I was working on a tight turn around tasker this afternoon when The NY Times published the op-ed by the anonymous senior administration official that has everybody all abuzz. A couple of you emailed me about it – one of these actually alerted me to its publication because I was working and had no idea what was going on. Several of you, including the initial emailer, also asked if I had any idea who it was. Simply I have no idea at all. I know there’s now some speculation that the author has either tried to set up Vice President Pence or is, perhaps, Vice President Pence’s speechwriter based on the curious use of the word lodestar.
Uh… pic.twitter.com/WDZBC53tZF
— James Downie (@jamescdownie) September 5, 2018
Worth remembering: "'To cover my tracks, I usually pay attention to other staffers' idioms and use that in my background quotes. That throws the scent off me,' the current White House official added." https://t.co/7NRvLg0ljB
— James Downie (@jamescdownie) September 5, 2018
In my personal and professional opinion, if these knuckleheads destroy themselves trying to either fix or deflect the blame for writing this op-ed, that is still to good for them. And there’s a reason for that. I’ve been in the position of working for toxic leaders and/or feeling I was being professionally compromised. In both cases I resigned rather than compromise my professional ethics, violate Federal law, regulations, and/or DOD guidelines.
I’m not going to go into the specific details of either of these, but I’ve been in a position where I believed in the overall mission where I was assigned, but felt professionally compromised. In this, the second case, I tried to work the problem internally. And to be honest, the violations had been ongoing for a considerable amount of time before I started and were completely unintentional. The only reason I actually caught the problem is that it was something I’d worked in two previous assignments for the Army and, as a result, I had recent, relevant subject matter expertise regarding the issue. So I pulled the relevant Federal law, Federal regulation, and the DOD policy for my director, deputy director, and colleagues and put it all in a memo explaining the problem. The memo included an attached proposal to both retroactively fix as much of the immediate problem as possible and then establish the appropriate procedures so we’d be right going forward.
I initially thought I was gaining some traction, but within about three or four days it became clear that my director didn’t want to deal with the problem. He was a nice guy, personable, in many ways a good boss, but he was also very passive-aggressive, especially when stressed. And this had him completely stressed. When he came back to me and asked me to get back to the assignment that was in violation of Federal law, Federal regulations, and DOD policy I resigned. The leadership at my company was very supportive, which is why I’m still with them. Unfortunately, the prime contractor’s on site rep had me blacklisted with his company, which has cost me a couple of assignments over the years as my boss can’t put me forward on projects where he’s a subcontractor to this company. No good deed goes unpunished.
Four months after I resigned I received an email from my former deputy director. He wanted to let me know that my resignation threw the entire issue into the spotlight. That the senior leadership brought in the appropriate folks from the headquarters to consult, they verified everything I had delineated, and when shown my proposal for how to both retroactively fix the problem and to establish new processes and procedures for going forward, they signed off on them as the correct way forward. He just wanted me to know that I’d been right and this had led to the right change happening. I was not offered my position back. No good deed goes unpunished.
The people that needed to know the details of what happened and where they happened were informed. My senior references were notified so they could respond appropriately if contacted for recommendations for other jobs. And that’s it. I cleared out my office, turned in all my gear, cleared outprocessing, signed the NDA to be read off of that command’s sensitive compartments, turned in my badges, cleared post, and drove home. And I sleep like a baby. A 275 lbs baby with an 18 inch neck who uses a CPAP and has two lab mixes sleeping on him, but a baby nonetheless.
I realize that the President is the most toxic of toxic leaders, but writing this op-ed wasn’t courageous. It wasn’t brave. It wasn’t heroic. You’re not saving the Republic. You’re not protecting the Constitution. And you’re not a professional. A brave professional who wanted to save the Republic and protect the Constitution wouldn’t be working to subvert the actual constitutional order and then writing an anonymous op-ed about it to both pat yourself on the back and let everyone else know how virtuous a person you are. Rather, a brave professional who wanted to save the Republic and protect the Constitution would have hired an attorney who specializes in national security and government whistle blower issues, met with them, and had them arrange for you to provide the detailed information that will save the Republic and protect the Constitution to the appropriate members of Congress and the Special Counsel. Having an anonymous op-ed published in The New York Times detailing your efforts in protecting the world in order to achieve an unnecessary tax cut for the richest Americans, repeatedly try to gut the health insurance and access to health care for millions of Americans, use the power of the presidency and the executive branch to turn undocumented immigrants into an existential threat so that Stephen Miller can have better self esteem and not be afraid of the dark, and pack a bunch of extremists onto the Federal courts so that Leonard Leo can feel safe in the 21st Century isn’t heroic. It isn’t professional. It is craven. It is cowardly. It is actually unconstitutional. And it isn’t actually helping. Whoever you are, you had the chance to actually do the right thing, to seek legal counsel, and to be a legitimate part of the solution to this problem, to safeguard the Republic, and to protect the Constitution. When faced with that test, you failed.
