September 05, 2018 02:53 PM UTC

Holy Crap! Stop What You're Doing and Read This Anonymous Op-Ed from a Senior White House Staffer

•  
• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE (4:00 pm): Trump responds to the anonymous Op-Ed much like you would probably expect. From Politico:

The president addressed the op-ed directly in comments made in the East Room, calling it an “anonymous, meaning gutless, gutless editorial.”

“So when you tell me about some anonymous source within the administration, probably who’s failing and probably here for all the wrong reasons, now, and The New York Times’ is failing,” Trump said. “If I weren’t here, I believe The New York Times probably wouldn’t even exist.”

“We are disappointed, but not surprised, that the paper chose to publish this pathetic, reckless, and selfish op-ed. This is a new low for the so-called ‘paper of record,’ and it should issue an apology, just as it did after the election for its disastrous coverage of the Trump campaign,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement. “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.”

Trying to put out a fire WITH fire might not be the best approach here.

—–

The White House is freaking out over revelations from Bob Woodward’s forthcoming book, “Fear.” President Trump is predictably attacking Woodward, calling the new book “fiction” and floating some sort of conspiracy theory about Woodward being a secret Democratic operative, but a stunning editorial published this afternoon in the New York Times makes that narrative tougher for Trump to sustain.

Here’s how the Times explains today’s opinion piece from an anonymous White House author, described as “a senior official in the Trump administration”:

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.

The entire opinion piece is well worth reading. Here are some of the more interesting excerpts: