"davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com" (davesaddiction)
09/06/2018 at 11:10 • Filed to: None
1
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"davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com" (davesaddiction)
09/06/2018 at 11:10 • Filed to: None | 1
| 55 |
Text of the op-ed essay in the Times inside.
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 !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
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 !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! 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 !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! 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 !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . 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.
—————————
Just crazy... (I added the bold , just to be clear).
What is the objective of releasing such a letter to the public? I assume that it’s a plea to Congress to act as quickly as possible to remove him from office, but since it seems very few of our elected officials have the backbone to pursue such a course, I fear that that the more likely result is that many more reasonable-minded people on the President’s staff will be removed and replaced by more reliable yes-men and -women, which can only lead to disaster...
facw
> davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
09/06/2018 at 11:07 |
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I can see three reasons:
Hoping to create hype for a later book
Hoping to encourage anti-Trump (though not anti-conservative) sentiment among Republicans.
Trump is just such a colossal dick that humiliating him is its own reward.
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davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
> facw
09/06/2018 at 11:14 |
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1 is a shitty reason. 2 & 3 are pretty legit.
I find it pretty comical that the writer threw “lodestar” in there to fuel speculation that it was Pence writing it.
Tristan
> davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
09/06/2018 at 11:32 |
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Michael Wolff tried this, Bob Woodward tried this, Omarosa Manigault tried this... But this time it's totally different! It's not just a crazy person making shit up this time!
Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap
> davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
09/06/2018 at 11:36 |
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I like the sentiment of the article and am glad that they decided to publish it. However, I don’t think it is going to do any good in lessening the polarization of the parties and getting back to a somewhat civil discourse.
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davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
> Tristan
09/06/2018 at 11:39 |
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At least Woodward and this person (I assume) have some credibility.
But he’s been Teflon Trump so far... and the economy is rocking...
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davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
> Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap
09/06/2018 at 11:40 |
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Yeah, that’s been on the decline for decades now.
I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker
> davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
09/06/2018 at 11:41 |
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I had a talk with my dad a few weeks ago about impeachment- as much as I dislike the Trump presidency, I’m against impeachment because of the 25th amendment. It’s better to have an president who’s socially regressive and incompetent than one who’s socially regressive and competent.
Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now)
> davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
09/06/2018 at 11:42 |
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This is essentially just a move to try to give the GOP an exit strategy and save face should Trump go so far that they can’t cover his ass. It’s pretty pathetic to be honest.
blacktruck18
> davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
09/06/2018 at 11:44 |
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Huffington Post seems to think it was Pence.
Which I guess kind of could make sense. Stir the pot, get little Donny boo boo impeached and take over. It makes more sense if you look at it through the lens of Pence thinks God wants him to be president.
No really...
fintail
> davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
09/06/2018 at 11:44 |
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Well, the markets are rocking, still not much progress in terms of real incomes or the wealth chasm.
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davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
> fintail
09/06/2018 at 11:47 |
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Yeah, but somehow the people who voted him in, who are suffering at the bottom of this chasm, don’t seem to care. He can seemingly do no wrong in their eyes.
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fintail
> davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
09/06/2018 at 11:49 |
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So long as they can own the libz, they are fine. Cut off their nose to spite their face.
nermal
> davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
09/06/2018 at 11:50 |
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New theory:
There’s a behind-the-scenes “The Apprentice” spin-off reality TV show filming, and the goal for the contestants
is to sell the most books possible. Everybody is taking their turn launching their book
.
The person that wrote this is upping the
game, and about to dab on the haters that didn’t think to do
it first.
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davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
> blacktruck18
09/06/2018 at 11:50 |
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“ There are some other possible holes in the theory.
Business Insider notes that previous stories about White House leakers have said that staffers who supply anonymous quotes to the press have been known to use words or phrases employed by other members of the Trump administration to keep the president guessing.
“To cover my tracks, I usually pay attention to other staffers’ idioms and use that in my background quotes. That throws the scent off me,” one White House official told Axios earlier this year.”
Pence isn’t stupid enough to pull a trick like this, even if he is “on the team” inside with this person.
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davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
> Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now)
09/06/2018 at 11:51 |
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Yeah, it definitely could be viewed as a CYA document...
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davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
> I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker
09/06/2018 at 11:52 |
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Even if it results in WWIII?
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davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
> nermal
09/06/2018 at 11:53 |
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Most reasonable explanation.
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facw
> I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker
09/06/2018 at 11:57 |
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I feel like Pence would make bad decisions that would hurt the country, but is far less likely to undermine the basic institutions of the state to do so. He’ll be socially regressive, but I don’t think he’d be in favor of the authoritarian policies Trump supports. I am genuinely worried that if Trump is feeling bold enough, he could do basically anything he wants and Congress won’t have the backbone to stop him. The courts, even packed with Trump judges, might stand in the way of especially egregious things, but unless Congress will back them that is meaningless.
I also think from a global perspective, Pence would be less likely to do this thing Trump is doing where he’s hostile to our allies and cozies up with tyrants.
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blacktruck18
> davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
09/06/2018 at 11:58 |
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And that’s what I get for not reading the whole article. In my defense my internet keeps crapping out this morning which is making news consumption difficult .
However, I will wear my asshole crown with honor for the rest of the day.
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Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap
> davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
09/06/2018 at 12:01 |
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Fair point.
ZHP Sparky, the 5th
> facw
09/06/2018 at 12:09 |
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I agree completely with this. Pence creeps the hell out of me with his stone aged belief systems. But he’s not nearly as unhinged or lacking a moral compass as Trump. His value system and morals may be different from mine – but I’m fairly confident that they exist to some extent. To me, that is a baseline necessity for any person holding public office. Beyond that I may disagree with what they’re doing but remain able to maintain faith that to some extent they will remain within the limits of the law and right/wrong. Trump sees no such thing – everything is his way or the highway.
So yes, a President Pence would be a worsening of the worst period of executive politics this country has gone through in modern times (if not, ever) – but hey, at least it’ll be somewhat predictable, and driven less by rabid and blind allegiance?
Just Jeepin'
> davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
09/06/2018 at 12:10 |
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The insanely frustrating part is that the true constitutional crisis is the rampant undermining of the president. The 25th amendment is in the bloody constitution. Use it.
Establishing a precedent that the executive branch can subvert the president is, despite the current situation where it’s effectively a patriotic gesture, in order to avoid invoking the constitutional removal of an incompetent tyrant-wannabe, is absurd. Use the legal tools at your disposal.
functionoverfashion
> davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
09/06/2018 at 12:10 |
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re: the illustration - meanwhile, Alaska and Hawaii -
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ZHP Sparky, the 5th
> fintail
09/06/2018 at 12:11 |
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Gonna start trickling down any day! Just don’t taste it...
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davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
> functionoverfashion
09/06/2018 at 12:11 |
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Haha - they’ve surely gotten over always being left out by now.
DipodomysDeserti
> Tristan
09/06/2018 at 12:14 |
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It’s a senior administration official, so it still might be a crazy person.
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davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
> Just Jeepin'
09/06/2018 at 12:17 |
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Yeah, we are truly in uncharted territory. The “ adults in the room” comment, coming from someone inside the administration, is pretty terrifying. Basically saying, “this guy’s a child, and he’s in charge, but we’re going to make sure he doesn’t break anything .” That works fine, right up until the moment it doesn’t.
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davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
> blacktruck18
09/06/2018 at 12:18 |
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Haha! You wear it well. [tips cap]
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functionoverfashion
> davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
09/06/2018 at 12:22 |
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Oh they’re beyond over it. They probably just want to be ignored, like a child hiding in his room while his parents argue.