Making it look like Mike Pence wrote the thing was a nice touch though…
Open thread.
TaMara (HFG)
I’m pretty certain Stephen Miller glows in the dark….
Amir Khalid
I confess: it was me.
Another Scott
+1
Well said. Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
Uncle Omar
Shorter Adam Silverman, “Whoever wrote this op-ed is a gutless twerp.”
Adam L Silverman
@Uncle Omar: That too.
Mike E
The walrus was Paul.
Adam L Silverman
@TaMara (HFG): That the bioluminescence of the fungi that he’s made out of.
Adam L Silverman
@Mike E: I am the Eggman.
Amir Khalid
@Adam L Silverman:
Why you hate fungi?
Kay
Another coward heard from. I love that the GOP Senators think this is sufficient. They refuse to do their jobs and they think they can just offer this weak-ass babbling for another two years.
At some point one of them is going to have to actually do something. I mean, they all failed when they were tested but at least one of them could be the person who failed LEAST. Failed a little better. Better late than never! But no. It’s 100% cowards.
Adam L Silverman
@Amir Khalid: I have nothing against fungi. Except for Stephen Miller.
Adam L Silverman
@Kay: If only Bob Corker was in a position in an institution where he had the power to do something about this. If only…
donnah
Laurence O’Donnell believes it was Dan Coates, based on who he knew in government and by process of elimination of other top officials. It will be revealed at some point, I’m sure, but I wonder if it will make a difference.
Omnes Omnibus
@Uncle Omar: Everyone has covered that. Adam did more detail than anyone else,
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
Lawrence O’Donnell thinks it’s Dan Coats. I could be wrong, but he strikes me as less weaselly than that. I’d lean more toward somebody like Pompeo. Maybe somebody a step or two beneath somebody like Pompeo or Coats. As I said, I could be wrong.
Adam L Silverman
@donnah: I’m behind, so I have O’Donnell on the DVR, but haven’t got to him yet.
YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S)
It seems important that this is not just the confession of an individual but the exposure of a conspiracy as well. So a rag tag group of non-heroes saving the Republican dreams while holding together a rickety boat. I doubt that the story you told will not resonate with this individual or his “band of brothers”. They are not interested in doing the right thing, but in keeping things afloat to the benefit of what they see as their constituency.
Kay
Conservatives now apparently believe they are exempt from laws. Why follow constitutional process to remove the moron they elected when it’s easier to just secretly remove him and not tell anyone?
They pondered using legal and democratic and transparent means for a time, but then the secret committee rejected that approach and decided to go with “soft coup”.
They believe they can do that. Just invent some process on the fly and use that instead of the one they all swore to uphold.
Impeach him. Follow the rules.
Ken
Won’t we all laugh when it turns out that this time, it really was just the guy who gets the coffee.
(Remember, the only assurance we have that it is a “senior administration official” is the reputation of the New York Times.)
Suzanne
I truly don’t care who wrote it, because I agree with Adam’s assessment that this is spineless weaksauce crudmonkey behavior, but I did go over to Breitbart and dive into the lake of MAGAt tears. I feel slightly dirty, like I ate chicken wings.
Ken
@Suzanne: You mean the Breitbart crew accepts the story? Huh, I would have thought the true believers would be the first to cry “fake news”.
Mr. Kite
This seems to be a “The Emperor Has No Clothes!” moment. Most Republicans are still admiring his tie. Developing…
Kay
Hey, look what I found!
They could …follow the rules they all swore to uphold! Nothing in there about a secret committee conducting a take-over and then announcing it in a newspaper after the fact.
How does this make it better? Now we have a lawless, unaccountable and secret actual “president” and also Donald Trump?
They’re just compounding their original error. They;ve actually made it worse. That’s the thing about cowards. Their fixes always make the bad situation they created worse.
YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S)
@YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S): Edit to correct. “I doubt the story Adam told will resonate well…”
but you knew what I meant. Or what @Kay: said.
AThornton
Taegan Goddard over at Political Wire is reporting Trump has gone ape andOrders West Wing ‘Witch Hunt’. The GOP was already facing a massacre in the midterms and this won’t help.
Another Scott
In the other news this week… LOLGOP:
Bingo.
Grrr…
Cheers,
Scott.
BruceFromOhio
What the Phanton Of The Op-Ed wanted wasn’t any of those things.
Why people care about who it is mystifies me. It lays out what is already known, repeatedly, through other sources.
Next slide, please, where we kick the two-bit ratfuck soulless criminal con man out of the fucking White House already. Preferably without any discharge or weaponry.
feebog
EF Goldman, are you out there? No? Then i’ll Say it for you. Fuckem.
BruceFromOhio
@Another Scott: KaaaaaavEnoughYet will make it legal to marry my refrigerator!
The Ancient Randonneur
@Kay:
As you’ve pointed out on numerous occasions James Comey only had to follow DOJ guidelines to do the right thing. The GOP elite suffer from a chronic case of phony angst. The rule of law and long-standing policy mean nothing to them.
Jeffro
So…it’s Nikki Haley, then?
LOLOL
But seriously: when does the first GOP Senator try (just try, mind you) to recommend that “Mr President, since you have done everything you have set out to achieve, and more, in less time than any president in history, how about if you pardon everyone you know to be innocent and resign and return to the life you love – golfing every other day instead of every third day, and dreaming up new scams like Trump Online University, or Trump Steak-y Hamburgers”
Declare victory and go home, in other words.
I don’t see how the GOP doesn’t dissolve into Civil War at this point
Suzanne
@Ken: Oh, there is plenty of denial. But there is also a lot of deep state arglebargle.
AThornton
@AThornton:
Adding …
If this is some kind of CYA play the author has a screw loose. If the name gets out nobody will ever trust him/her again.
BruceFromOhio
@Kay:
This sounds weirdly familiar. WMDs maybe east or west or north or somewhat south of here?
Maybe I’m memberin it rong.
Jay
On the bright side, Canada just had it confirmed that Navarro is the Trade Warrior, Cohn’s the sane one and they are both engaged in treason.
So, CSIS pulls some texts, calls and emails, maybe some Skipes, a little blackmail, a couple small bribes, and Canada get’s everything we want in NAFTA.
Ruckus
Been thinking about this for a while now.
This is not a coup. If you are going to overthrow the government you just do it, you don’t advertise.
If is is a coup, then the perps are as insane as the people they want to overthrow.
This is misdirection. And there are a number of directions that it could be trying to organize.
1. Getting the people that need to, to actually bring about a change through the 25th. Unlikely in my mind, extremely piss poor way to make it work and throws a lot of sand in the gears.
2. Someone is looking for congress to impeach. See number 1.
3. Possibly an insanity defense for someone about to be Muellered.
4. A ratfucking of epically bad proportions.
5. Everyone left in the WH is a fucking moron and one of them is trying very badly to protect himself.
Now when I say is isn’t a coup, I mean that it certainly wasn’t planed this way.
If it is true it actually is a coup, an overthrowing of a government.
So welcome to a third world dictatorship, ladies and gentlemen.
Adam L Silverman
@AThornton: Yep.
Schlemazel
Thanks, Adam, that is the best take on this shit show I have read.
I still believe this was a planted story with the intent to comfort the mushy middle for the election & not a serious take on what they are really doing.
sanjeevs
I don’t know who it is but there’s no way its coincidence that this comes out with basically the same message as Woodward’s book (Grown up Republicans need to protect America from Trump).
Woodward is one of those types of Republicans, happy to write hagiographies of Bush the Lesser and give cover to Cheney when he outed Plame.
So when did Woodward start work. The plot goes at least as far back as that.
Adam L Silverman
@Ruckus: #5 is likely to apply regardless of the others.
frosty
Great post, Adam. Well thought out and well written and I agree 100%
The Ancient Randonneur
Here’s the full 8 minute clip of Harris dragging Kavanaugh’s ass.
https://mobile.twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1037531080402919424
tobie
@Jeffro: NPR just posted an analysis of the hearing saying that Kavanaugh mostly came away unscathed. According to NPR’s take Leahy and Harris unsettled humanoid revealed some other vulnerabilities but in the course of the day nothing came out to dissuade Republican senators from voting for him. I think NRP’s take on Republican senators is right but their take on the hearing is off. I was impresssed with just how knowledgeable and sharp Leahy, Durbin, Whitehouse, Coons, and Harris were. I missed Hirono’s question period. Was Chris Murphy there today?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
is Schmidt going there?
hells littlest angel
The Op-Ed is so inspiring. It makes me think of the line from that movie Saving Steamboat Willie: “I say can you see! I say can you see! I… I say… Fuck Hitler. Fuck Hitler!”
Adam L Silverman
@The Ancient Randonneur: Here you go:
Fair Economist
@AThornton: Not the right link, that’s discussing the (similar) response to the forthcoming Woodward book. The link to *this* insider revelation of the disaster that is the Trump administration is White House Launches Frantic Search for Op-Ed Writer.
I think the goal of the author might be to create the situation Goddard describes:
i.e., to stop the administration from doing anything for a couple of days and probably add some permanent chaos interfering with its limited capabilities.
tobie
@tobie: Oops…just saw that “unsettled him and revealed” came out as “unsettled humanoid.” I miss the blog’s edit function.
Adam L Silverman
@frosty: Thank you.
Ruckus
@BruceFromOhio:
Nice.
So let’s see, who is the leader of fixing shit and making it stink even more.
Adam L Silverman
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: He went there.
Adam L Silverman
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Also, ewww! Brain bleach!!!!! Alexa!!!! Order ALL THE BRAIN BLEACH!!!!!
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Hey, Steve’s rats will keep the many company during the long night!
I take it the load stone comment was a misdirection. On the other hand that will drive Trump bonkers since Trump can’t fire Pence.
Ruckus
@Adam L Silverman:
Well yeah, but it needed to be said.
There’s the head moron, and all his hirings, those vying for head moron.
AThornton
@Fair Economist:
Oops, thanks
MisterForkbeard
@tobie: The chief problem is that the media mostly isn’t covering the rather serious accusations that Leahy and Harris made. Both are pretty easily discoverable within a short amount of time, too – they could easily be proved or disproved with the relevant documents and investigations.
But basically, the media doesn’t really care that Kavanaugh may have helped steal emails and drafts and then perjured himself about it. They don’t care that Harris thinks (and might be able to show) that Kavanaugh has committed perjury and lied about other things.
They’re more concerned with this horrible op-ed instead. Which means NPR is basically right – the media has decided it has other stuff it cares about and is going to ignore the serious charges made, which means the republicans have “won” the confirmation hearings so far.
Adam L Silverman
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: That’s my take. I don’t think this is Pence’s thing. Nor do I think it is something his senior aides/staff would do.
ChristianPinko
But Adam, if the Republicans don’t stick together at this crucial juncture, the opportunity to bring by child factory workers may be lost! And we’re on the verge of taking the vote away from the Negroes! To say nothing of backalley abortions (for fallen women, of course, not our daughters) — really, what’s a little betrayal of the Constitution at this time?
Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.): Why not both? This is a unique chance to have their rabid base turn on the mainstream Republican party at a moment that the mainstream Republicans need them the most.
Really, it’s a moment that is in blazing neon lights with arrows saying to progressives and the democratic party “Ratfuck here, right now”
The right troll accounts, whispering in a white supremacist ear of a leader (Bannon’s hella cheap and is shopping for a new sugar daddy), and you could have the Republican “Base” turn whole-hog against mainstream Republicans two months before the election that is already trending strongly democratic.
As for the few “resonable Republicans” that would help against us, I state “facts not in evidence”. Let the monster that they created consume them. The Republican chaos and disarray will help us.
PhoenixRising
@Ruckus: It’s 2: Please save us, House Republicans. We can’t hide ALL the letters directing Mattis to blow up North Korea and one of these times he will demand the football and the stupidest shift officer will forget to disobey and I have grandchildren…
To sum it up in a sentence: hey you have your tax cuts please save our children from nukes now kthxbai
NotMax
@Adam L. Silverman
NYT accidentally publishes Barron’s “What I Did This Summer” essay.
;)
sukabi
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: sounds like he is going there.
eric
@sukabi: except, according to Stormy, there is no there there
The Dangerman
If I was Pence, I wouldn’t be walking on 5th Avenue any time soon.
I still think it’s someone with Senate ties (and might know a President Pence would be a disaster); my last guess was Mrs. Turtle, but I’m thinking Dan Coats would be a good call now. I think Coats is from Indiana which might aid in the Pence=Disaster thing.
NotMax
Next, pix of Dolt 45 in a straitjacket in the Oval Office shifts conservative noise machine into high dudgeon.
Not because it’s a straitjacket, because it’s tan.
Ruckus
@Adam L Silverman:
Dense is such a toad and for sure he’s unable to plan, think this thru, hire anyone smart enough to have it done…..
This does sound, as someone on an earlier thread said, that this is to placate the money guys that things will get done for them. Of course now that it’s out there, shitgibbon is going to do what he normally does and make everything far worse.
Is it possible that someone did this with that in mind? Tick all the boxes and have him blow up so epically that someone has to act or that he has that stroke so many have been waiting for.
sukabi
@eric: doesn’t preclude Lindsay from kneeling.
tobie
@MisterForkbeard: I doubt the op ed was published to distract from the hearings, but it’s certainly had that effect. The media just doesn’t seem to be able to cover both stories. I was struck that NPR insisted Kavanaugh did well. To me, he looked rattled and defeated by the end of the day. It was as if all his deflection and denials and selective amnesia came back to bite him in the butt. The Democrats did subject him to tough questions and he melted in the spotlight. I expected him to be polished and smooth like Roberts. Instead he looked weak and defensive.
