Place your bets: Who's the snitch?

Kaiser-Kun

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The New York Times published a harsh op-ed from a person claiming to be a part of the "resistance" against the Trump Administration from within the White House, and that several actions have been taken to boycott the President's actions, even considering to remove him from office. Trump and his lackeys are going ballistic over this, demanding the NYT to "hand him over" and making threats.

Suspects are plenty for codeword "Lodestar", ranging from Pence to Sessions to Kelly to Conway to Jared to Ivanka to FRICKIN' MELANIA. Everyone has their reasons to go against this man, who wrote a single-word tweet yesterday about the whole mess: "Treason?"
 
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Kjbartolotta

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Whoever it is (possibly theory, Nikki Haley, but I suspect it's someone without name recognition) gets no points from me, instead they just sounds amoral and self-aggrandizing, while wrapping themselves in phony sanctity (so maybe Pence, hmm) and making it clear they ain't gonna do shit to stop Trump. Perhaps rats are fleeing the ship, or perhaps they're just looking for book deals.
 

Brightdreamer

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Whoever it is (possibly theory, Nikki Haley, but I suspect it's someone without name recognition) gets no points from me, instead they just sounds amoral and self-aggrandizing, while wrapping themselves in phony sanctity (so maybe Pence, hmm) and making it clear they ain't gonna do shit to stop Trump. Perhaps rats are fleeing the ship, or perhaps they're just looking for book deals.


+1

My money would be on "organized propaganda/distraction," myself...

"Well, yes, Emperor Palpatine is a literal Lord of Darkness, but I moved that kitten out of the way he was about to fry with his Force-bolts as he ordered the destruction of an entire planet. Doesn't that make me one of the noble Rebel good guys?"
 

CWatts

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My guess is DefSec "Mad Dog" Mattis - one of the few adults in the room who's somehow stayed in the Clown Prince's good graces. But maybe that's because I'm hoping he'll resign/get fired and go straight to his brother Marine Mueller.
 

Devil Ledbetter

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you martyr and shine.
Gutless? Check!
Self-aggrandizing? Check!
Moralistic yet amoral? Check!

Survey says! Mike Pence.
 

ElaineA

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Lawrence O'Donnell made a solid case for Dan Coats last night. The guy has no further pretensions to any political office after this, unlike Pompeo, Haley and Pence (along with many other solid reasons to guess it's him) but I won't be one bit surprised if it's Steve Bannon's writing and someone else delivering the message to the NYT and claiming they wrote it. I have not one shred of evidence to back that up other than chaos is Bannon's calling card.
 

Tazlima

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Reading that article made me think of similar scenarios I've found myself in over the years. I temped once for an architect who was in the not-so-early stages of alzheimers or some similar mental deterioration (he was the owner and founder of the company). He'd have me do a massive, tedious, hours-long task, then the next day make me do it again because he forgot I'd already done it, and refused to believe me when I reminded him, so I'd end up doing the same tasks two or three times each.

The entire office was desperate to keep him from doing serious damage. After a month of temping, I was offered a full-time position, but I wanted no part of that mess, so I moved on. When I left, the staff and particularly the other architects were in talks with the company lawyer about how best to handle the problem, because dude had no intention of retiring, but their own licenses were in jepardy if they knowingly let him continue the way he was. The good thing, though, is that they WERE taking concrete action to get him out.

I also worked for many years with a coworker who was downright toxic, and in that scenario, we acted similarly to the person in the op-ed piece, that is, we complained about him regularly to the boss, but we also covered for his screwups (and passive-aggressive BS), because we didn't want the clients to be adversly affected, and we cared about the company itself. The long-term result was a net negative. Because we put ourselves in a position to act as a buffer between this idiot and the consequences of his actions, the boss never had to deal with said consequences, or even really see how dreadful the guy truly was (I had a standing agreement with our younger female employees that they would never have to be alone in this man's presence. If the day's assignments panned out that way, I'd either join them or trade places - he was THAT bad). As a result, we were stuck dealing with his lazy, stupid, mean-spirited, sexually-harassing, generally creepy presence for YEARS.

I believe the op-ed writer genuinely feels there's no other choice but to become a buffer, because the alternative is to let bad things happen that will hurt innocent people, but the result will be the same. By smoothing over the worst elements of Trump's actions, they're just making things worse, because let's face it, he's not going to get any better at presidenting. They're just prolonging the pain, and even more people will get hurt in the long run.
 
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Chris P

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I too vote it's someone we've not seen in front of the cameras except in group shots. Elaine's point about someone with little to lose politically is well taken too.
 

Kaiser-Kun

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A funny little theory I read today mentions a person who couldn't care any less now.

John McCain.
 

Kjbartolotta

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I've kinda only skimmed it and got most of the takes from the piece regurgitated for me on Twitter, but with all the corny turns of phrase, does anyone else feel like the op-ed reads a lot like it was written by...an op-ed writer? Not that I think it was, but it indicates to me whoever wrote it had an eye how they look more than, again, actually doing anything.
 

ElaineA

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I've kinda only skimmed it and got most of the takes from the piece regurgitated for me on Twitter, but with all the corny turns of phrase, does anyone else feel like the op-ed reads a lot like it was written by...an op-ed writer? Not that I think it was, but it indicates to me whoever wrote it had an eye how they look more than, again, actually doing anything.

This was another of Lawrence O'D's positions. He feels it's clearly written by someone with either a press shop of their own, or who has a lot of history with press releases, again, pointing to the politicians in the room. Use of terms like "lodestar" struck him as meant to cloud more than illuminate, which is a very pro-level PR move.

That said, the others on the panel with L. O'D. didn't agree with him, so the op-ed did it's job. It's got a lot of people talking, and no one knowing a damn thing. It's got Trump in an uproar, and the press ignoring Kavanaugh, Manafort, and the 500 kids still separated from their parents. Whee! Fun times.
 

Chris P

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The timing with Bob Woodward's book is too well timed to be coincidental. Almost surely Woodward spoke with the op-ed author while researching his book, and I wouldn't be surprised if the letter's publication was coordinated.

On the other hand, my paranoid self whispers that it's a hoax designed to discredit the NYT. But if that was so I think the hoaxters would have revealed the hoax immediately amid trumpets, laughter and finger pointing at the "failing" "libtard" NYT.
 

Kjbartolotta

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Other valid and very serious theories:

-That lawnmower kid.
-Bannon in a rare moment of reflection after his yearly ayhuasca trip.
-DJT's rarely-mentioned twin brother Norwald.
-Kanye
-The gold toilet (I like this one the best).
 

Kaiser-Kun

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Other valid and very serious theories:

-That lawnmower kid.
-Bannon in a rare moment of reflection after his yearly ayhuasca trip.
-DJT's rarely-mentioned twin brother Norwald.
-Kanye
-The gold toilet (I like this one the best).

- Peña Nieto
- Putin (to confuse everyone)
- Mueller
- The prime minister of Montenegro whom Trump shoved aside once
- HM The Queen Elizabeth II
- The entire nation of Canada

Is there anyone Trump hasn't pissed?
 

CWatts

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It's Melania, but she plagiarized it from Michelle Obama.
 

Twick

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Bill Kristol suggests it's someone who's a trade guru, mad about Trump tearing up all the trade pacts.

Someone who supports Trump's immigration and social moves, though.
 

Mclesh

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Something to keep in mind from Soledad O'Brien on Twitter:

June 25, 1974. Wall Street Journal: “W. Mark Felt says he isn't now, nor has he ever been Deep Throat." (Dear Reader, it turns out—he was. So taketh all these denials with a grain of salt)



 

gem1122

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Though my gut feeling is that it's someone without a lot of name recognition, my hope is that it is someone like Conway, Pence, or Kelly. It would carry more weight and make the story even more astounding than it already is. For pure dramatic reasons, I hope it's Melania.

As for those saying that it's criminal to undermine the president, this can't be the only time a staff member hid something from the commander in chief. We've all had bosses, and we've learned to deal with them in certain ways. Sometimes that means withholding information or presenting information in a way that we think is going to be beneficial to ourselves or the organization as a whole. This ain't no dictatorship.