2LT International News

No one can beat me: Trump slams ‘gutless’ NYT editorial

Sep 7, 2018

WASHINGTON, U.S. – Through his tenure lasting close to two years, there has been no dearth of controversies dogging the U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration. 

While most leaks and controversies have so far been blamed on the ‘fake news media’, ‘Democrats’ or others who have faked allegiance to the country’s Commander-in-Chief – the scandal that erupted this week was not just unprecedented but is something that is set to go down in history as one of the most explosive moments of Trump’s administration. 

The New York Times published an anonymous opinion column on Wednesday, which was reportedly penned by a “senior” Trump administration official and exposed what he/she called a “quiet resistance” against the president inside the White House. 

The column brought with it a storm that has raged on for several hours since it was published and continues to grow mightier by the minute – and is already threatening to unleash an imminent explosive war inside the Trump circle. 

Not-so-quiet resistance

The author titled the column “I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration” and then went on to pen an unflattering description of the White House under Trump.

In the tell-all tale, the author revealed that there is a “two-track presidency” in place, and that “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.”

It noted, “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.”

Adding, “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.”

The author explained that some of Trump’s aides “have gone to great lengths to keep bad decisions contained to the West Wing, though they are clearly not always successful.”

The author wrote, “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.”

It further claims that Trump’s “instability” led to “early whispers within the cabinet of invoking the 25th Amendment, which would start a complex process for removing the president.”

The supposed senior official wrote, “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.”

Many compared the author’s description to the revelations made in the recently revealed bombshell book by Bob Woodward, called “Fear: Trump in the White House,” which depicts the chaos within Trump territory in minute details. 

Lest he/she be misunderstood for an opponent, the author clarified that the White House resisters want the administration to succeed.

The mysterious author wrote, “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.”

Adding, “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 column states, “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.”

According to the author, Trump has little regard for U.S. institutions and longstanding GOP policies.

The author wrote, “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.”

Yet, the column cited, “But these successes have come despite — not because of — the president’s leadership style, which is impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective.”

Adding, “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.”

Whodunnit?

In his many parts, many moods response to the column, Trump posted a video from Fox News in which the President is seen ripping the New York Times for publishing the “gutless editorial.”

Then, 30 minutes later, Trump tweeted a one-word response – “TREASON?”

He then predicted that “the New York Times, and CNN and all of these phony media outlets will be out of business” when he’s no longer president “because there’ll be nothing to write and nothing of interest.”

Addressing a gathering of law enforcement officials at the White House, Trump declared, “They don’t like Donald Trump, and I don’t like them because they’re very dishonest people.”

A short while later, Trump called the column a “gutless editorial” and “really a disgrace.”

Then, in an extraordinary move, Trump demanded that if “the GUTLESS anonymous person does indeed exist, the Times must, for National Security purposes, turn him/her over to government at once!”

The White House Press Secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders issued a statement saying, “The individual behind this piece has chosen to deceive, rather than support, the duly elected president of the United States. He is not putting country first, but putting himself and his ego ahead of the will of the American people. This coward should do the right thing and resign.”

The column, however, almost instantly, triggered waves of fear and doubt inside the White House, with each official looking at the other with suspecting eyes and receiving the same treatment.