David Frum is no fan of Donald Trump, but even he’s sounding the alarm about that “anonymous op-ed” in the New York Times:
A cowardly coup, me in @TheAtlantic on *that* NYT op-ed https://t.co/lHnVDmy5Ey
— David Frum (@davidfrum) September 5, 2018
"If the president’s closest advisers believe that he is morally and intellectually unfit for his high office, they have a duty to do their utmost to remove him from it, by the lawful means at hand," @DavidFrum writes https://t.co/2y7NGVs3sd
— The Atlantic (@TheAtlantic) September 5, 2018
It’s worth reading the whole piece (really), but here’s an excerpt:
But what the author has just done is throw the government of the United States into even more dangerous turmoil. He or she has enflamed the paranoia of the president and empowered the president’s willfulness.
What happens the next time a staffer seeks to dissuade the president from, say, purging the Justice Department to shut down the Mueller investigation? The author of the Times op-ed has explicitly told the president that those who offer such advice do not have the president’s best interests at heart, and are, in fact, actively subverting his best interests as he understands them on behalf of ideas of their own.
He’ll grow more defiant, more reckless, more anti-constitutional, and more dangerous.
And those who do not quit or are not fired in the next few days will have to work even more assiduously to prove themselves loyal, obedient, and on the team. Things will be worse after this piece. They will be worse because of this piece.
Love Trump or hate him, the fact remains that stunts like this “anonymous op-ed” will make things even more difficult than they already are.
Fair points.
— Felt (@MrFelt_) September 5, 2018
Exactly. Agreed. A real moral act is to include your name and quit. Not easy of course, but nothing courageous ever is.
— Joe (@pailcast) September 5, 2018
Agreed, Mr. Frum. Either go all the way, or don't bother. This weak tea approach helps none of us.
— Alimentary (@StJohnSterling) September 5, 2018
Cowardly is the exact word I used half an hour ago in a conversation with a friend. The s*&t going down now is too dangerous for craven cowardice.
— Holly Skaptason Dreger ?? (@YoeysAmma) September 5, 2018
The person who wrote that piece has a moral obligation to put their money where their mouth is and come forward. An obligation to both sides.
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