If Anonymous quits, he will only empower the president’s worst anti-democratic instincts, and make way for someone else who will likely enable authoritarianism. If he stays, he is undermining the very democracy he is trying to protect, by conducting what is effectively a soft coup on behalf of the “steady state” and that part of the GOP that decisively lost to Trump in the primaries. It’s lose-lose, and some of the condemnations of the op-ed’s author seem blind to what is a real dilemma. If you know the president is amoral and dictatorial, there is a real and defensible case for staying.
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Unfortunately, there is no case for publicizing any of this anonymously in the New York Times. Far from helping his cause, Anonymous has undermined it. Worse, he has triggered this president — which was completely predictable — into exactly the kind of unhinged behavior Anonymous is so worried about. Maybe the op-ed was designed to buttress Woodward’s portrayal of a dangerous two-track administration. Maybe it was a way of salving his own conscience in the wake of McCain’s death. Maybe it was a misbegotten attempt to calm those of us horrified by what Trump is doing to the office and liberal democracy. But as a political act, it was indeed gutless as well as pointless.
I agree with the first part of this, and disagree with the last. Anonymous is clearly speaking to Congress, but at the same time going over Congress’ head; a supine Republican Party might be annoyed, but it’s a safe bet that much of the rest of the country has taken note.
What if the author is identified and fired? Who replaces Anonymous? A reliably sycophantic cultist who can be trusted to do whatever the deranged Buffoon-in-Chief says to do — that’s who.
One more thing: I ordinarily want nothing to do with anonymities — but this is an exceptional case. Would Congress act if Anonymous had done as Republicans suggest, resigned and then held a press conference? No. Could anonymous and his or her family be confidant they wouldn’t be targeted and harmed by some lunatic Trump cultist? No.
As Sullivan correctly notes, Anonymous’ position is lose-lose — and it’s time to stop being distracted by the messenger’s method and start thinking about the message: Trump is an unstable loony.