Wow ! From a senior Trump official published yesterday in The NY Times
In response to:
I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration
I work for the president but like-minded colleagues and I have vowed to thwart parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations
.
Sept. 5, 2018
The Times today is taking the rare step of publishing an anonymous Op-Ed essay. We have done so at the request of the author, a senior official in the Trump administration whose identity is known to us and whose job would be jeopardized by its disclosure. We believe publishing this essay anonymously is the only way to deliver an important perspective to our readers. We invite you to submit a question about the essay or our vetting process here.
President Trump is facing a test to his presidency unlike any faced by a modern American leader.
It’s not just that the special counsel looms large. Or that the country is bitterly divided over Mr. Trump’s leadership. Or even that his party might well lose the House to an opposition hellbent on his downfall.
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.
To be clear, ours 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.
That is why many Trump appointees have vowed to do what we can to preserve our democratic institutions while thwarting Mr. Trump’s more misguided impulses until he is out of office.
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.
In addition to his mass-marketing of the notion that the press is the “enemy of the people,” President Trump’s impulses are generally anti-trade and anti-democratic.
Don’t get me wrong. 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.
But these successes have come despite — not because of — the president’s leadership style, which is impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective.
From the White House to executive branch departments and agencies, senior officials will privately admit their daily disbelief at the commander in chief’s comments and actions. Most are working to insulate their operations from his whims.
Meetings with him veer off topic and off the rails, he engages in repetitive rants, and his impulsiveness results in half-baked, ill-informed and occasionally reckless decisions that have to be walked back.
“There is literally no telling whether he might change his mind from one minute to the next,” a top official complained to me recently, exasperated by an Oval Office meeting at which the president flip-flopped on a major policy decision he’d made only a week earlier.
The erratic behavior 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.
I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration
I work for the president but like-minded colleagues and I have vowed to thwart parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations
.
Sept. 5, 2018
The Times today is taking the rare step of publishing an anonymous Op-Ed essay. We have done so at the request of the author, a senior official in the Trump administration whose identity is known to us and whose job would be jeopardized by its disclosure. We believe publishing this essay anonymously is the only way to deliver an important perspective to our readers. We invite you to submit a question about the essay or our vetting process here.
President Trump is facing a test to his presidency unlike any faced by a modern American leader.
It’s not just that the special counsel looms large. Or that the country is bitterly divided over Mr. Trump’s leadership. Or even that his party might well lose the House to an opposition hellbent on his downfall.
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.
To be clear, ours 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.
That is why many Trump appointees have vowed to do what we can to preserve our democratic institutions while thwarting Mr. Trump’s more misguided impulses until he is out of office.
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.
In addition to his mass-marketing of the notion that the press is the “enemy of the people,” President Trump’s impulses are generally anti-trade and anti-democratic.
Don’t get me wrong. 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.
But these successes have come despite — not because of — the president’s leadership style, which is impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective.
From the White House to executive branch departments and agencies, senior officials will privately admit their daily disbelief at the commander in chief’s comments and actions. Most are working to insulate their operations from his whims.
Meetings with him veer off topic and off the rails, he engages in repetitive rants, and his impulsiveness results in half-baked, ill-informed and occasionally reckless decisions that have to be walked back.
“There is literally no telling whether he might change his mind from one minute to the next,” a top official complained to me recently, exasperated by an Oval Office meeting at which the president flip-flopped on a major policy decision he’d made only a week earlier.
The erratic behavior 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.
Continued in first comment below
Comments (38)
A small comfort...but at least there are some protecting America from Trump's idiocy...
Yes I know freedom of the press.
However, revealing the source would do several negative things.
It would prevent others from going public with their experiences.
It would cause the source to lose his job
and
It would prevent that source from being "one of the adults in the room".
The Trump presidency is the worst one in US history.
Who knows how bad Trump's presidency would be, without take charge adults with a conscience in the room.
I may scratch my head at times wondering of why certain things are done a certain way but I do know why the press do what they do.
Impeachment and trials to determine jail stay is another issue.
However, I will give him release of hostages and remains from North Korea, even though he risked
the start of nuclear war.
Just in case Trump were to leave office any time soon, here’s a list of his successors, as outlined in The Succession Act 1947.
Obviously, Trump's presidency is going really, really smoothly with absolutely no troubles.
That Iran nuclear deal looks to have been a top bit of business from the POTUS, ish, but that FBI investigation isn't exactly going away.
Whether Trump will get impeached remains to be seen - but no one was ever hurt by thinking hypothetically.
Should Trump get the boot we would be faced with Vice President Mike Pence (and his rabbit) in the Oval Office.
Arrangements handling any further than that have changed over time – and throughout US history, the line of succession has never gone further than the vice president.
That being said only two Presidents have ever been successfully impeached: Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton, both of which were acquitted of the charges held against them by a Senate trial.
While Richard Nixon was also impeached, hechose to resign rather than face the charges.
Anyway, should we reach this scenario with Trump, here is the current list, in order, of the people that will succeed him.
1. Vice President Pence
2. House Speaker, Paul Ryan
3. President pro tempore of the Senate, Orrin Hatch
4. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo
5. Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin
6. Defense Secretary, James Mattis
7. Attorney General, Jeff Sessions
8. Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke
9. Agriculture Secretary, Sonny Perdue
10. Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross
11. Labor Secretary, Alex Acosta
12. Health and Human Services Secretary, Alex M. Azar II
13. Housing and Urban Development Secretary, Ben Carson
14. Transportation Secretary, Elaine Chao
15. Energy Secretary, Rick Perry
16. Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos
17. Veteran Affairs Secretary, Robert Wilkie
18. Homeland Security Secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen
But, #1, 7, & 16 are especially terrible choices.
I suppose the lawsuits against Trump are "fake"...just because the news isn't writing about roses and sunshine regarding Trump...you deem it fake news...
Blindly following a man who wants you to think of him as a saviour...rather dangerous...he sounds like a dictator...
Trump effortlessly shoots himself in the foot, over and over again.
Now, his own team are doing it for him.
It's only a matter of time now....
BS - Yes, it seems that it is just a matter of time.
LL - It is sad, isn't it ? The drones have been programmed to regurgitate "fake news" in response to anything that contradicts their preconceived notions, no matter what the evidence states.
LI is right. It's like a cult. They prefer to drink the Trump cool-aid, rather than accept reality.
"Lodestar" is certainly not a word commonly used, and the dedicated researchers have indicated Pence has frequently used this word in speeches, over the years.
....though it is not concrete evidence and may have, in fact, been cleverly thrown in as a red herring to detract attention away from the identity of the real author?
Just a thought.
Is that why the Times has won the Pulitzer Prize 125 times?
They are well aware of who the scribe is but are protecting his/her identity for very obvious reasons.
That's easy: FAKE PRIZE !
I was speaking about the Republican party backing Trump as leader of the party...they could have stopped the chaos earlier...backbone was needed...
I've heard and seen it done before.I have some friends who supported one party political figure and turned right around and voted for another.
To be fair Both parties should be ashamed of themselves.
I hear you on that...overall...the American public should have gotten the best representatives of both parties...
JimN
Who knew that Bush jr. would be liked now...lol...
Be careful what you wish for...reminds me of George Orwell's Animal Farm...the creatures did not like the cantankerous farmer but looking back...the farm was in better hands than the pig patrol and company...
Here is Trevor Noah's take on the NY Times Op-ed article;