J R in WV
Adam, great analysis of the day’s situation. Thanks! On point, through, comprehensive, understandable.
@MisterForkbeard:
A good review of today’s Senatorial Fuckup by the Republicans. We now know they won’t fail to confirm Kavanaugh no matter what is revealed in these hearings. He’s perjured himself, he’s had financial irregularities, he’s refused to commit to recusing himself from hearing cases involving Trump, who nominated him.
He’s one of the most unqualified persons ever nominated, but for Clarence, Bork, and Harriet. As far as I recall, anyway. I’m sure there were others as bad in the past… Good job tho, Forkbeard!
I’ve finished my drink and am going to bed to read fiction. G’night all. Hope we all sleep better than Trump!! No doubt we will….
Jim, Foolish Literalist
damn, that’s some TeeVee Law show stuff
@tobie:
indeed
Another Scott
@Ruckus: I agree that it’s not a coup.
My take is:
1) They see the writing on the wall with Mueller’s investigation, the tell-all books, etc.
2) They know Trump is just going to get worse. Sundowning is real, and the days are getting shorter.
3) It’s been clear that a whole lot of Donnie’s pronouncements have been ignored or at least slow walked (restricting who can be in the military and what medical treatments the DOD will pay for is just the most blatant example).
4) The mid-term elections continue to look like a possibly historical blowout of the GOP.
5) “If something cannot continue forever, it will stop.”
Whoever wrote this, and whoever supports those who wrote this, are trying to figure out a way to maintain power after Wednesday November 7. They know the USS Trump is listing, has a broken rudder, and the tide is pushing it toward the shoals. They’re trying to figure out a way to survive when it all comes crashing down.
Not to protect the Constitution, or the institution of the Presidency, or the public’s faith and trust in the national government. To protect their viability in their political party and maintain personal power.
It’s disgusting.
Adam is right. Charlie Pierce is right. The fact that they didn’t attach their name, didn’t send it to channels that could actually do something about it (e.g. send it to the relevant committees of Congress), and didn’t call a press conference to resign, shows that their claims of honorable intent, etc., are bogus.
I’m reminded of a certain Ed.. Sno.. who claimed all kinds of honorable idealistic reasons for breaking the rules and the laws and his oath while running away to China. That struck me as bogus from the start as well.
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
Bess
What if you or a small group of your fellow workers were truly concerned about what might happen if Trump got his way and were worried that if they left they might be replaced by someone who would follow orders? Staying in place might stop some really bad crap from happening. Donnie Junior as Acting Secretary of all the Empty Chairs might just smirk as Daddy called for the football.
What if that was the case and things, in your opinion, were getting worse and you saw no chance of Congressional Republicans stepping in? Unless the American people started pushing on them very, very hard.
Might you not stay in and play defense while trying to fire up opposition forces?
—
I have no opinion on what is happening. I just like to not close off possibilite when there’s no data that says to shut that door.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Jay
@Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]:
Seconded.
Mr. Kite
@Fair Economist: Yeah, this worries me. The executive branch is adrift and pushed in various directions by over promoted vat-grown Republican hacks and a worsening personality disorder.
The ultimate unifying force for Republicans is war… October good for you?
Ruckus
@NotMax:
You do have a weird sense of….. something.
However, I’ve seen a jacket with wrap around arms, and it actually was sort of tan. It was an old one, on a ship I was stationed on, don’t know where it was found but as there was an operating theater of sorts in our living quarters, there was a number of medical stuffs about. Someone talked one of the kids into trying it on, he wasn’t Houdini.
Это курам на смех
What appropriate members of Congress? Senate Republicans who, to save their own hides from the wrath of the mob, will never vote to remove the president from office?
Tell the Special Counsel what? That the president is a fucking moron? Unfortunately that’s not a crime.
Bess
@Another Scott:
What committee in Congress would take this up? They’ve got more investigations of HIllary’s emails and Benghazi to work through.
Suzanne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Suzanne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
randy khan
It’s quite clear that the op-ed writer is a coward, and not a patriot. Would that it were otherwise.
Suzanne
I don’t even know how TF I did that.
Gravenstone
@Kay: See, if they openly accept reality and remove Trump from office via the mechanisms available to them, they know they’ll never be reelected again. They’re such craven cowards who will accept this horrifying situation because the alternative threatens their cozy little self enrichment sinecures.
sukabi
@Это курам на смех: and his lawyers have already done that.?
Jay
@Mr. Kite:
The Junior ReThugs Governance worked out well for Iraq.
Another Scott
@Bess: I’m sure that Sen. Mark Warner would know where to direct it. I’m sure many other Senators would as well.
This isn’t hard.
You seem to be arguing, via your leading questions, that these folks in Donnie’s White House who think that their job is to thwart him when they don’t like what he tells them to do, that these People are essential. More essential than the Rules and Laws and Norms and Institutions that they have taken an oath to protect from “all enemies foreign and domestic”.
I don’t believe that, myself.
We have a government of laws, not of men. If we can keep it.
Cheers,
Scott.
The Dangerman
@Adam L Silverman:
Thanks for helping us keep what sanity we have remaining somewhat intact. At least we aren’t like most Senior Administration Officials tonight, who are busy downing shots … damn, the bar tabs around DC must be staggering tonight.
Bess
@Adam L Silverman:
This isn’t about you, Adam. It’s about someone who apparently is in the administration and says that there’s a crisis.
How that person got there, we don’t know. Perhaps they are a true believer in some of the Republican agenda and thought that, even with his problems, Trump might be a way to move things on a bit further in their desired direction. Perhaps it’s someone who was bedazzled by the opportunity to hold and “important office” and didn’t think things through much more than that. Perhaps it’s someone who thought Trump would learn to be presidential.
There are a number of reasons someone might have taken the job. And it might not have occurred to them that they would be asked to do things they couldn’t support. Perhaps it was someone who was willing to be a little illegal or bad for the country but not a lot illegal or very bad for the country.
We’re having the trial before we gather evidence.
What we do know is that there is apparently someone high in the administration who is saying that what Wordward and other are saying is true. That, to me, has value. I don’t care, at least for now, who it is. I’d rather them stay in place and do what they can to stop the worst. We may be stuck with Trump until January 2021.
Aleta
If Trump goes so do Ivanka and Jared.
Adam L Silverman
@The Dangerman: You’re welcome.
RepubAnon
For a clearer, more Lovecraftian perspective:
I AM PART OF THE RESISTANCE INSIDE
Nyarlathotep is now facing one of the greatest threats in Its presidency so far. I should know, I clock in to kneel at Its feet upon the Altar of Despair every day.
…
Don’t get me wrong. We still willingly choose to show up each and every day in order to carry out Nyarlathotep’s sins. Its Administration has produced things we are truly proud of — instituting monthly public desecrations, a complete reform of the tax system now requiring every other family’s firstborn — we still maintain this will eventually benefit Middle America — and increasing the defense budget. The entirety of our armed forces is now morphed into a singular, gargantuan oozing mass of shrieking teeth and eyes. Nyarlathotep campaigned on veterans’ reform, and by golly, we sure got it, if for a price some of us did not anticipate.
Ruckus
@Another Scott:
I think we also need to say this right out front.
Conservatives know what they are doing. They know they are not nearly as popular as they’d like everyone to believe. They know their policies help only those who pay them and fuck everyone else. We need a better word than whore. That’s a far, far better thing to be than a conservative. Prostitute possibly because that is of course what they are doing, getting paid for fucking people. Still, as the word is culturally used prostitutes are far better humans than conservatives. I digress. The reassurances that the fucking will continue even with the shitgibbon going completely off the rails, that sounds to me to be a plea to the money bags, to keep the money flowing because they will in fact do anything, legal or otherwise to protect and serve their glorious paymasters.
Suzanne
@Aleta:
I know that I hate Agent Orange most of all, but my hatred of Jared the Legacy Snotrocket comes really, really close.
Adam L Silverman
@Bess: You’ve missed my point. My point is/was: there are only three options here. The first is to resign and just quietly walk away. The second is to resign, retain counsel, and go the legal whistle blower route. The third is to recognize this was always a possibility and to never take the position. Writing an anonymous op-ed is not a viable or acceptable option. And subverting the Constitution to save it is like burning the village to protect it.
Bess
@Another Scott:
I’m sure Nancy Pelosi, Elizabeth Warren, and a lot of other Democrats would know where to direct it. Right to the Congressional leadership’s dead letter box.
Democrats do not have power to fix this mess. Republican leaders in Congress know what’s happening and they are doing nothing.
Might stopping an unnecessary war be something that would protect the US from enemies, domestic? I pretty much wish someone had fragged Cheney and Rumsfeld.
Bess
@Adam L Silverman:
And you miss the fourth option. Stay inside and fuck up the really bad things Trump tries to do.
The game is not being played by the Marquis of Queensbury rules or the military code. Trump wiped out all the rules long ago.
My thinking is that if Goebbels, Himmler or one of the others had shot Hitler at any point along the way that would have been a good thing.
piratedan
tbh… I could give a shit who wrote it… it really doesn’t matter to me in the grand scheme of things. What matters to me is that these folks have subverted the constitution in order to continuing to promote and implement their own political agenda.
If Trump is unfit, then declare him so and have him step down and promote the VP into the position. Yes, I understand that Pence doesn’t have an IQ above melted ice cream, but again… that doesn’t matter. You follow the law.
The GOP (I’m sure) knows what the score is and how we have a “caretaker” government of GOP apparatchiks running the show and despite knowing that this is against the law, they’re on board with this too…..
Once upon a time, I thought the GOP was going to generate their own Reichstag fire to make all of this permanent, instead, it appears that they’ve chosen a less obvious but no more brazen way to continue to control the process…. they get to let Trump continue to take fire, use him as a prop to continue showing the rubes how persecuted they all are and still all the while, continue to subvert the country and loot us of both our money, retirement and legal rights….
I’m at the point right now, that I would love Mueller to drop a few more indictments of members of Congress and the Senate and put the motherfucking kibosh on their entire house of cards….
scav
@Bess: The way to actually achieve any such supposedly laudible objectives probably doesn’t involve announcing your existence and cunning plans in a national newspaper.
sukabi
@piratedan:
What took you so long? I’ve been there for over a year.?
Bess
@piratedan:
25th Amendment, Section 4
What if the VP is not on board with the idea? Or if there are enough department secretaries that would vote no and block a majority vote?
It’s pretty clear that Republicans in Congress are not going to do anything. Or at least haven’t to date. Why would we think the people Trump picked would do something?
Jay
@Bess:
Hitler doesn’t get enough credit for being the guy who shot Hitler.
QAnonop-ed writer makes it perfectly clear, they are happy to continue to ratfuck America in service of the ReThug agenda including concentration camps,
And are begging for Service Medals, honours and parades for keeping the Insane Clown POUus from “blowing shit up”, like NAFTA or a Syrian/Russian/Iran/Iraq War so that ReThugs won’t have to stop enabling Trump.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Ruckus:
I really think you are projecting your own thinking on to these idiots. My experience with conservatives is they are ether moderate liberals who were gaslighed into thinking they were conservatives by social pressure and the media or outright idiots who can’t deal with reality and latched on to the simplistic narrative of Conservatism. I mean how else does a Jew like Miller end up with a pack of howling anti-Semites? That op-ed makes a lot of sense if the writer is a TRUE Believer, like communism, conservatism can’t fail, it can only be failed. So like how Stalin wasn’t a TRUE Communist, Trump is not a TRUE conservative.
I will predict right here, if the election goes at it looks like and it’s a Dem blow out, Fox will be showing Donald Trump (D) captions by December.
Jay
@Another Scott:
“We have a government of laws, not of men. If we can keep it.”
Had, not have. It hasn’t been kept. You might be able to get it back though.
Bess
A couple of outtakes from the NYT opinion piece.
It should not be surprising that few, if any, here agree with this person in terms of political belief.
What we might agree on is that Trump is a menace to the country and the world and that he needs to be stopped.
Calouste
@Adam L Silverman: I think the anonymous op-ed, combined with Woodward’s book coming out (that the op-ed writer might well be a source of, and also be aware of the publication date), has the potential to drive the shitgibbon up the wall that none of the options you mentioned has. Nothing is going to drive a paranoid man as crazy as an unseen enemy. I don’t know if it is intentional but it sure is predictable.
Jay
@Bess:
And QAnonop-ed writer is doing his/her best to keep Insane Clown POSus’s antics from being so insane that the ReThug’s have to take action like impeachment or an Article 25.
He/she is “protecting” Hair Twitler and the ReThugs and want’s a medal for it.
Ruckus
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
I didn’t say they were smart or realistic in any way. Only that they know that many do not like what they are trying to do. And they know that subverting the legal and political system is the only way they can get there. They have been trying for 50-60 yrs to get to this one place, where they can cram their agenda down everyone’s throats and really there isn’t shit anyone can do about it. Of course they didn’t think through their agenda, that applying it, especially in this way, would cause a crisis whose proportions are incalculable and that it would cause them to be wiped out politically, they think that if they just get this crap into law they can prosper and rein for ever. But as always this will bite them in the ass because there really are more of us and their “policies” are horrible for really everyone, even the rich. The real silent majority has been woken and they really, really do not seem to like what they see. And that is refuckingpublican ass doing what it does worst, legalize theft. The key here is to survive long enough to get through the bullshit phase of conservative “policy.” Which is where they throw every bullshit proposal against the wall and see what sticks. Hopefully none of it does permanently.
WaterGirl
Adam, thanks for this. I would pay good money to help take out an ad with this on the NYT:
WaterGirl
@Mr. Kite: Your comment is so good that I had to see it again in writing:
WaterGirl
@The Ancient Randonneur: I watched that earlier from Peet’s twitter feed.
Holy fuck, what a weasel this guy is. The idea of him on the Supreme Court makes me want to vomit. I thought he was disgusting when I saw his treatment of Dad from the Parkland shooting. This guy has nothing rresembbling good character in him. Appalling.
WaterGirl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: You should listen to him on Preet’s podcast from a couple of weeks ago. I could not believe how much I agreed with a lot of what he had to say. He’s telling the truth about Trump, and more people with power need to do it.
Flake and Corker, you are both fucking cowards.
WaterGirl
Oh, I guess this thread is dead. I wish I could say that 4 comments on the end of a dead thread was a personal record for me.
sgrAstar
Bravo, Adam.
Haroldo
@MisterForkbeard: I refuse to listen to NPR anymore, so I can’t comment on this bit of reporting. If the past is anything to go by, though, they always live up to their Nice Polite Republicans reputation.
Melusine
@Jay:
Probably too late in the thread to get an answer, but you’ve slammed Ana Navarro a few times and I’m wondering what I’m missing. She loathes shitgibbon, voted for Clinton, was against destroying access to healthcare, supports DACA, I believe she was against the tax cut….yeah she loves Reagan, but every time I’ve seen her she comes across as an intelligent, quick-witted, old-school moderate sane conservative who has a conscience and can laugh at herself. She also seems to genuinely enjoy the back-and-forth of debate, unlike Meghan McCain, who looks like she’s always waiting to be offended and immediately slaps down the “I’m such a put-upon ‘mavericky’ melodramatic victim who everyone tries to silence” card when any of the opinions that she willingly shares on tv is questioned. Wish they’d ditch her and make Ana a regular. Or give her her own show. It’s been some small comfort in this insane time to see a Republican who never went over the deep end for Needy Amin. Curious what I’m missing.
Melusine
@Bess:
If it really was a cry for help, the message would have been, “We can’t go to Republicans because they’ve proven they’re compromised, some of us are cooperating with Mueller but that process takes time, we need the American people to speak up NOW, we need help from the IC, we need everyone to vote for Democrats because this shit can’t go on dear god we’re kidnapping children – whatever our sins we didn’t sign on for THAT.”
Instead, it’s don’t worry, you didn’t elect us and don’t know our names but WE’RE in control, we’ll stop any policy WE don’t approve of (but don’t worry, we’re totally down with fucking over the lower classes and bringing asbestos back). The grownups are in charge, no need to vote the GOP out…
It is entirely possible that Putin is setting his puppets against each other. This weakens shitgibbon, who is quickly outliving his usefulness, it might provide a veneer of heroism for a more suitable stooge, and it guarantees more chaos and distrust in our system, our leaders, and America itself. I’m sure this is not playing as an act of bravery overseas – it’s playing as another arrogant, treasonous toad trying to stage a coup or rehabilitate themselves. One more reason not to trust the U. S.
Melusine
@Jay:
Probably too late in the thread to get an answer, but you’ve slammed Ana Navarro a few times and I’m wondering what I’m missing. She loathes shitgibbon, voted for Clinton, was against destroying access to healthcare, supports DACA, I believe she was against the tax cut….yeah she loves Reagan, but every time I’ve seen her she comes across as an intelligent, quick-witted, old-school moderate sane conservative who has a conscience and can laugh at herself. She also seems to genuinely enjoy the back-and-forth of debate, unlike Meghan McCain, who looks like she’s always waiting to be offended and immediately slaps down the “I’m such a put-upon ‘mavericky’ melodramatic victim who everyone tries to silence” card when any of the opinions that she willingly shares on tv is questioned. Wish they’d ditch her and make Ana a regular. Or give her her own show. It’s been some small comfort in this insane time to see a Republican who never went over the deep end for Needy Amin. Curious what I’m missing. @Bess:
also too, himmler or goebbels would have just taken hitler’s place, and maybe kept the whole murderous shitshow running even longer. they certainly wouldn’t have created a Newer, Kinder, Less Shooty an Burny Nazi state.
Melusine
sorry for duplicate post
Miss Bianca
I had some friends saying, “well, yeah, this is bad, but I’d rather have SOMEONE in the White House doing SOMETHING to contain the monster”. And what I was trying to say was, “no, this is bad all the way round. It’s bad that this monster got elected, it’s bad that he’s surrounded by crooks and liars and leakers, and it’s bad that they’ve not only staged a palace coup, but that they’re telegraphing that information, rather than actually doing something legal and constructive to deal with the issue.”
But as usual, Adam, you manage to put my thoughts on the issue into words far more cogently than I can.
Steeplejack
@Melusine:
I believe Jay was referring (at least in this thread) to Peter Navarro, Trump’s “hawkish” trade adviser.