moldyoldy

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.
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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 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 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.
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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 T***p w*n’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 to expel 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 farewell letter. 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.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/i-am-part-of-the-resistance-inside-the-trump-administration/ar-BBMVtbs?ocid=spartandhp

bahmer

Do not be deceived there moldy the President of the United States didn't become a multi billionaire by being a doddering oof. He is probably more aware of what is going on in his administration than he lets on to knowing. He has worked with and against the New York mafia and mob and he has worked with and against the new york politicians and he has worked all over the world building his empire. He is every bit fit to take on these hacks as anyone. Don't be fooled he has been down these roads before.

debeda

Sincerely, rod rosenstein. Yawn

moldyoldy

He ran a mom and pop operation with a lot of lawyers to bribe his way or stall the many law suits.

moldyoldy

He does not have the access to stop trump stupidity.

bahmer

Just a voice of reason here Moldy you had better hope that not only you but a lot of others get on board with Trump and help instead of hinder or we could find ourselves in another civil war where we will be burying our children and grandchildren if that were to occur and that will be on both sides of the political line. I would h**e to see this country destroyed by such but feelings and emotions are very high and hot and this could erupt at any time. Really it needs to be short circuited and not fanned into a flame. That is just a word to the wise take at face value.

timofrock

I believe today's 5 pm tweet, sums it all up. SGHTF...soon. TREASON? now in full view

Carol Kelly

Just what I would have expected from you.

vernon

You come on quoting garbage then you come back with false charges.I read this crap and its typical new york times lies written by the famous anonymous
reporter that nyt is so famous for.Of course the shiit you wrote is just plain lies and if you can show any proof lets have it.

Carol Kelly

With you on this all the way. Anonymous is a cowardly way to write such venom.

Mikeyavelli

Bad attitude. Bad team player. Sumbish has to go. Whoever it is, sumbish must be Fiyed!

Kevyn

There will be no civil war, trump will face some semblance of justice and be driven from office. Pence will take over in a tail between his legs caretaker roll while all of this crap around trump and his accomplices bubbles to the surface. And the nation returns to sanity in 2020.

moldyoldy

moldyoldy

Mattis is on the way out, it was probably him. He is tired of blocking the door.

nwtk2007 Loc: Texas

What exactly are you protecting the country from? Strong language?? Economic improvement? I could name a host of things he's done to make things better.

So what exactly are you protecting the country from????