Notes on the NY Times Trump Resistance OpEd

The New York Times recently posted an OpEd called "I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration" [1], an anti-Donald Trump editorial supposedly written by a top administration official. This site normally doesn't do palace intrigue, but here are some notes:

  • There's the possibility the author isn't really a senior administration official, or they might be a former official.
  • There's the possibility the author has tried to mask their identity by using phrases they wouldn't normally use and discussing things that aren't of interest to them. There's even the possibility they intentionally used those phrases to pin the OpEd on someone else. However, the rest of the points will take the OpEd at face value.
  • Online readability checkers show the text of the OpEd at about the 10th grade level. That indicates the author is above Trump's level but lower than someone whodoes a lot of academic writing.
  • The author is probably a conservative. There's very little chance they're on the same side as leftwing groups like "The Resistance", Occupy Wall Street, MoveOn, the "alt" accounts on Twitter, and so on. Those on that side tend to sound similar, writing in a "dumb punk" voice even when trying to pass themselves off as conservatives.
  • The author is probably not a strong social conservative: there isn't anything in the OpEd about issues of interest to them.
  • The OpEd doesn't mention immigration. That seems to indicate it isn't a big issue for them. It's a big issue for Stephen Miller. Mike Pence had his own amnesty plan. Kellyanne Conway was paid by Zuckerberg of Facebook to deceive about amnesty.
  • The phrase "safer and more prosperous" rings two bells: the Security and Prosperity Partnership (see the North American Union page) and Americans for Prosperity (a Koch family front).
  • The phrase "health of our republic" seems to indicate the author is a conservative; a leftwinger would (falsely) refer to the "health of our democracy". On the other hand, the author later refers to "anti-democratic", something hardcore conservatives probably wouldn't say.
  • The phrase "first principles", while common, is slightly reminiscent of "First Things", a non-evangelical religious/political conservative magazine.
  • The phrase "free minds, free markets and free people" is libertarian-speak and similar to the tagline of Reason Magazine.
  • The author refers to "anti-trade" and "effective deregulation, historic tax reform, a more robust military". The first three are fiscal con obsessions, the last is a NeoCon obsession.
  • The phrase "allied, like-minded nations" indicates the author is an internationalist rather than someone like Stephen Miller.
  • The phrase "restoring honor to public life and our national dialogue" and calling John McCain a "lodestar" might indicate someone with a military background.
  • The phrase "reaching across the aisle" indicates someone with tendencies that would disparagingly be called "RINO".
  • The major themes are: national security, fiscal con obsessions, and public service.

I don't think Pence, Miller, or Conway wrote the OpEd. I don't know enough about the rest of Trump's palace to know who it might be. However, all signs point to someone who's libertarian-leaning and in the George W Bush sphere. However, while others like that are also obsessed with increasing immigration, the author doesn't appear to think of it as a major issue.

-----------
[1] nytimes · com/2018/09/05/opinion/trump-white-house-anonymous-resistance.html