To the unnamed op-ed writer: Serve honorably or not at all

WASHINGTON » The “deep state” exists after all. But it turns out that deep state isn’t made up of the permanent bureaucracy, Obama holdovers or shadowy intelligence officials; rather it’s made up of President Trump’s own senior appointees.

In a New York Times op-ed, an unnamed “senior official in the Trump administration” admits he and others “in and around the White House” are “working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda” and thwart “Mr. Trump’s more misguided impulses until he’s out of office.” The author declares he and his co-conspirators are being “unsung heroes” fighting on the inside to “preserve our democratic institutions.” In fact, they’re doing precisely the opposite.

President Trump asked on Twitter whether the writer had committed “TREASON?” No, he (or she) has not. But the writer and the other members of this “quiet resistance within the administration” have betrayed the solemn oath they took when they raised their right hands and pledged to “bear true faith and allegiance” to the U.S. Constitution. The Constitution vests executive power in the president, not “senior officials.” For an unelected appointee to hide documents or refuse to carry out the lawful orders of the elected president isn’t noble or patriotic. It’s an assault on democracy.

If you’re a presidential appointee who strongly disagrees with something the president’s about to do, you have a moral obligation to try to convince the president he’s wrong or to resign — and explain to the American people why. But there’s no constitutional option of staying on the job and pretending to be a loyal adviser, while secretly undermining the president — no matter how bad you deem his decisions.

Yet, according to the author, that’s precisely what he (or she) and many senior officials are doing. And the conduct the author describes matches named senior administration officials’ actions described in Bob Woodward’s new book, “Fear.” According to Woodward, then-economic adviser Gary Cohn “stole a letter off Trump’s desk” to avoid formally withdrawing from a U.S-South Korea trade agreement and did the same with a document to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement, telling then-staff secretary Rob Porter “I can stop this. I’ll just take the paper off his desk.”

It’s perfectly legitimate to campaign internally to dissuade the president from withdrawing from those trade agreements. But for the head of the National Economic Council to conspire with the White House staff secretary to hide documents from the president is rank insubordination. No one elected them. They elected Donald Trump.

It’s important that good people serve in the administration and try their best to persuade the president to make good decisions. But subverting the president crosses a moral and constitutional line. You’re no longer defending democracy.

In our system of checks and balances, there are many options officials can use if concerned about the president’s fitness for office. If many within the administration feel the president’s as unstable as the writer suggests, then resign en masse. That could impact midterm elections. If Trump’s truly incompetent, then Cabinet members can notify Congress that the president can’t carry out his duties under the 25th Amendment. But thwarting the president from within by extra-constitutional means is un-American.

There’s no shame in not serving a president you don’t respect. Many conservatives have made that decision. But if you can’t serve the president honorably, then the only honorable option is not to serve at all.