I am part of the resistance': Anonymous Trump official writes an extraordinary NYT op-ed". CNBC. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
  8. ↑ Wattles, Jackie. "Not even New York Times' top news editor knows who wrote anonymous op-ed". CNNMoney.
  9. ↑ Hartmann, Margaret (September 6, 2018). "All the Theories on Who Wrote the Anonymous Anti-Trump Op-Ed". New York. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
  10. ↑ Li, David K. (September 6, 2018). "Bookies place odds on identity of anonymous author of NY Times op-ed". New York Post. Retrieved September 16, 2018.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Mettler, Katie; Kirkpatrick, Nick (September 6, 2018). "These officials have denied writing the Trump 'resistance' op-ed". Washington Post.
  12. 1 2 3 Stracqualursi, Veronica; Zeleny, Jeff; Acosta, Jim (September 6, 2018). "Here are the administration officials who deny they wrote The New York Times op-ed". CNN.
  13. ↑ Sherman, Gabriel. "'He's Destroying Your Presidency': Javanka Blamed Kelly for the Times Op-Ed". The Hive. Vanity Fair.
  14. ↑ Christnot, Amelia Mavis. "Kevin Hassett Tells New York Times That If He Is 'Anonymous' That They Have His Permission to Reveal His Name".
  15. 1 2 "Trump Says Times Op-Ed 'Virtually' Treason: White House Update". September 6, 2018.
  16. ↑ Rooney, Kate (September 7, 2018). "Larry Kudlow rips the person who wrote the NYT op-ed, delivers impassioned defense of Trump". CNBC. Retrieved September 8, 2018.
  17. 1 2 "'Haha nope': The many op-ed denials from Trump's inside circle". POLITICO.
  18. ↑ "Anonymous Op-Ed Criticizes Trump, Kavanaugh Confirmation Hearings". NPR.org.
  19. ↑ Baker, Peter; Haberman, Maggie; Sullivan, Eileen (September 6, 2018). "It Wasn't Me: Pence, Pompeo and a Parade of Administration Officials Deny Writing Op-Ed".
  20. ↑ Miller, Zeke; Lemire, Jonathan (September 7, 2018). "Pres. Trump calls for Justice Dept. investigation of op-ed write". Associated Press.
  21. ↑ "On the hunt for a betrayer, a 'volcanic' Trump lashes out". NBC News. September 5, 2018. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
  22. ↑ Hayes, Christal (September 5, 2018). "Whodunit? Social media users search for anonymous Trump official who penned scathing NYT essay". USA Today. Retrieved September 5, 2018.
  23. ↑ Sommerfeldt, Chris (September 5, 2018). "Democrats aren't buying anonymous Trump official's claim of an internal 'resistance': 'You're complicit'". New York Daily News. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
  24. ↑ Merica, Dan (7 September 2018). "'This is not normal': Obama slams anonymous author of New York Times op-ed and warns people against feeling comforted by it". Business Insider. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  25. ↑ "Analysis | Sure, Trump's advisers aren't the first to push back against a president. But what's happening now is completely unprecedented". Washington Post. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
  26. ↑ "In defense of the New York Times's anonymous Trump official". Vox. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
  • "I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration". The New York Times. September 5, 2018.
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