NYT publishes anon op-ed from sr admin official: I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Admin

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Maxima1

Diamond Member
Jan 15, 2013
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woolfe9998 said:
Was described as a "senior administration official." Which could be anywhere from a department head in the White House up to the VP, including on the way, more senior WH staffers and cabinet secretaries. I agree it wasn't likely Pence was someone lower on the food chain, but its' also someone whose name we've at least heard before. I also think this person is very likely a source for the Woodward book, and possibly also the Wolff book.

This editorial is arguing that NYT would never have published the letter had it not come from a major official.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/06/politics/new-york-times-op-ed-donald-trump/index.html

I don't know if he's right, but his argument sounds plausible.
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No, it's the op-ed page, so I think that's wrong. The standard is more lax than the newsroom.
 
J

Jhhnn

IN MEMORIAM
Nov 11, 1999
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Maxima1 said:
No, it's the op-ed page, so I think that's wrong. The standard is more lax than the newsroom.
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That's ridiculous. The NYT didn't claim the piece was true. They claimed it came from a senior official & I doubt they'd exercise anything but extreme vetting to make sure they were right in saying so.
 
M

Maxima1

Diamond Member
Jan 15, 2013
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Jhhnn said:
That's ridiculous. The NYT didn't claim the piece was true. They claimed it came from a senior official & I doubt they'd exercise anything but extreme vetting to make sure they were right in saying so.
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"Senior official" can be very broad, and I've come across numerous people arguing that the op-ed has a different standard. I can tell you one thing, it's definitely not Pence.
 
UNCjigga

UNCjigga

Lifer
Dec 12, 2000
25,566
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Found a better analogy for what the op-ed writer and all the "steady state" administration officials are doing...so courageous.

51c5769148defe8f3ea1637ee765bdf1.png
 
zinfamous

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,854
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woolfe9998 said:
I doubt it's Pence. I think it's someone who, though "senior" is not as far up, and most importantly, has not repeatedly gone on record defending Trump in public. If I'm not mistaken, Pence has defended Trump's honestly and his stability on at least one or two occasions. If the ultimate point is that whoever this is will reveal himself after Trump is out of power, it's going to look awfully bad if he said things in public which directly contradict what he said in the letter. It will make whoever it is look like as much of an amoral liar as Trump himself. It's one thing to stay mum for awhile. Another entirely to prop up Trump by saying things you know are not true.
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It isn't one person. The letter defines "us"

One person handed it to the NYT. That person's job is in jeopardy. Pence is part of it. He has been persona non grata in all of Indiana and in the national GOP stage for a decade now. His only dream of creating the Christian Caliphate of the USA that he absolutely desperately wants, is in taking the presidency. This is his goal, and this is why he hitched his trailer to team Trump, with everything that Trump is, and why he politely sits and waits, playing the long game.
 
M

Maxima1

Diamond Member
Jan 15, 2013
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zinfamous said:
It isn't one person. The letter defines "us"

One person handed it to the NYT. That person's job is in jeopardy. Pence is part of it. He has been persona-non grata in all of Indiana and in the national GOP stage for a decade now. His only dream of creating the Christian Caliphate of the USA that he absolutely desperately wants, is in taking the presidency. This is his goal, and this is why he hitched his trailer to team Trump, with everything that Trump is, and why he politely sits and waits, playing the long game.
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I've come across something amusing. XD

DmbpByyW0AUOWsH.jpg
 
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J

Jhhnn

IN MEMORIAM
Nov 11, 1999
62,365
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Maxima1 said:
"Senior official" can be very broad, and I've come across numerous people arguing that the op-ed has a different standard. I can tell you one thing, it's definitely not Pence.
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Yeh, some people are saying, huh? You're just throwing shade on the NYT.
 
M

Maxima1

Diamond Member
Jan 15, 2013
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Jhhnn said:
That's clearly a reply to another tweet. What was that other tweet?
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Nate Silver is obviously agreeing with me, not your hard line stance. The tweet is embedded within Silver's.

"I think the odds a cabinet-level official wrote the op-ed are pretty slim, and the likelihood Pence wrote it are basically zero. On sheer numbers alone, there are just too many deputy assistant secretaries who are plausible candidates and could be described as senior officials."
 
I

interchange

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
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I'm in agreement with the idea that NYT would not publish unless the official was quite significant within the administration.
 
woolfe9998

woolfe9998

Lifer
Apr 8, 2013
16,242
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zinfamous said:
It isn't one person. The letter defines "us"

One person handed it to the NYT. That person's job is in jeopardy. Pence is part of it. He has been persona non grata in all of Indiana and in the national GOP stage for a decade now. His only dream of creating the Christian Caliphate of the USA that he absolutely desperately wants, is in taking the presidency. This is his goal, and this is why he hitched his trailer to team Trump, with everything that Trump is, and why he politely sits and waits, playing the long game.
Click to expand...

That may be, but then he's made a miscalculation. Like I said, I think Pence has publicly said things about Trump which are contradicted by the content of that letter. If Pence comes forward after Trump is gone and tries to play the hero, it isn't going to fly. The first question he's going to be asked is if he really believed the things he said about Trump in that letter, why did he say the opposite in public?
 
woolfe9998

woolfe9998

Lifer
Apr 8, 2013
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Maxima1 said:
No, it's the op-ed page, so I think that's wrong. The standard is more lax than the newsroom.
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It's in the op-ed page because the anonymous person wrote it as an op-ed.

Here's the relevant portion of the CNN piece for those who don't want to read it all.

Where does that leave us? Almost nowhere. Except that you have to know this about The New York Times: They aren't publishing an anonymous op-ed from just anyone in the Trump administration. They especially aren't publishing one that alleges a near-coup within the federal government among people concerned the President is not only hopelessly out of his depth but also clueless about how hopelessly out of his depth he actually is.

In short: If some midlevel bureaucrat in the Trump administration comes to the Times -- or has an intermediary reach out to the Times -- asking to write a piece like this one without their name attached to it, the answer would be an immediate "no." Contrary to what Trump says on his Twitter feed, media organizations are very wary of giving anyone and everyone anonymity to make attacks. Reporters push sources to put their names on quotes or at a minimum to narrow the anonymous descriptions to show as much of who these people are (and why they are saying what they are saying) as possible to the reader. Media organizations -- the credible ones at least -- are hugely averse to letting people take potshots without their names attached to it.
Click to expand...
 
Stopsignhank

Stopsignhank

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Mar 1, 2014
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https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-tags-new-york-times-treason-charge-n907336

"Number one, The Times should never have done that," he said. "What they've done, virtually it's treason."

Treason, as defined by the Constitution, involves waging war against the United States or providing aid and comfort to its enemies.
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“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing, I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press,” Trump said in a July 27, 2016 news conference.
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Which one is the Treason?
 
Indus

Indus

Lifer
May 11, 2002
15,973
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Could the writer be Nikki Haley?

I'm gonna bet on Nikki. She spends a lot of time in NY with the UN.. certainly enough to get comfy with the NYT.
 
woolfe9998

woolfe9998

Lifer
Apr 8, 2013
16,242
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Indus said:
Could the writer be Nikki Haley?

I'm gonna bet on Nikki. She spends a lot of time in NY with the UN.. certainly enough to get comfy with the NYT.
Click to expand...

Strikes me as possible. She has higher ambitions than UN Ambassador.
 
J

Jhhnn

IN MEMORIAM
Nov 11, 1999
62,365
14,685
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Maxima1 said:
Nate Silver is obviously agreeing with me, not your hard line stance. The tweet is embedded within Silver's.

"I think the odds a cabinet-level official wrote the op-ed are pretty slim, and the likelihood Pence wrote it are basically zero. On sheer numbers alone, there are just too many deputy assistant secretaries who are plausible candidates and could be described as senior officials."
Click to expand...

"Actuarially speaking" is a huge qualifier & also a dig at the NYT from Silver. And if we're to believe Woodward it seems highly likely that this was a very high level staffer.
 
UNCjigga

UNCjigga

Lifer
Dec 12, 2000
25,566
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NYT: White House has narrowed it down to a list of 12 suspects.

Twelve.

"Narrowed it down"!!!!

And the idiots believe Democrats and centrists are the "Deep State"...
 
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