The author of a shocking, anonymous New York Times op-ed—said to be written by a “senior official” in the Trump White House—claimed to be part of an anti-Trump “resistance” inside the President’s inner circle.
But if they were expected fawning praise from the nation’s media, they were sorely mistaken. Voices on both side of the aisle have slammed the anonymous saboteur.
Just hours after the release of the Times piece, the Los Angeles Times slammed the official as a “coward.”
“If they really believe there’s a need to subvert the president to protect the country, they should be getting this person out of the White House. But they’re too cowardly and afraid of the possible implications,” wrote Jessica Roy of the Los Angeles Times. “They hand-wave the notion thusly: ‘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.’”
“How is it that utilizing the 25th Amendment of the Constitution would cause a crisis, but admitting to subverting a democratically elected leader wouldn’t?” she added.
Columnist Glenn Greenwald also attacked the saboteur, calling them a “threat” conducting a “covert coup.”
On Twitter, Greenwald said: “The irony in the op-ed from the NYT’s anonymous WH coward is glaring and massive: s/he accuses Trump of being ‘anti-democratic’ while boasting of membership in an unelected cabal that covertly imposes their own ideology with zero democratic accountability, mandate or transparency.”
President Trump himself weighed in on the controversy, calling the legitimacy of the editorial into question. On Twitter, he wrote, “Does the so-called ‘Senior Administration Official’ really exist, or is it just the Failing New York Times with another phony source? If the GUTLESS anonymous person does indeed exist, the Times must, for National Security purposes, turn him/her over to government at once!”
