I Am Part of the Resistance Inside The Trump Administration
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.
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 Trump won’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.
If the identity of the person who wrote this surfaces, I'll update this post.
Wednesday night update: Rick Wilson's Twitter page describes him as follows: "GOP Media Guy, Dad, Husband, Pilot, Hunter, Writer. Best-selling author of Everything Trump Touches Dies." I've quoted him here before and tonight, in the midst of the massive frenzy about the op-ed above, I thought I'd share his message to "Anonymous." It's a series of 7 tweets:
2/ This tells me you at least have some vague survival instinct and know that you need a marker on the board for when the walls close in for the last time.— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) September 6, 2018
I want you to apply that survival instinct and look to the near future.
4/ C) Most importantly, you're going to get caught. I know. You were careful. The burner phone. The off-campus only contact. The careful opsec.— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) September 6, 2018
You're still going to be caught. It's ok. You should welcome it. It's your chance to do the *actual* right thing, finally.
6/ Your only value now is in pulling down the entire system.— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) September 6, 2018
First movers? Book deal. Last? "Welcome to Arby's."
The value of the tenth asshole from the WH who says, "I saw all this crazy, terrible, illegal, dangerous stuff and still tried to help" is exactly zero.
7/ No one in the WH will help you. No one there *can* help you.— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) September 6, 2018
The edifice is crumbling, the King is mad, and no amount of tweeting, no rally, no Fox filibuster will save it.
Run before they catch you. Tell it all. Save yourself, and help save the country.
/end
Based on what I'm reading, the writer won't be able to stay anonymous for long. My guess? We know the name by Saturday. Stay tuned.
No comments:
Post a Comment