Your Turn: Anonymous Trump Official Says President’s Team Resists His ‘Misguided Policies’

• In an anonymous New York Times OpEd, a senior Trump administration official says he and others are working to frustrate the president’s “misguided impulses.”
• The piece says that “many of the senior officials in [Trump’s] own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.”
• The writer says senior officials at one point contemplated attempting to remove President Donald Trump from office.

• Trump dismissed the op-ed as "really a disgrace" and "gutless," assailing the author and the New York Times for publishing the anonymous opinion piece.
• "We have somebody in what I call the failing New York Times that's talking about he's part of the resistance inside the Trump administration," Trump said. "This is what we have to deal with. And you know the dishonest media ... But it's really a disgrace."

Details

In a step the Times described as “rare,” it chose to publish the anonymous essay by “a senior official in the Trump administration whose identity is known to us and whose job would be jeopardized by its disclosure.”

There is currently no way of knowing the author’s identity, or whether the person is a Trump appointee.

The writer asserts that this:

“is not the popular ‘resistance’ of the left. We want the administration to succeed and think that many of its policies have already made America safer and more prosperous.

“But we believe our first duty is to this country, and the president continues to act in a manner that is detrimental to the health of our republic.”

The OpEd comes on the heels of similar allegations in a new book by Bob Woodward, one of the journalists who originally exposed the Watergate scandal that led to former President Richard Nixon’s impeachment. Indeed, today’s OpEd explicitly links to the most recent Woodward story.

The anonymous writer says:

“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.

“Although he was elected as a Republican, the president shows little affinity for ideals long espoused by conservatives: free minds, free markets and free people. At best, he has invoked these ideals in scripted settings. At worst, he has attacked them outright.”

The piece takes issue with Trump’s attacks on the press, and describes his impulses as “generally anti-trade and anti-democratic.”

The writer says senior officials considered attempting to remove Trump from office:

“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.”

That said, the writer highlights some positive elements:

“There are bright spots that the near-ceaseless negative coverage of the administration fails to capture: effective deregulation, historic tax reform, a more robust military and more.”

The writer emphasizes that in their opinion, there is reason to feel encouraged:

“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.”

This article has been updated to include the President's response.

What do you think?

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—Sara E. Murphy

(Photo Credit: White House / Public Domain)