Habitat for Wildlife's Link
We live in interesting times, that's for sure!
What a dilemna.
Believe Bob Woodward’s book & 100s of hours of tapes and an amazing track record as well as a Pulitzer.
or
Believe a Grifter conman who has lied over 4,000 times in office & divided the country like never before. Hmmmmmm
I’m Going with the guy that exposed the last corrupt President, Nixon.
TD, that made me laugh! Thanks.
President Trump has made 4,229 false or misleading claims in 558 days
KSflatlander's Link
Your fav poster's Link
It is comforting to know that “know that there are adults in the room” who “recognize what is happening” and “are trying to do what’s right even when Donald Trump won’t.”
Doesn't strike me as the actions of an honorable person.
If there is a true danger and you have proof, come out in the daylight with your proof. Do it legally and honorably, not as a coward would.
Henry and BEG, both excellent, but opposing views.
While there is every chance this is 100% real, and given how much there would be to lose for the Times if it was not, in the current climate, running it anonymously is like dropping a match in a 50 gallon drum of gas. That's (anonymous sourcing) been a factor of the press for ever, but right now, with how on edge everyone is... Man, it just seems like a bad idea to run it anonymously.
No idea if it's accurate, I've never been in the west wing, or helped cabinet members do their job :) ha ha ha! There was a lot there that rings true at least subjectively... Heck, the authors description of President Trumps leadership style/approach feels right on, but that doesnt require one to be on the inside to figure it out.
Ill admit I'm not particularly confident in the President. So it's easy to assume it's all true. I'd just REALLY like the person to stand up, and talk it out. It's certainly not treasonous if they are just saying, for lack of a better term, that the President is unfit. They will lose their job for sure... But if they are that worried about the welfare of the country, step out and come fully clean. That would be bound to draw others with them and get the chips on the table.
I dont want more op eds from this person. While interesting, I want more concrete info. 20 years ago, an anonymous op ed would have been accepted. Today, not so much.
As usual, outstanding post and I share some of your sentiments.
Wow.
I wouldn’t be surprised one bit if you saw this happen in late 2019 or early 2020, Will. At a time when the President has far fewer days in power. Not saying it will happen, but, to me, that makes more sense as a course of action if there really was a soft coup ongoing.
Why on earth would anyone with legitimate concerns want to risk the ability to intervene, especially if there’s no guarantee anyone will take you seriously if you do come public? We’ve already seen that play out with this administration to varying degrees.
I have zero doubt that if there is proof that trump is dangerous to America, congress would impeach and convict him so fast it would make your head spin.
With 100% of the democrats voting against him no matter what, it wouldn't take that many republicans to make it happen - and they would if they thought they could make it happen.
As far as Congress removing the President, I don’t see where Mr. Annonymous is saying that anything the President is doing is impeachable or illegal. Incompetence doesn’t qualify as treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. You don’t need to commit a crime to be a danger.
IMO it is a cowardly act either way.
If you can't see what's wrong with this picture...... and the vile cowardly motivations behind it..... then you're blind.
Any aspirations of continued work in government are soon to be over. It's gonna be a job at CNN or MSNBC..... maybe sell a story to Huffy Puffy. Some will do anything to step into the spotlight for their 15 min of fame. This is grinding axes and payback for having been minimized or chastised. Drama Queens.
The machine will just have to find a way to roll on without them.....
The fact that Trump is an idiot and opens his mouth without engaging his brain is well known. Prime example is his suggested ban on the Constitutional rights of 18-20 year olds which was put into law in some places.
However, choosing people to surround that will reel you in is good/smart management in my book.
Liberals are grasping to find reasons to get Democrats fired up because working class Democrats are slowly boarding the "Trump Train". The Unions approve of the new NAFTA/Mexico $16 buck an hour thing. The late night shows are getting so boring with the same ol Trump stuff and its all morality based. Haven't seen Democrats standing up for morality since when?
I must admit I am starting to enjoy the liberal implosion and the normal people who are getting "woke". I surely didn't think this reality show approach would work but I am running a little short on complaints as of late....
All of us should be there, no matter what we think of trump.
Even if you like what he has done, there is much to not like about trump. I have worked with some great teachers that I really didn't like, but they were very effective teachers who worked hard so their students could learn. I often see trump in that same light.