To the op-ed itself, I’m just happy people are speaking out. From day one I’ve said, forget policy
, DJT is just not qualified for the job, and he’s dangerous to us all.
Tapas
> davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
09/06/2018 at 12:48 |
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Basically what he’s saying is, yeah yeah constitutional crisis, in competent president with dictatorial inclination, blah blah - the resistance within the white house has got this. I will do everything in my power to stop absolute Armageddon, except accept a republican loss in the elections or compromise on any of the conservative pol icies I like.
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I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker
> davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
09/06/2018 at 12:50 |
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I don't think Trump could start WWIII. I don't believe the military leadership has enough loyalty to be complicit in it.
Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz)
> Just Jeepin'
09/06/2018 at 12:55 |
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That struck me when I read it yesterday as well. Using a tool that added to the constitution for just this reason would in no way create a constitutional crisis. Saying it would is simple a cop out, nothing more, nothing less.
Trevor Noah summed it up perfectly by saying something along the lines of it’s like not pulling the fire alarm during a fire because you don’t want to get broken
glass on the floor
. Of course, his version is better.
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davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
> I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker
09/06/2018 at 13:03 |
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He gave an order to assassinate Assad. What would Russia have done if his directive had actually been followed? He might not launch the first assault (prevented in doing so by others in the chain of command) , but the president’s words carry power, and he only has to say the wrong thing about another unhinged leader with enough of an arsenal and a willingness to use it to get the ball rolling. Thankfully Kim Jong-un has some sense of self-preservation.
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Tristan
> DipodomysDeserti
09/06/2018 at 13:05 |
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I’m just going to sit back, pop some corn, and watch chicken little do his thing.
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davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
> Tapas
09/06/2018 at 13:06 |
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Do you really think this letter will actually help Rs in the midterms?
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fintail
> ZHP Sparky, the 5th
09/06/2018 at 13:10 |
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It’ll be kind of an orangey gold color, much like the skin and hair of a certain someone.
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Tapas
> davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
09/06/2018 at 13:18 |
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Unfortunately and sadly, I don’t know if the article will hurt the Republicans.
There are enough books, op-eds, news reports and articles all pointing toward the national crisis that Donny and Reps are creating. If Republican voters lump this article along with all of that - there’s no harm, no fowl. But the author feels better about himself.
So as far as the anonymous person’s actions go - the article reads as if he’s patting himself on the back for doing what he’s doing, because I don’t think it will hurt the Republicans anyway. And I think the author knows this too.
Some people just need an “R” in front of a candidate’s name to vote for them, no matter who it is. Hopefully, enough Conservatives see that the Republicans they elected to power are not longer working in their best interests and vote accordingly.
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davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
> Tapas
09/06/2018 at 13:29 |
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What’s really crazy to me is that 4.3% of our population effectively selected our president. That’s how many voted for him in the primaries. And then the Democrats conspired to select the only Democrat that could possibly lose to him in the general. So many Rs and independents voted for Trump out of an extreme dislike of Hillary. How many will stick with him if he makes it to 2020? I’m honestly surprised his favorability is still hanging around 40%.
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Tapas
> davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
09/06/2018 at 13:38 |
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Yes. What’s crazier is this is not the first time the Electoral college put in a Republican President by voting against a Democratic candidate who won the popular vote.
Having e stubbornly idealistic people in your base has its disadvantages. They won’t unite against all odds.
Republicans blindly follow suit and/or prefer power over their ideals and/or brainwash people into hating the other side.
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I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker
> davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
09/06/2018 at 13:39 |
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Right, but if he actually gave that order... It didn’t happen. I don’t think Pence would be a good president. I think he's more likely, through traditional diplomacy, to start a war. I'm not a fan of either, obviously, and I don't pretend to be an expert on the goings on of this administration.
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davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
> Tapas
09/06/2018 at 13:49 |
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One has to wonder if the Ds will do everything in their power to do away with the Electoral College the next time they’re in power.
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fintail
> davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
09/06/2018 at 13:58 |
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Funny thing is, Woodward is generally accepted as a credible voice, with an enormous CV, and probably doesn’t really need the money.
Maybe when enough people are shouting about smoke, there’s fire.
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davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
> fintail
09/06/2018 at 14:06 |
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Oh, there’s clearly fire. Everyone can agree on that. It’s just whether anyone has the will to put themselves at risk to put it out.
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fintail
> davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
09/06/2018 at 14:16 |
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Oops, I replied to the wrong person :)
But yes, I don’t think anyone in the regime will act with altruism to try to stop the train wreck. Those blabbing now are only looking for an “out” when the gong show is over.
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fintail
> Tristan
09/06/2018 at 14:16 |
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Funny thing is, Woodward is generally accepted as a credible voice, with an enormous CV, and probably doesn’t really need the money.
Maybe when enough people are shouting about smoke, there’s fire.
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Tristan
> fintail
09/06/2018 at 14:24 |
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The problem is, the boy who cried wolf eventually did have a wolf on his hands, but no one paid attention. Clinton dodged the draft, W started a war for oil, Obama was born in Kenya, Trump collided with the Russians... This record just keeps spinning in the same groove.
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fintail
> Tristan
09/06/2018 at 15:04 |
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I think the issue here is that Woodward has no history of crying wolf - yet he’s claiming similar data as others. It’s almost like there might be something to it.
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Tristan
> fintail
09/06/2018 at 15:18 |
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I’m not ruling out that there’s something to it- but when a supposedly credible voice joins a choir of non credible voices, forgive me for being incredulous.
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fintail
> Tristan
09/06/2018 at 15:30 |
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Supposedly credible? He’s been pretty respected by both sides of the aisle for decades, and has had relatively little real controversy in a long and storied career. I’d believe him more than any other big media name, and certainly more than any talking head in the current regime. He has more cred than denials by someone like H-S.
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Tristan
> fintail
09/06/2018 at 15:43 |
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Again, I’m not ruling it out. I’m going to sit back, wait, and let the evidence and facts trickle down rather than have a big emotional response to hearsay, regardless of who it’s coming from. I go to my local generic evangelical church on Sunday, I listen to the preacher who has a track record of fantastic sermons and appears entirely trustworthy, yet a few years ago I was attending Calvary Emerald Coast in Ft. Walton Beach, FL, giving that same respect and trust to a pastor by the name of James Flanders (Google him... it’s pretty damn chilling- especially as someone who listened to him speak ). People are trustworthy until they aren’ t. This administration has been nothing but unsubstantiated mud flinging on both sides since long before Trump took office.
If there’s something to it, the truth will come out. If there’s not, it’ll further cheapen any future anti-Trump rhetoric.
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fintail
> Tristan
09/06/2018 at 17:51 |
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Not sure if that is apples to apples, but I can understand why one might be hesitant. This is the era of fake news and alternative facts :)
Much of the rhetoric is cheap, but is so is its subject.
The Dummy Gummy
> davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
09/07/2018 at 10:07 |
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I hope not.
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davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
> The Dummy Gummy
09/07/2018 at 10:18 |
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I mean, it’s there for a reason, but they can’t be too pleased that they’ve lost out on two recent elections now because of it. No way they’ll ever get a two-thirds vote in both the House and the Senate and the ratification of three-fourths (38) of the 50 states, though, so it’s wishful thinking at best.
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The Dummy Gummy
> davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
09/07/2018 at 10:31 |
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Need to win at the state level to fix gerrymandering. That’s the bigger issue I think.
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davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
> The Dummy Gummy
09/07/2018 at 10:44 |
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Each party gerrymanders in their favor when they’re in control. Definitely need to find a better long-term solution. The courts will intervene when it’s especially egregious. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-north-carolina-districts-court/u-s-court-says-north-carolina-gerrymander-is-illegal-seeks-new-congressional-map-idUSKCN1LD026