Resistance in the White House: Holding the Line Against Trump's Base Instincts

[JLW]

In an New York Times Op-Ed a high-level insider in the Trump White House explains the danger Trump poses to our republic and the attempts of a few patriots to keep Trump's baser instincts in check:

From the Op-Ed:

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......


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.

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.......

There is a quiet resistance within the administration of people choosing to put country first. But the real difference will be made by everyday citizens rising above politics, reaching across the aisle and resolving to shed the labels in favor of a single one: Americans.

Opinion | I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration

Thank heaven there are still patriots who put country before loyalty to the Orange menace.

God Speed to them.

 

[theHawk]

In an Op-Ed in the New York Times a high-level insider in the Trump White House explains the danger Trump poses to our republic and the attempts of a few patriots to how Trump's baser instincts in check:

From the Op-Ed:

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......


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.

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.......

There is a quiet resistance within the administration of people choosing to put country first. But the real difference will be made by everyday citizens rising above politics, reaching across the aisle and resolving to shed the labels in favor of a single one: Americans.

Opinion | I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration

Thank heaven there are still patriots who put country before loyalty to the Orange menace.

God Speed to them.

If true, it’s just another idiotic neo-con. He complains about his trade policies, which have been on point against the globalist Agenda. The rest of it is just nonsense you hear from any idiotic liberal. Hopefully the traitor will be found so he can be hanged out to dry for the coward he is. Why can’t these deep state moles be upfront and honest? Oh yea, because they are cowards.

 

[WaitingFor2020]

NYT has printed an OP-Ed by someone who claims to be inside the White House:

WHOA baby!

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.

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.

The result is a two-track presidency.

Take foreign policy: In public and in private, President Trump shows a preference for autocrats and dictators, such as President Vladimir Putin of Russia and North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, and displays little genuine appreciation for the ties that bind us to allied, like-minded nations.

Astute observers have noted, though, that the rest of the administration is operating on another track, one where countries like Russia are called out for meddling and punished accordingly, and where allies around the world are engaged as peers rather than ridiculed as rivals.

On Russia, for instance, the president was reluctant to expel so many of Mr. Putin’s spies as punishment for the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain. He complained for weeks about senior staff members letting him get boxed into further confrontation with Russia, and he expressed frustration that the United States continued to impose sanctions on the country for its malign behavior. But his national security team knew better — such actions had to be taken, to hold Moscow accountable.

This isn’t the work of the so-called deep state. It’s the work of the steady state.

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.

The bigger concern is not what Mr. Trump has done to the presidency but rather what we as a nation have allowed him to do to us. We have sunk low with him and allowed our discourse to be stripped of civility.

Senator John McCain put it best in his farewell letter. All Americans should heed his words and break free of the tribalism trap, with the high aim of uniting through our shared values and love of this great nation.

We may no longer have Senator McCain. But we will always have his example — a lodestar for restoring honor to public life and our national dialogue. Mr. Trump may fear such honorable men, but we should revere them.

There is a quiet resistance within the administration of people choosing to put country first. But the real difference will be made by everyday citizens rising above politics, reaching across the aisle and resolving to shed the labels in favor of a single one: Americans.

The writer is a senior official in the Trump administration.

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook and Twitter (@NYTopinion).

 

[CrusaderFrank]

I have no idea why Trump allowed ANY Obamaroids to remain clinging on.

Wait, I think the OpEd was written by Jeff Sessions

 

[Mac1958]

Holy crap. This is like a freakin' movie.

Kind of a "dark comedy".

 

[WaitingFor2020]

I have no idea why Trump allowed ANY Obamaroids to remain clinging on.

Wait, I think the OpEd was written by Jeff Sessions

It's too well-written to be Sessions.
But even a junior staffer on Obama's watch could have written a better piece than a senior staffer on Trump's.
.
.
.

 

[WaitingFor2020]

Holy crap. This is like a freakin' movie.

Kind of a "dark comedy".

It's definitely one of the better educated ones on his staff.
Kellyanne Conway couldn't write this.
Sarah Sanders couldn't write something like this, either.
Stephen Miller could.
John Kelly could.
.
.
.

 

[g5000]

Opinion | I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration

 

[JLW]

In an Op-Ed in the New York Times a high-level insider in the Trump White House explains the danger Trump poses to our republic and the attempts of a few patriots to how Trump's baser instincts in check:

From the Op-Ed:

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......


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.

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.......

There is a quiet resistance within the administration of people choosing to put country first. But the real difference will be made by everyday citizens rising above politics, reaching across the aisle and resolving to shed the labels in favor of a single one: Americans.

Opinion | I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration

Thank heaven there are still patriots who put country before loyalty to the Orange menace.

God Speed to them.

If true, it’s just another idiotic neo-con. He complains about his trade policies, which have been on point against the globalist Agenda. The rest of it is just nonsense you hear from any idiotic liberal. Hopefully the traitor will be found so he can be hanged out to dry for the coward he is. Why can’t these deep state moles be upfront and honest? Oh yea, because they are cowards.

More deep state nonsense. These people are Trump's own appointees. These are his people.

The traitor is the Orange Menace who seeks to destroy out institutions and reek havoc in the nation. This just confirms Woodward's book that Trump is an out-of-control maniac.

It is too bad there are so many people who still under the Orange one's spell. Trump is a rogue. A danger to the nation and the world.

 

[g5000]

Commence the mole hunt!

 

[Mac1958]

Holy crap. This is like a freakin' movie.

Kind of a "dark comedy".

It's definitely one of the better educated ones on his staff.
Kellyanne Conway couldn't write this.
Sarah Sanders couldn't write something like this, either.
Stephen Miller could.
John Kelly could.
.
.
.

It wouldn't be a shock if it were Kelly. It's like he'd only be staying in an attempt to mitigate the damage.

A "Deep Throat" for our time!
.

 

[Leo123]

Article in NYT....

Opinion | I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration

"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."

Just as most informed people already figured out. There are unelected bureaucrats within the administration who think they know better than the American electorate and are working to undermine this President.

 

[bodecea]

Interesting......will automatically be declared fake news.

 

[theHawk]

In an Op-Ed in the New York Times a high-level insider in the Trump White House explains the danger Trump poses to our republic and the attempts of a few patriots to how Trump's baser instincts in check:

From the Op-Ed:

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......


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.

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.......

There is a quiet resistance within the administration of people choosing to put country first. But the real difference will be made by everyday citizens rising above politics, reaching across the aisle and resolving to shed the labels in favor of a single one: Americans.

Opinion | I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration

Thank heaven there are still patriots who put country before loyalty to the Orange menace.

God Speed to them.

If true, it’s just another idiotic neo-con. He complains about his trade policies, which have been on point against the globalist Agenda. The rest of it is just nonsense you hear from any idiotic liberal. Hopefully the traitor will be found so he can be hanged out to dry for the coward he is. Why can’t these deep state moles be upfront and honest? Oh yea, because they are cowards.

More deep state nonsense. These people are Trump's own appointees. These are his people.

The traitor is the Orange Menace who seeks to destroy out institutions and reek havoc in the nation. This just confirms Woodward's book that Trump is an out-of-control maniac.

It is too bad there are so many people who still under the Orange one's spell. Trump is a rogue. A danger to the nation and the world.

Yet the “anonymous OP-ED” and yourself can’t identify exactly how he is a “danger to the world”. He isn’t starting unnecessary wars, and he has the economy booming. So feel free to point out how it’s the end of the world.

 

[EvilCat Breath]

Has anyone checked where Peter Szrok is?

We have no idea who this is. His word is a high level insider. He could be a janitor for all we really know. Find him, his cohorts and shoot them all on sight.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

NYT has printed an OP-Ed by someone who claims to be inside the White House:

WHOA baby!

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.

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.

The result is a two-track presidency.

Take foreign policy: In public and in private, President Trump shows a preference for autocrats and dictators, such as President Vladimir Putin of Russia and North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, and displays little genuine appreciation for the ties that bind us to allied, like-minded nations.

Astute observers have noted, though, that the rest of the administration is operating on another track, one where countries like Russia are called out for meddling and punished accordingly, and where allies around the world are engaged as peers rather than ridiculed as rivals.

On Russia, for instance, the president was reluctant to expel so many of Mr. Putin’s spies as punishment for the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain. He complained for weeks about senior staff members letting him get boxed into further confrontation with Russia, and he expressed frustration that the United States continued to impose sanctions on the country for its malign behavior. But his national security team knew better — such actions had to be taken, to hold Moscow accountable.

This isn’t the work of the so-called deep state. It’s the work of the steady state.

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.

The bigger concern is not what Mr. Trump has done to the presidency but rather what we as a nation have allowed him to do to us. We have sunk low with him and allowed our discourse to be stripped of civility.

Senator John McCain put it best in his farewell letter. All Americans should heed his words and break free of the tribalism trap, with the high aim of uniting through our shared values and love of this great nation.

We may no longer have Senator McCain. But we will always have his example — a lodestar for restoring honor to public life and our national dialogue. Mr. Trump may fear such honorable men, but we should revere them.

There is a quiet resistance within the administration of people choosing to put country first. But the real difference will be made by everyday citizens rising above politics, reaching across the aisle and resolving to shed the labels in favor of a single one: Americans.

The writer is a senior official in the Trump administration.

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook and Twitter (@NYTopinion).

You just admitted there is such a thing as the deep state.

 

[playtime]

Holy crap. This is like a freakin' movie.

Kind of a "dark comedy".

imo, it's a horribly written spy movie that is going to end badly for the villian.

 

[MarcATL]

Only the die-hard members of Trump's Kangaroo choir doesn't consider him to be a joke at this point.

 

[bodecea]

True or not.....trump will want this person rooted out.

 

[playtime]

Holy crap. This is like a freakin' movie.

Kind of a "dark comedy".

It's definitely one of the better educated ones on his staff.
Kellyanne Conway couldn't write this.
Sarah Sanders couldn't write something like this, either.
Stephen Miller could.
John Kelly could.
.
.
.

no way is it dead eyes miller. john kelly perhaps...