[NY TIMES] I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration

Deeply troubling on multiple levels. One has to wonder what his staff is holding Trump back from doing that would threaten our democracy - no doubt the firing of Sessions is one of them. But what else?

I do not think this piece will have a positive result. Americans are already hyper-set in their views of Trump's fitness - all this does it to scare people. It will scare our allies, and it scares me that we have a real nut-case running our country. Of course our enemies will rejoice.

This is dangerous territory we are entering and may cause a loss of faith in the presidency - not just Donald Trump - but the whole idea of the POTUS as an office to be respected. This stuff can weaken our Republican even though it was not the writers intent.

Whatever Trump is, our country is more important. And if what this writer is saying is true, than he should have kept his mouth shut and kept doing his job to hold the President in check. Now, it may be much harder. Now the President might purge his senior staff and replace them with his ideologues who will do whatever he says. That's the danger of this kind of piece if what the author says about the President is true.

We should be careful not to call for impeachment until Mueller's investigation is complete. But it is clear that Trump is not fit to be president.

 

not at all surprising your overlords sent you out with the same tired talking points today. But it is, as your Dear Leader / Puppet would say... SAD!

 

Let's be fair - these guys are in a TOUGH spot.

If these senior officials did go public or "do the right thing" as many are saying, they would be immediately canned and replaced by potentially someone incompetent. Perhaps the wisest move for them is to contain Trump and stop him from doing damage. We don't know what they might have prevented that could have resulted in this country going to a very dark place. Before we call them cowards, let's remember they may be our best defense of democracy and country. Power is a strange thing.

As for Republican congressmen, they are in a tough spot as well. Those who oppose Trump will lose their ability to contain him as they will be replaced. Republicans are in general in a very tough tough position - they do not face an obvious choice even when it comes to what is best for the country from their perspective. As much as I appreciate the criticism from a Jeff Flake, I'm not looking forward to the prospect of a far right Republican replacing him.

Truly this isn't the time for partisan fights. Republicans aren't the problem. Trump is the problem and the people who support him. We need to make it to the midterm elections and let the people have their voice at the ballot box - and let's pray that Russia isn't able to hack the election.

Our system, our very democracy is under attack - and what's that expression - united we stand, divided we fall?

We need to support those who check this president - doesn't matter if they are Republican or Democrat.

 

I respectfully disagree. Not about us citizens as partisans but the party leadership itself. The end of the article is telling. This person supports the policies and is basically laying the runway for a GOP agenda clean up on isle 5 after Trump.

It reads (like the entire Rep Congress infers on a daily basis) that the agenda of the GOP is so important that we continue to stick it out and deal with an unstable president who is a risk to the world.

I also dont agree this is truly checking the president. Yes it’s sounding an alarm but it doesn’t call for any real actions. There’s no outcome... just more questions and chaos. What is being done about it on one side other than complaining about the personality and championing the agenda as an excuse and expecting applause for doing... nothing ... but anonymously complaining. Only thing they are doing is running a parallel government that likely only confuses our allies... even though they probably have good intentions. Just look at the eye opening situation in Helsinki. Maybe the county would actually be better off seeing firsthand how terrible this president is rather than just feeling the afterburn and hearing officials like this anonymously claim they are doing what they can and we should applaud them because it could be worse.

Sorry... I just disrespectfully disagree here that this was anything noble we should applaud.... at least yet. If this person and others put their name and poltical future on the line.... maybe I’ll change my tune, but I just don’t see it that way yet.

 

I've said it before. But I will say it again. If you think this is crazy, wait until he is no longer president and lost his power. The things that will come out about this administration will be with out words. And I presume quite entertaining if you enjoy seeing the U.S. be made a mockery of.

 

Some needless conjecture:

I agree with others here that this is image management for some republicans in the admin to stay relevant in the chaotic post-Trump environment.

If the author is indeed a senior administration official, and if they are prepping for post-Trump chaos, I think it would only make strategic sense to publish this when they think the end is near.

I'm not getting my hopes up, people have been predicting the end since Feb 16 and everyone has been wrong. Just my first reaction.

 

The tell-all from Melania alone will be insane. Imagine the horrible stories she has.

 

You're talking about the dotard, right? We're in total agreement.

 

RL is the king of projection. Almost like he is trying to be ironic....

 

Whatever. Real hero in government, and they do exist, don’t call themselves hero. They would take a bullet and do it without any care for visibility.

NYT sucks.

 

Only 2 people have credible motive for doing this:

Donald Trump - fake coup a la Turkey
Mike Pence - knows something is coming down the pike and needs to pave the way for his own legitimacy

Et tu, Brute? moment is upon us.

 

Could there be a beneficial side to this letter that the Atlantic article overlooks? I'm not sure a singular person with their name under this article can really make a dent in Trump's reputation because Trump will just steamroll the guy with tweets. But the anonymous route can make this story stick around much longer than anything so far because of the conspiratorial nature of it and we all know how much fascination conspiracies hold among the electorate these days (just look at this thread where people seriously consider that Trump released this letter on purpose to distract us from something).

This letter makes POTUS look like a bad leader (ie WEAK) going into november's elections. The result just might be a unenthusiastic Trumpers' turn out at the polls. Then we'll get democrats in the house invoking impeachment and whoever wrote this ends up being a hero of sorts.

And yes it is a constitutional crisis (in that this is not done by the book) but there are still plenty of checks on executive branch still in place to actually try this covert plan to subvert Trump.

Just a thought.

 

there are also NDAs that the person signing under the letter has to contend with (a la Omarosa). Let's be real, the administration is full of lyers and power hungry people - they are not the type to uphold their oath to the constitution on principle alone.

 

Yes please! We deserve it and it's the only thing imo that can bring about real change not fake change. This(chaos) is what I've been waiting for. Exciting times!

 

A crisis

Get a grip. The country's running quite well. A strong economy. He hasn't invaded iraq. He actually got north and south korea in the same room

Thats cause for impeachment?

 

Unless a doctor declares him unfit as far as removing him from office there is nothing to see here

 

Trump thrives on this type of controversy. It would not surprise me at all if he were the one behind this. I am not saying I think he is the author but it wouldn't surprise me if he gave this his blessing.

 

Possibly, but given the unhinged state of those on the left, it's very possible that it has compromised plenty of them to the point where they'd do something like this. When it comes to people on the left, far too often their emotions overwhelm them and they aren't rational enough to compensate...and right now they are the worst that I can remember. I wouldn't trust a politically active person on the left to make me a cup of coffee right now, odds are they'd **** it up due to being distracted by how much they hate the president. Just a complete and total embarrassment.

 

Deep State is very real

 

No doubt. Trump uses the left being so completely unhinged to his advantage. He keeps them stirred up with his comments, tweets,etc... That is why I think there is a chance he is involved in this. It is kind of like stirring up a hornets nest when you are wearing a full beekeeper suite. You poke the nest to piss them off and they swarm and try like hell to sting you but they just can't hurt you.