Trump, White House Go Berserk Over Anonymous NYT Op-Ed

on September 5, 2018 in Washington, DC.
WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 05: U.S President Donald Trump speaks to the media about his accomplishments as President, during an event with sheriffs from across the United States, in the East Room of the White House ... WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 05: U.S President Donald Trump speaks to the media about his accomplishments as President, during an event with sheriffs from across the United States, in the East Room of the White House on September 5, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

President Trump and the White House went into full counterattack mode over Wednesday’s extraordinary op-ed in the New York Times from an anonymous senior administration official, attacking both the source and the publication.

Trump, in extended comments to reporters shortly after the op-ed was released, attacked the “failing New York Times,” the “dishonest media,” and a “gutless” writer.

“We have somebody in what I call the failing New York Times talking about he’s part of the resistance within the Trump administration. This is what we have to deal with,” he told reporters in the East Room early Wednesday evening.

Trump then ran through a series of talking points about all the ways he saw the administration as succeeding, before turning back to the jaw-dropping op-ed, which accused him of being “amoral” and warned that the author and other Trump administration colleagues would continue to try to constrain Trump as he “continues to act in a manner that is detrimental to the health of our republic.”

“Nobody has ever done in less than a two-year period what we’ve done. So when you tell me about some anonymous source within the administration, probably who’s failing, and who’s probably here for all the wrong reasons. No,” Trump said near the tail end of an extended tirade. “And the New York Times is failing. If I weren’t here I believe the New York Times probably wouldn’t even exist. Someday, when I’m not president, which hopefully will be in about six and a half years, the New York Times, CNN and all of these phony media outlets will be out of business, folks, they’ll be out of business, because there’ll be nothing to write and there’ll be nothing of interest.”

“So if the failing New York Times has an anonymous editorial, can you believe it, anonymous, meaning gutless, a gutless editorial. We’re doing a great job. The poll numbers are through the roof, our poll numbers are great, and guess what? Nobody’s going to come even close to beating me in 2020, because of what we’ve done. We’ve done more than anybody ever thought possible, in it’s not even two years,” he concluded.

Those remarks came just before White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders sent out an official statement attacking the “gutless, anonymous source to the failing New York Times.”

“The individual behind this piece has chosen to deceive, rather than support, the duly elected President of the United States.  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,” Sanders wrote.

The president and his close staffers weren’t done, however, quickly taking to Twitter to continue expressing his fury following a brutal 24-hour stretch. The op-ed dropped shortly after excerpts leaked from Bob Woodward’s damning book that features quotes from multiple senior White House officials slamming their own president, including White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, who reportedly called him an “idiot” — the second time Kelly has been reported to have called his boss that in recent months.

Not too long after, a one-word tweet went out that was clearly from the president himself:

Latest DC

Notable Replies

  1. Avatar for erik_t erik_t says:

    Very Stable Genius has this thing where he broadcasts what he thinks are his innermost thoughts at 170 decibels.

    Failing, failing, failing. This failing, that failing. So much failing.

    Hmm. I wonder what he’s fixated on.

  2. Avatar for dv01 dv01 says:

    Dear custodial staff,

    We need more TP in the executive washroom.

    Thx!

  3. trump tweets “TREASON!!”

    Just now

    Clearly the man is losing it.
    Lindsey Graham is on cnn at the moment and doing his best to spin this. "Well in Mah World down in s. Carolina people like their Mr trump. In Mah world that hullabaloo will amount to zero

  4. Avatar for topcat topcat says:

    How does he know this person is gutless? For all he knows they could be living promiscuously avoiding STDs during the 80s.

  5. Avatar for krux krux says:

    I wish they would just explain to the president that he’s won a trip to the happy dale puppy farm already where he’ll get all the ice cream scoops and special people will write and say nice things about him.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

473 more replies

Participants

Avatar for ajm Avatar for srfromgr Avatar for littlegirlblue Avatar for mondfledermaus Avatar for george_spiggott Avatar for squirreltown Avatar for teenlaqueefa Avatar for zoester Avatar for arrendis Avatar for ralph_vonholst Avatar for geofu54 Avatar for leftcoaster Avatar for serendipitoussomnambulist Avatar for darrtown Avatar for tena Avatar for beattycat Avatar for dommyluc Avatar for caltg Avatar for erratum Avatar for erik_t Avatar for qwerty23 Avatar for clare Avatar for checkmate2016 Avatar for captain_america

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: