{"id":118192,"date":"2018-09-10T12:00:57","date_gmt":"2018-09-10T11:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=118192"},"modified":"2018-09-09T12:06:20","modified_gmt":"2018-09-09T11:06:20","slug":"dear-anonymous-trump-official-there-is-no-redemption-in-your-cowardly-op-ed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2018\/09\/dear-anonymous-trump-official-there-is-no-redemption-in-your-cowardly-op-ed\/","title":{"rendered":"Dear Anonymous Trump Official, There Is No Redemption in Your Cowardly Op-Ed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leia em portugu\u00eas <\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The West Wing of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 1, 2018.
Photo: Mandel Ngan\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n

6 Sep 2018 – Dear Anonymous Trump Official,<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You claim, on the opinion pages<\/a> of the \u201cfailing<\/a>\u201d New York Times no less, that senior officials working for the president of the United States \u201care working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI would know,\u201d you add dramatically. \u201cI am one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sorry, what was the point of this particular piece? And what is it that you want from the rest of us? A thank-you card? A round of applause? The nation\u2019s undying gratitude?<\/p>\n

Screw. You.<\/p>\n

There is no redemption; no exoneration for you or your colleagues inside this shit-show of an administration. You think an op-ed in the paper of record is going to cut it? Gimme a break. You cannot write an article admitting to the president\u2019s \u201canti-democratic\u201d impulses while also saying you want his administration \u201cto succeed.\u201d You cannot publish a 965-word piece excoriating Donald Trump\u2019s \u201cworst inclinations\u201d while omitting any and all references to his racism, bigotry, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, and white nationalism.<\/p>\n

You did find space, however, to heap praise on yourself and your fellow officials. \u201cUnsung heroes.\u201d \u201cAdults in the room.\u201d \u201cQuiet resistance.\u201d \u201cSteady state.\u201d<\/p>\n

Are you kidding me? Where were your \u201cunsung heroes\u201d when this administration was snatching kids<\/a> from their parents and locking them in cages<\/a>? Drugging them<\/a> and denying them drinking water<\/a>?<\/p>\n

Where were your \u201cadults in the room\u201d when this administration left 3,000 Americans<\/a> in Puerto Rico to die because, apparently, it is an island \u201csurrounded by water, big water, ocean water<\/a>\u201d? Where were they when the president was denying that Hurricane Maria was a \u201creal catastrophe<\/a>\u201d and lobbing paper towels<\/a> at the survivors?<\/p>\n

Where was your \u201cquiet resistance\u201d when the president was extolling far-right racists as \u201cvery fine people<\/a>\u201d and blaming the violence in Charlottesville on \u201cboth sides<\/a>\u201d? How \u201cquiet\u201d were you when he later disowned his half-hearted and belated denunciation of the \u201cKKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups<\/a>\u201d as \u201cthe biggest fucking mistake I\u2019ve made<\/a>\u201d?<\/p>\n

Where was your \u201csteady state\u201d when the president fired the director of the FBI<\/a> because, he told NBC News, \u201cthis Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story<\/a>\u201d? Or when he sacked Preet Bharara<\/a>, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Sally Yates<\/a>, the acting attorney general? Or when he tweeted<\/a>, earlier this week, that Attorney General Jeff Sessions shouldn\u2019t have indicted two Republican allies of his over alleged financial crimes?<\/p>\n

The reality is that you and your fellow officials are enablers of Trump; you are his protectors and defenders. You say it yourself. Why were there only \u201cwhispers within the cabinet of invoking the 25th Amendment,\u201d which provides for the cabinet to remove the president from office<\/a> if he is unable to do the job? Why not invoke it and let Mike Pence take over? (Are you, by the way, Mike Pence<\/a>?)<\/p>\n

If as you claim \u2014 and we all agree! \u2014 that the president you serve \u201ccontinues to act in a manner that is detrimental to the health of our republic\u201d with \u201cmisguided impulses,\u201d then how can you advocate for anything other than his swift removal from office?<\/p>\n

Your defense is that \u201cno one wanted to precipitate a constitutional crisis.\u201d Seriously? You don\u2019t agree with former Secretary of State John Kerry that we\u2019re already in the midst of \u201ca genuine constitutional crisis<\/a>,\u201d given your own op-ed outlining his \u201cerratic behavior\u201d and \u201creckless decisions\u201d and Bob Woodward\u2019s new book describing<\/a> \u201can administrative coup d\u2019etat\u201d and a \u201cnervous breakdown\u201d at the center of the Trump White House?<\/p>\n

You are keen to remind the liberal readers of the New York Times that yours \u201cis not the popular \u2018resistance\u2019 of the left\u201d and that you believe this administration\u2019s policies have \u201calready made America safer and more prosperous.\u201d You cite \u201chistoric tax reform\u201d and \u201ceffective deregulation\u201d as the supposed \u201cbright spots that the near-ceaseless negative coverage of the administration fails to capture.\u201d But by tax reform, do you mean the Trump tax cuts<\/a> that give the richest 1 percent of Americans almost half of the benefits? And by deregulation, do you mean the rescinding of Obama-era protections<\/a> for the oceans; the lifting of controls<\/a> on toxic air pollution; and the green light to Wall Street<\/a> to once again cause havoc in the financial markets?<\/p>\n

What is it, then, that you object to? Well, it seems, your biggest concern is \u201cnot what Mr. Trump has done to the presidency,\u201d but how Americans have \u201csunk low with him and allowed our discourse to be stripped of civility.\u201d<\/p>\n

You\u2019re joking, right? The widespread dishonesty<\/a>, the rampant corruption<\/a>, the brazen racism<\/a>, the growing authoritarianism<\/a>, the accusations of collusion<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 none of that tops your list of Trumpian abuses and infractions? But the \u201ccivility\u201d of our discourse does? Fuck civility.<\/p>\n

Also, what did you think would happen when you signed up to work for a reality TV star who was accused of sexual assault<\/a> by more than a dozen women, and of rape<\/a> by his first wife? Who stiffed<\/a> hundreds of contractors, ripped off<\/a> Trump University students, cheated<\/a> on his third wife just months after she gave birth, and cut off<\/a> health care coverage to his own nephew\u2019s sick baby in a fit of rage?<\/p>\n

You knew all of this and yet you still chose to work for him at the highest level of government. You now acknowledge that \u201cthe root of the problem is the president\u2019s amorality.\u201d But how about your own amorality? I hate to agree with your boss, but you are \u201cgutless<\/a>.\u201d You\u2019re a shameless coward, a cynical opportunist.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t hide behind anonymity. Don\u2019t pretend that you have \u201cgone to great lengths\u201d to restrain Trump and \u201cput country first.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tell us your name. Quit your job. Call out this president in public.<\/p>\n

Call him out for his bigotry, his mendacity, his sheer mental and emotional unfitness for the office he occupies. Call him out in front of a congressional committee. Or a court of law.<\/p>\n

Otherwise, I say again: Screw. You.<\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\n

Mehdi Hasan<\/p>\n

_______________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mehdi Hasan<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 theintercept.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

6 Sep 2018 – Dear Anonymous Trump Official, Sorry, what was the point of this particular piece? And what is it that you want from the rest of us? A thank-you card? A round of applause? The nation\u2019s undying gratitude? Screw. You. There is no redemption; no exoneration for you or your colleagues inside this shit-show of an administration. You think an op-ed in the paper of record is going to cut it? Gimme a break.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":116661,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anglo-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118192\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}