Log in or Sign up

Russian issues

Discussion in 'Free Speech Alley' started by LSUpride123, Mar 3, 2017.

Page 259 of 279

HalloweenRun Founding Member

Joined:

Oct 16, 2009

Messages:

7,479

Likes Received:

4,967

That Op-Ed knocked the rancorous Supreme Court hearing off the airways! Some of those bozos lost otherwise free air time.

HalloweenRun, Sep 5, 2018

#2581
GiantDuckFan be excellent to each other Staff Member

Joined:

Jun 26, 2011

Messages:

13,358

Likes Received:

10,176

Winston1 said: ↑

Apropos to your comment, this from a supposedly senior member of the administration and a conserveho supports much of what he has done. It paints a frightening picture of Trump and his instabilities.
Every weekday, get thought-provoking commentary from Op-Ed columnists, the Times editorial board and contributing writers from around the world. Sign up for the Opinion Today newsletter.
I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration
I work for the president but like-minded colleagues and I have vowed to thwart parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.
The Times today is taking the rare step of publishing an anonymous Op-Ed essay. We have done so at the request of the author, a senior official in the Trump administration whose identity is known to us and whose job would be jeopardized by its disclosure. We believe publishing this essay anonymously is the only way to deliver an important perspective to our readers. We invite you to submit a question about the essay or our vetting process here.
President Trump is facing a test to his presidency unlike any faced by a modern American leader.
It’s not just that the special counsel looms large. Or that the country is bitterly divided over Mr. Trump’s leadership. Or even that his party might well lose the House to an opposition hellbent on his downfall.
The dilemma — which he does not fully grasp — is that many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.
I would know. I am one of them.
To be clear, ours is not the popular “resistance” of the left. We want the administration to succeed and think that many of its policies have already made America safer and more prosperous.
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.
↗️ Ask a Question
The Times is taking the rare step of publishing an op-ed anonymously. Please submit any questions you may have about the essay.
The root of the problem is the president’s amorality. Anyone who works with him knows he is not moored to any discernible first principles that guide his decision making.
Although he was elected as a Republican, the president shows little affinity for ideals long espoused by conservatives: free minds, free markets and free people. At best, he has invoked these ideals in scripted settings. At worst, he has attacked them outright.
In addition to his mass-marketing of the notion that the press is the “enemy of the people,” President Trump’s impulses are generally anti-trade and anti-democratic.
Don’t get me wrong. There are bright spots that the near-ceaseless negative coverage of the administration fails to capture: effective deregulation, historic tax reform, a more robust military and more.
But these successes have come despite — not because of — the president’s leadership style, which is impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective.
From the White House to executive branch departments and agencies, senior officials will privately admit their daily disbelief at the commander in chief’s comments and actions. Most are working to insulate their operations from his whims.
Meetings with him veer off topic and off the rails, he engages in repetitive rants, and his impulsiveness results in half-baked, ill-informed and occasionally reckless decisions that have to be walked back.
“There is literally no telling whether he might change his mind from one minute to the next,” a top official complained to me recently, exasperated by an Oval Office meeting at which the president flip-flopped on a major policy decision he’d made only a week earlier.
The erratic behavior would be more concerning if it weren’t for unsung heroes in and around the White House. Some of his aides have been cast as villains by the media. But in private, they have gone to great lengths to keep bad decisions contained to the West Wing, though they are clearly not always successful.
It may be cold comfort in this chaotic era, but Americans should know that there are adults in the room. We fully recognize what is happening. And we are trying to do what’s right even when Donald Trump won’t.
The result is a two-track presidency.
Take foreign policy: In public and in private, President Trump shows a preference for autocrats and dictators, such as President Vladimir Putin of Russia and North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, and displays little genuine appreciation for the ties that bind us to allied, like-minded nations.
Astute observers have noted, though, that the rest of the administration is operating on another track, one where countries like Russia are called out for meddling and punished accordingly, and where allies around the world are engaged as peers rather than ridiculed as rivals.
On Russia, for instance, the president was reluctant to expel so many of Mr. Putin’s spies as punishment for the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain. He complained for weeks about senior staff members letting him get boxed into further confrontation with Russia, and he expressed frustration that the United States continued to impose sanctions on the country for its malign behavior. But his national security team knew better — such actions had to be taken, to hold Moscow accountable.
This isn’t the work of the so-called deep state. It’s the work of the steady state.
Given the instability many witnessed, there were early whispers within the cabinet of invoking the 25th Amendment, which would start a complex process for removing the president. But no one wanted to precipitate a constitutional crisis. So we will do what we can to steer the administration in the right direction until — one way or another — it’s over.
The bigger concern is not what Mr. Trump has done to the presidency but rather what we as a nation have allowed him to do to us. We have sunk low with him and allowed our discourse to be stripped of civility.
Senator John McCain put it best in his farewell letter. All Americans should heed his words and break free of the tribalism trap, with the high aim of uniting through our shared values and love of this great nation.
We may no longer have Senator McCain. But we will always have his example — a lodestar for restoring honor to public life and our national dialogue. Mr. Trump may fear such honorable men, but we should revere them.
There is a quiet resistance within the administration of people choosing to put country first. But the real difference will be made by everyday citizens rising above politics, reaching across the aisle and resolving to shed the labels in favor of a single one: Americans.
The writer is a senior official in the Trump administration.
Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook and Twitter (@NYTopinion).
Get the full New York Times experience
.
Click to expand...