Observing the man during the election as he stumbled from one episode of childish behavior like his hand size, making fun of a physically challenged person, inventing names for opponents and anyone who disagreed with him was entertaining to many, but I was not impressed. Leadership has to portray a decorum that fits the position.
Add in Trump saying himself yesterday that he is tough on people, there is no doubt in my mind there are multiple people working against him from within. Some are doing it out of revenge, others because they sincerely believe the man is unstable.
I say this recognizing the economy is great and he deserves a lot of credit. But he has always been a lightening rod, in his personal and professional life.
I am amazed at times the number of folks who give his behavior a pass. I know they would not raise their kids to emulate him, and they would keep their daughters far from him.
I know many of you will disagree, and that is fine. Obama was rightly criticized for making race relations worse. Trump is dividing us even more. Leadership should at least try and reach across the divide. That is why so many Americans loved RR.
Let's see how this plays out. I pray that I am wrong and his closest and most powerful think highly of his ability, convictions and motivations. I will not be surprised if this person is someone like Mattis, SoS, or other high ranking official who has already denied it.
If I am wrong, and hope I am, I will admit it and apologize. Though criticism is certainly expected, I bet a number of you have an uneasiness inside of you thinking at least some of the allegations are true.
bigeasygator's Link
MyBookie: The "field" (1-to-3), VP Mike Pence (2-to-3), Education Secretary Betsy Devos (2-to-1), Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (4-to-1), Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin (4-to-1), chief of staff John F. Kelly (4-to-1), Defense Secretary Jim Mattis (5-to-1), Attorney General Jeff Sessions (5-to-1), Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke (6-to-1), Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue (6-to-1), Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross (7-to-1) Labor Secretary Alex Acosta (7-to-1), HHS Secretary Alex Azar (8-to-1), HUD Secretary Ben Carson (8-to-1), VA Secretary Robert Wilkie (8-to-1), Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen (10-to-1), Ivanka Trump (12-to-1) and Jared Kushner (12-to-1).
Bovada: Sessions (5-to-2), Pence (3-to-1), Kelly (4-to-1), Mattis (4-to-1), UN Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley (10-to-1), “Javanka” (15-to-1), Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats (15-to-1), White House counsel Don McGahn (15-to-1), Melania Trump (50-to-1) and White House counselor Kellyanne Conway (50-to-1).
Bovada also puts 25-to-1 odds on Trump being the Times op-ed writer.
Can I get this on a T-Shirt?
I have a feeling we'll find out who wrote the op-ed sooner rather than later.
As much as I want to take the long-shot Melania, my money would be on Pence, Sessions, or Mattis.
Loose lips sink ships...
Liberal leftists are back at their old game of "it's not the information given is true or not that matters.... it's the seriousness of the charge....."
BTW..... I certainly can't see Mattis doing this. My guess is that would have been done face to face. This person is a backstabbing weasel.... not a leader of honorable men.....
When it all comes out, and it will..... my guess is it will be closer in rank to a broom pusher than to any "inner circle". Someone who was a career DC swamp rat and again, a Drama Queen.....
If real, this only affirms what the President has said all along... there are elements of the swamp (*career politicians gaming the system and raping the taxpayer for personal gain) that want him gone. Trump has upset the apple cart of lobbyist vacations and expensive bridges to nowhere, and the good ol' boy network is pissed.
Almost as mad as those rogue elements of the intelligence community who gambled away their reputations trying to tip the 2016 election towards their preferred gal... and lost. If Hillary had won we never would have learned that dossier was actually funded by the DNC, or that it was used to produce a FISA warrent to wiretap the political opposition. Turned out Trump was actually right all along when he said he was being wiretapped. No one believed him at the time. No one imagined the top players in the IC could be so dirty... yet those same dirty fingers of the Deep State keep pointing to Clapper, Brennan, Comey, McCabe, Yates, and Strozk as they remain star commentators on the 3 big anti-Trump networks.
This really is unprecedented and looks like a soft coup attempt to overturn the fair and final results of the 2016 election. If true the anonymous author may be facing charges of treason long before they phony up those same imaginary charges against Trump.
I agree the corrupt left's attempt to remove him through the current SC is a sham. But, the route above falls within our Constitution's framework IMO.
Current and former officials testifying under oath, honestly, I could see a conviction happening with Rs who want an excuse. To me, this is the real story, it is a plan by folks inside who either have it out for him or are convinced he is an idiot.
In spite of his behavior, turning $1 million into several billion tells you he has some talent. Most, including myself would not know where to begin.
However, Pence has a real shot at the 2020 Presidency (Trump got his big win, is quite old, and doesn't really need the aggravation) so it would be stupid to risk everything getting busted running his mouth to the Times. And the author will definitely get exposed. Why take that chance now?
No way Mattis or Kelly. Marines would never undermime the CINC that way.
I would bet its Sessions. They sparred early on about the immigration law and its several revisions. As well as all the bad feelings about recusing himself from the fake Russian collusion story. AND everyone knows Sessions is about to get fired. This was his last swipe at Trump with phony heroics before he gets the boot.
Even if the House plays the impeachment game, you will never impeach in senate. When was the last time 60+ senators agreed on anything contentious??
What even is the crime? Being brash and insensitive?!? There was no collusion, which isn't even a crime anyhow. And the Pres has every right to fire Comey. It's all political theater to oust the people's champion Trump and go back to corrupt washington business as usual.
You may absolutely be right. But if the House goes D, and people are called to testify, all bets are off. Dems would ask the right questions under any article to force witnesses to testify to trump's sanity, management style etc. I bet there is a lot that will come out that would cause people to more than flinch. The man cannot help himself.
This is a plausible scenario IMO.
"The Mystery Trump-Administration Official Is . . .
We can draw a few conclusions about the anonymous senior official in the Trump administration who wrote the New York Times op-ed about the “stable state” “resistance” within the executive branch.
The writer is a traditional Republican, referring to “ideals long espoused by conservatives: free minds, free markets and free people.” (Edit by me: Swamp Rat)
The writer is particularly informed about, and concerned about, the president’s views on Russia:
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.
The writer looked up to John McCain: “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.” The writer may well have been compelled to write this op-ed after McCain’s passing and the eulogies and reaction at his memorial service.
The writer did not work on the campaign — obviously, he holds Trump in low regard — but he’s probably been around the administration a while: “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.”
The writer must understand that being uncovered would end his career in GOP politics and torpedo any hopes of running for the Republican nomination someday. This is probably the last stop of his career. He probably considers himself to be part of a knowledgeable bipartisan consensus policy establishment and is worried about how his current work for Trump is perceived and will be remembered. This person is probably worried about his reputation and whether or not working for Trump will tarnish his legacy.
Traditional Republican, focused on Russia, inspired by McCain, been around a while, no future ambitions, part of the establishment. There is more than one figure in the administration who fits these criteria, but not many.
But I notice the recent article, “Aside from his father, Huntsman Jr. had ‘no greater mentor’ than McCain,” August 27, in the Desert News:
“Aside from my own dad, there’s been no one more impactful in my life,” [U.S. Ambassador to Russia] Jon Huntsman told the Deseret News from Moscow after initially declining to comment on his relationship with the Arizona senator, who died Saturday after battling brain cancer.
“It was the highest honor to associate with him. He was a mentor in many ways. Country first and bipartisanship were deeply ingrained due to his influence,” Huntsman said of his longtime friend.
Huntsman attended John McCain’s memorial service at the Washington National Cathedral. And Huntsman has already addressed calls for him to resign after Trump’s summit with Putin.
Huntsman responded:
Representatives of our foreign service, civil service, military and intelligence services have neither the time nor inclination to obsess over politics, though the issues of the day are felt by all. Their focus is on the work that needs to be done to stabilize the most dangerous relationship in the world, one that encompasses nuclear weapons, fighting terrorism, stopping bloodshed in Ukraine, and seeking a settlement of the seemingly intractable Syrian crisis. Their dedication to service to their country is above politics, and it inspires me to the core. It is my standard. (Emphasis added.)
I have taken an unscientific survey among my colleagues, whom you reference, about whether I should resign. The laughter told me everything I needed to know. It also underscores the fragile nature of this moment.
The unnamed official who wrote the New York Times op-ed concludes, “There is a quiet resistance within the administration of people choosing to put country first.”
Just a theory."
If true, just an ambassador. For now.
Annony Mouse's Link
I work for The New York Times but like-minded colleagues and I have vowed to thwart parts of its agenda and its worst inclinations, like Holocaust-denial.
