Trump calls insider’s attack ‘gutless’
Critical op-ed piece suggests president not fully in charge
President Donald Trump seeks to assert command of his administration amid reports of a “quiet resistance” among some aides who have secretly tried to thwart from the inside what one official called his “reckless decisions.”
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump sought to assert command of his administration on Wednesday amid reports of a “quiet resistance” among some of his own advisers who have secretly and deliberately tried to thwart from the inside what one official called his “reckless decisions.”
The surreal struggle between Trump and at least some members of his own team has characterized his tenure from the beginning, but it spilled into public view this week in a way that raised questions about the president’s capacity to govern and the responsibilities and duties of the people who work for him.
Constitutional question
An op-ed column by an unnamed Trump administration official published by the New York Times on Wednesday claimed that “unsung heroes” on his team were “working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.” It came a day after reports about a new book, “Fear,” by Bob Woodward of the Washington Post, revealed efforts by aides to surreptitiously block the president when they believe he may be acting dangerously.
The collective portrayal suggested that Trump may not be fully in charge of his own White House, surrounded by advisers who consider him so volatile and temperamental that they swipe documents from his desk in hopes of stopping him from issuing rash orders. While his rivals called such efforts heroic and patriotic, his supporters complained of a virtual coup at odds with the Constitution and the will of the people.
Trump erupted in anger after reading the op-ed article. John Kelly, the chief of staff, and other aides scurried in and out of the press office trying to figure out how to respond. Advisers told Trump that this was the same as leakers who talk with the news media every day, but a hunt for the author of the offending article was quickly initiated and scrutiny focused on a half-dozen names. Aides said they assumed it was written by someone who worked in the administration but not the White House itself, although they could not be sure.
“They don’t like Donald Trump, and I don’t like them because they’re very dishonest people,” the president said during a meeting with sheriffs. Trump later posted a message on Twitter that said simply, “TREASON?” and then another saying that “If the GUTLESS anonymous person does indeed exist, the Times must, for National Security purposes, turn him/her over to government at once!”
The unnamed official, whose identity is known to the Times editorial page department but not its news staff, described the president’s leadership as “impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective” and cited “adults in the room” who strive to prevent disaster. At one point, the official wrote, there was talk of the Cabinet invoking the 25th Amendment to declare Trump unable to discharge his duties, but no one wanted a constitutional crisis.
“We want the administration to succeed and think that many of its policies have already made America safer and more prosperous,” the official wrote. “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 official added.
When Trump declared on Twitter that he would bar transgender soldiers from the military, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis slow-walked the issue, insisting he would study it first. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., a critic of Trump, said last year that the president’s advisers regularly sought to prevent him from making ill-considered decisions.
“I know for a fact that every single day at the White House, it’s a situation of trying to contain him,” Corker said in an interview with The Times. When Trump attacked Corker on Twitter, the senator responded with a cutting tweet of his own: “It’s a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning.”
Just last month, in a new book, Omarosa Manigault Newman, an aide fired by the White House chief of staff, John F. Kelly, wrote that “an army of people” were “working silently” to keep the president from harming the nation. “Many in this silent army are in his party, his administration, and even in his own family,” she wrote.
Some loyalists to Trump said this amounted to an unconstitutional seizure of power by unelected staff members.
“The issue is there are people who took jobs in this administration not to serve the country but to serve themselves and in their mind protect the country from the president and that’s not their role,” said Corey Lewandowski, a former Trump campaign manager who remains close to the president. “The American people vote for Donald Trump to be the president and to implement his policies and by them not doing what was asked.”
Searching for the leak
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, issued a statement criticizing the anonymous official.
“The individual behind this piece has chosen to deceive, rather than support, the duly elected president of the United States,” she said. “He is not putting country first, but putting himself and his ego ahead of the will of the American people. This coward should do the right thing and resign.”
Trump’s mood vacillated from fury to calm throughout Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday. Some of his top aides worked the phones to figure out who was leaking, who might have spoken, and his daughter Ivanka Trump and other advisers tried to quell his distress.
He noted to some people that Kelly and Mattis had denied remarks attributed to them in Woodward’s book — Kelly was quoted calling the president an “idiot” and Mattis said he had the understanding of a “fifth- or sixth-grader.” Trump seemed satisfied with their denials, but his ire was trained particularly on two former aides, former national economic council head Gary Cohn and former staff secretary Rob Porter, according to people close to the White House.