Ivanka Trump is a senior official in the Trump administration,.. she wrote it !

GiantDuckFan, Sep 5, 2018

#2582

Winston1 likes this.
Frogleg Registered Best

Joined:

Dec 23, 2004

Messages:

3,268

Likes Received:

1,973

GiantDuckFan said: ↑

Ivanka Trump is a senior official in the Trump administration,.. she wrote it !
Click to expand...

Jeff Sessions did it, and he was high as a kite.

(Anyone remember Dallas TV show and "Who Shot J.R.?")
Are you not entertained?

Frogleg, Sep 5, 2018

#2583

shane0911 and GiantDuckFan like this.
kcal Founding Member

Joined:

Dec 20, 2004

Messages:

10,956

Likes Received:

7,877

Winston1 said: ↑

Apropos to your comment, this from a supposedly senior member of the administration and a conserveho supports much of what he has done. It paints a frightening picture of Trump and his instabilities.
Every weekday, get thought-provoking commentary from Op-Ed columnists, the Times editorial board and contributing writers from around the world. Sign up for the Opinion Today newsletter.
I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration
I work for the president but like-minded colleagues and I have vowed to thwart parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.
The Times today is taking the rare step of publishing an anonymous Op-Ed essay. We have done so at the request of the author, a senior official in the Trump administration whose identity is known to us and whose job would be jeopardized by its disclosure. We believe publishing this essay anonymously is the only way to deliver an important perspective to our readers. We invite you to submit a question about the essay or our vetting process here.
President Trump is facing a test to his presidency unlike any faced by a modern American leader.
It’s not just that the special counsel looms large. Or that the country is bitterly divided over Mr. Trump’s leadership. Or even that his party might well lose the House to an opposition hellbent on his downfall.
The dilemma — which he does not fully grasp — is that many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.
I would know. I am one of them.
To be clear, ours is not the popular “resistance” of the left. We want the administration to succeed and think that many of its policies have already made America safer and more prosperous.
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.
↗️ Ask a Question
The Times is taking the rare step of publishing an op-ed anonymously. Please submit any questions you may have about the essay.
The root of the problem is the president’s amorality. Anyone who works with him knows he is not moored to any discernible first principles that guide his decision making.
Although he was elected as a Republican, the president shows little affinity for ideals long espoused by conservatives: free minds, free markets and free people. At best, he has invoked these ideals in scripted settings. At worst, he has attacked them outright.
In addition to his mass-marketing of the notion that the press is the “enemy of the people,” President Trump’s impulses are generally anti-trade and anti-democratic.
Don’t get me wrong. There are bright spots that the near-ceaseless negative coverage of the administration fails to capture: effective deregulation, historic tax reform, a more robust military and more.
But these successes have come despite — not because of — the president’s leadership style, which is impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective.
From the White House to executive branch departments and agencies, senior officials will privately admit their daily disbelief at the commander in chief’s comments and actions. Most are working to insulate their operations from his whims.
Meetings with him veer off topic and off the rails, he engages in repetitive rants, and his impulsiveness results in half-baked, ill-informed and occasionally reckless decisions that have to be walked back.
“There is literally no telling whether he might change his mind from one minute to the next,” a top official complained to me recently, exasperated by an Oval Office meeting at which the president flip-flopped on a major policy decision he’d made only a week earlier.
The erratic behavior would be more concerning if it weren’t for unsung heroes in and around the White House. Some of his aides have been cast as villains by the media. But in private, they have gone to great lengths to keep bad decisions contained to the West Wing, though they are clearly not always successful.
It may be cold comfort in this chaotic era, but Americans should know that there are adults in the room. We fully recognize what is happening. And we are trying to do what’s right even when Donald Trump won’t.
The result is a two-track presidency.
Take foreign policy: In public and in private, President Trump shows a preference for autocrats and dictators, such as President Vladimir Putin of Russia and North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, and displays little genuine appreciation for the ties that bind us to allied, like-minded nations.
Astute observers have noted, though, that the rest of the administration is operating on another track, one where countries like Russia are called out for meddling and punished accordingly, and where allies around the world are engaged as peers rather than ridiculed as rivals.
On Russia, for instance, the president was reluctant to expel so many of Mr. Putin’s spies as punishment for the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain. He complained for weeks about senior staff members letting him get boxed into further confrontation with Russia, and he expressed frustration that the United States continued to impose sanctions on the country for its malign behavior. But his national security team knew better — such actions had to be taken, to hold Moscow accountable.
This isn’t the work of the so-called deep state. It’s the work of the steady state.
Given the instability many witnessed, there were early whispers within the cabinet of invoking the 25th Amendment, which would start a complex process for removing the president. But no one wanted to precipitate a constitutional crisis. So we will do what we can to steer the administration in the right direction until — one way or another — it’s over.
The bigger concern is not what Mr. Trump has done to the presidency but rather what we as a nation have allowed him to do to us. We have sunk low with him and allowed our discourse to be stripped of civility.
Senator John McCain put it best in his farewell letter. All Americans should heed his words and break free of the tribalism trap, with the high aim of uniting through our shared values and love of this great nation.
We may no longer have Senator McCain. But we will always have his example — a lodestar for restoring honor to public life and our national dialogue. Mr. Trump may fear such honorable men, but we should revere them.
There is a quiet resistance within the administration of people choosing to put country first. But the real difference will be made by everyday citizens rising above politics, reaching across the aisle and resolving to shed the labels in favor of a single one: Americans.
The writer is a senior official in the Trump administration.
Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook and Twitter (@NYTopinion).
Get the full New York Times experience
.
Click to expand...