Doug Ross @ Journal is taking the rare step of publishing an anonymous Op-Ed essay. We have done so at the request of the author, a senior editor whose last name rhymes with Frugman, Blaberman, or Crooks -- 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 in the comments section. Use the codeword: covfefe in the subject heading.
The mainstream media is facing a test to their credibility unlike any faced ever before.
Their nonstop, partisan animus against the President is largely unprecedented. Also, have you noticed how "unprecedented" sounds like "President"? That's the mark of some serious writing skills.
Papers like my employer, and television networks like, well every single one but Fox, have unveiled a weekly set of pseudo-news stories, each positioned to be the straw that broke the camel's back, if the camel's back is Trump's presidency. Consider a partial list of pseudo-scandals, just off the top of my head. Each was certain to bring an end to the crazy and evil Drumpf, once and for all.
Russian Collusion
The Special Counsel
The Marshal of the Supreme Court
Michael Flynn pleads guilty
Obstruction of Justice
Rick Gates negotiates a plea deal
The 25h Amendment
George Papadopoulos pleads guilty
Stormy Daniels
Michael Avenatti
Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury
Omarosa's book Don't Monkey Around
Paul Manafort convicted for tax evasion
Annulment of the 2016 election
Bob Woodward’s Fire and Fear
The anonymous op-ed in The New York Times
It's not just that the Inspector General's various investigations loom large over the media. Or the fact that the media is bitterly divided over Trump: whether he should be impeached or just thrown in prison.
The dilemma - which the Times does not fully appreciate -- is that many of its employees are working diligently to undermine the paper's mission to serve as a mouthpiece for the radical Left.
I would know. I am one of them.
To be clear, ours is not the popular #MAGA movement. We simply want the Times to succeed, in spite of its horrific and one-sided track record.
But we believe our primary duty is to the First Amendment, and the free press; but the Times continues to act in a manner that is hostile to bipartisanship, honest journalism and true reporting. For example, the Times behaves as though any state not named California or New York doesn't exist.
That is why many Times employees, from editors to, eh, editors, have vowed to do what we can preserve our democratic institution while thwarting Punchy's misguided impulses until he moves on to the next stage of his career, i.e., as just another AMBER ALERT FOR SENIOR CITIZENS statistic.
The root of the problem is The Times' amorality. Anyone who works there knows it is not moored to any discernible sense of honesty, fair play, or real reporting.
Meetings with the top managers veer off topic and off the rails. They engage in repetitive rants ("Hands Up, Don't Shoot!", "Resist!", and "Who stole my p*ssy hat?"), and their impulsiveness results in ill-informed and occasionally reckless decisions. Does the name Sarah Jeong ring a bell?
It may be too little and too late, but Americans should know that -- finally -- there are adults in the room. We fully recognize what has happened with the Times and its Democrat cesspool of mainstream media sentiment.
The good news related to the Trump administration is all around us: a great rapprochement with North Korea, the return of manufacturing jobs (the ones Barack Hussein Milhaus Benito Obama said were never coming back), a muscular response to Russia's transgressions, the repudiation of the insane Iran nuclear deal, the long-promised recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital city, new all-time highs in consumer and small business owner confidence and, well, the list goes on and on.
But The Times won't report any of that and -- if they do let it slip -- they somehow attribute these wins to the failed reign of one Barack Lolo Soetero Dunham Obobo.
This erratic behavior by The Times would be more concerning if it weren’t for unsung heroes in and around headquarters. These lionhearts have gone to great lengths to thwart the Times' worst instincts.
The result is a two-track newspaper.
Sometimes we change the first letter of every sentence in a news story to report on the real news that is so often suppressed by the News-monkeys of Manhattan.
Other times we use subliminal frames in news videos to reveal the truth.
And, on other occasions, we secretly change podcast links to download the Mark Levin Show instead of the monotonous, Pravda-like MP3s that barely attract 100 downloads a day.
The bigger concern is not what The New York Times has done to the media at large, but rather what we have a nation have allowed them to do to us. We have sunk low with the Times and allowed a so-called "free press" to devolve into a nonstop Democrat propaganda outlet.
The American people deserve better.
Yes, he has said some twisted stuff on occasion but that is apparently part of the winning formula. Remember, his turn at the helm comes after some very refined rhetorical fertilizer.
Perhaps we can return to civility, refinement and traditional dignity in the future but never again to the imitation of it.