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A Senior Official In The White House Anonymously Published A Trump Resistance Op-Ed For NYT

By: Ariel Wodarcyk

photo via Getty Images

The New York Times published an anonymous op-ed this week, mostly discussing the ways Trump has failed as president. This might not sound out of the ordinary, but the author claimed to be a senior official in the Trump administration; meaning, they work with Trump every day, and are privy to his erratic behaviors off-camera.

The piece, titled, “I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration,” details how members of the administration work around Trump’s “anti-democratic impulses,” the officials’ frustrations, and how a small group within the administration is allegedly working to “be adults in the room” and keep Trump’s misinformed, chaotic, and often straight-up wrong language, in check.

The author also mentions Trump’s close relationship with Putin and the Russian government. The Russian government has imposed a host of laws that allow violence and abuse to thrive, from decriminalizing domestic violence so that abusers face only 15 days of prison (or only a fine) for breaking their spouse’s bones, to outlawing and openly denouncing gay marriage. Given the way Putin has treated the people he rules, it’s understandable many Americans are angry at Trump being all buddy-buddy with him in the press. The author said that national security officials have kept Trump in check, despite his pushback, by imposing more sanctions against Russia this past year.

Since the piece was published, journalists have been scrambling to uncover the identity of the anonymous author, while Trump officials have been fiercely denying their involvement. Officials who have cleared their names in the press include counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway, UN ambassador Nikki Haley, secretary of education Betsy DeVos, and Vice President Mike Pence.

But some journalists aren’t so sure about Pence.

In the second to last paragraph of the op-ed, the author refers to late Senator John McCain as “a lodestar for restoring honor to public life and our national dialogue.” Now, if you’re anything like me, you’ve probably never heard the word lodestar in your life, or at least not until this week. But guess who has heard of the word, and has even used it many, many times?

Vice President Mike Pence.

The word, which means “a star that leads or guides” or someone who serves as inspiration, cropped up in Pence’s UN speech in September of last year, as well as numerous other speeches that date all the way back to 2001. Pence’s office and press secretary have both strongly denied his involvement with the article, but the unique word choice gives many journalists pause.