Senior administration official blasts Trump in anonymous NYT op-ed

A person identified as a senior administration official blasted President Trump in an anonymous op-ed published by The New York Times on Wednesday, saying they were working to “thwart” President Trump’s “worst inclinations.”

In the piece, titled, “I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration,” the author says that while officials “want the administration to succeed,” they have had to work against Trump’s “misguided impulses” and parts of his agenda.

“To be clear, ours is not the popular ‘resistance’ of the left,” the piece reads. “We want the administration to succeed and think that many of its policies have already made America safer and more prosperous.”

{mosads}“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,” the unidentified official wrote.

The Times said in a note attached to the op-ed that the author, described as “a senior official in the Trump administration,” requested their essay be published anonymously.

The newspaper explained its extraordinary decision to publish a column without providing the name of the author, stating, “We believe publishing this essay anonymously is the only way to deliver an important perspective to our readers.”

The newspaper said the person’s identity was known to the Times and their “job would be jeopardized” by their name being disclosed.

In the piece, the official denounces Trump’s “amorality” and describes his impulses as “generally anti-trade and anti-democratic.”

“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,” they wrote.

The piece describes a number of instances that the author describes as part of a “two-track presidency,” saying when Trump expresses a desire to take a particular action, aides and officials around him work to do another.

The official briefly praises the administration, but suggests that its successes are not because of the president.

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

Trump has long attacked some of the institutions in his own administration for alleged political bias, and speculated that there are people within the government working to undermine him. But the author of the Times piece pushed back on the suggestion that there is a so-called deep state.

“This isn’t the work of the so-called deep state,” the person continued. “It’s the work of the steady state.”

The official also said that Trump’s Cabinet originally speculated about invoking the 25th Amendment to deem Trump unsuited for office and remove him, but that they did not want to “precipitate a constitutional crisis.”

“It may be cold comfort in this chaotic era, but Americans should know that there are adults in the room,” the official wrote. “We fully recognize what is happening. And we are trying to do what’s right even when Donald Trump won’t.”

Updated: 4:17 p.m.