cowardice

kcal, Sep 5, 2018

#2584
Winston1 Founding Member

Joined:

Sep 5, 2010

Messages:

12,048

Likes Received:

7,423

kcal said: ↑

cowardice
Click to expand...

Or the utmost bravery

Winston1, Sep 5, 2018

#2585
kcal Founding Member

Joined:

Dec 20, 2004

Messages:

10,956

Likes Received:

7,877

Winston1 said: ↑

Or the utmost bravery
Click to expand...

not sure if the writer sacrificed more than Colin or not

kcal, Sep 5, 2018

#2586
dachsie Veteran Member

Joined:

Jun 21, 2017

Messages:

2,374

Likes Received:

2,113

Winston1 said: ↑

Or the utmost bravery
Click to expand...

Bravery would be to come out and reveal himself. Here he's hiding behind a wall. He should resign if he doesn't agree with the president Can you imagine what uproar there would have been if an Obama official came out and did something like this? This is not a good thing for the country this dude professes to love. This undermines our government. The kind of thing that happens in 3rd world countries - a coup.

dachsie, Sep 5, 2018

#2587

shane0911 likes this.
Winston1 Founding Member

Joined:

Sep 5, 2010

Messages:

12,048

Likes Received:

7,423

Or it’s protecting the country from dangerous acts. I wish there HAD been someone of equal courage in the Obama administration. He was destructive to our government and constitution.
Now to this guy, he supports many of the policies but seems more interested in protecting the president from himself as well as protecting the country from Trump going too far. Trump has more than tip toed around blatantly unconstitutional acts. Just resigning does nothing but open the door to worse in this case. I believe that’s why Kelly and Mattis stay as well as Nicki Haley and others.

Winston1, Sep 5, 2018

#2588
LSUpride123 PureBlood

Joined:

Oct 20, 2008

Messages:

33,700

Likes Received:

16,641

HalloweenRun said: ↑

That Op-Ed knocked the rancorous Supreme Court hearing off the airways! Some of those bozos lost otherwise free air time.
Click to expand...

Trump wrote it.

LSUpride123, Sep 5, 2018

#2589

HalloweenRun, Winston1 and Frogleg like this.
LSUpride123 PureBlood

Joined:

Oct 20, 2008

Messages:

33,700

Likes Received:

16,641

Winston1 said: ↑

Or it’s protecting the country from dangerous acts. I wish there HAD been someone of equal courage in the Obama administration. He was destructive to our government and constitution.
Now to this guy, he supports many of the policies but seems more interested in protecting the president from himself as well as protecting the country from Trump going too far. Trump has more than tip toed around blatantly unconstitutional acts. Just resigning does nothing but open the door to worse in this case. I believe that’s why Kelly and Mattis stay as well as Nicki Haley and others.
Click to expand...

Name one thing Trump has done that was illegal, put the country in harms way or eroded our democracy?

Mean tweets don’t count.

LSUpride123, Sep 5, 2018

#2590

shane0911 likes this.

(You must log in or sign up to reply here.)

Page 259 of 279

Share This Page