This week an anonymous White House source wrote an editorial in the New York Times saying that there are many well-intentioned people working within the White House who keep the president under control. While it’s tempting to believe this narrative that some well-meaning Republicans are diligently working to protect our country, it’s just as likely that there are no well-meaning anonymous Republicans and that this is nothing more than electioneering on the part of the Republican Party and Trump. Here’s why I believe it’s much more likely that there are no well-meaning anonymous White House sources.
The first reason is that the writer fawns over the more destructive parts of this administration’s agenda:
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.
You can’t separate the president from the Republican agenda or the Republican agenda from the president. He was happy to write himself a tax cut that benefited him where the richest 1 percent get 82 percent of the benefits. So were Republicans.
The author clearly states that they “want the administration to succeed and think that many of its policies have already made America safer and more prosperous.” This isn’t resistance. It’s kumbaya “we’ll make you safer and we love all the perks for the wealthy.”
The second reason is that it sure looks like the Trump administration had a response to this article locked and loaded. One that plays right into the administrations story about there being a “deep state” that is out to destroy him.
Why it’s almost as if he had a press conference ready with some campaign tidbits about how great he’s done:
So not only does the anonymous source fawn over Trumpublican accomplishments, but the story itself confirms in many conservative minds that someone is, indeed, out to get him. It confirms his idiotic deep state liberal media narrative.
The third reason: Say, aren’t elections coming up pretty soon?
And lastly, if you really cared about our country and wanted change, why not do something to actually change things instead of supporting him? Look who benefits …
1. The Republican Party
They can pretend that there are people in the Republican Party willing to stand up to Trump to the 10 percent of their wealthy and upper-middle-class white voters who might be worried that Trump is indeed a compromised Russian asset. “We’ve got this under control,” is the message. It’s okay to still vote Republican because there are still “adults in the room.” This is like lionizing John McCain for not being a neo-Nazi. Even when he voted 83 percent of the time with Trump’s agenda.
This sure sounds like being able to have your tax cuts for the rich and get re-elected too.
2. Donald Trump
No matter which way you look at it, Trump benefits. He now actually has a “deep state” he can point at. It also supports his narrative about a “liberal” media that also doesn’t exist. He looks good to his base (alt-right Rush Limbaugh conspiracy theorists). While his Republican cohorts reassure their wealthy donor base and white upper-middle-class suburban voters. Or as the author literally states: “The result is a two-track presidency.” Apparently this means, one that speaks to both of the audiences most likely to vote Republican.
3. The New York Times
Is this clickbait ever getting a lot of clicks? Trump tweets about it and gets his base to view it. Liberals are clicking on it because they’re looking for any hope in their effort to get rid of Trump. This article is everywhere. News is boring, while propaganda hasn’t been just for Fox News since Iraq and before.
There are no “well-meaning” anonymous White House sources. Do I think Trump is smart enough to pull off something like this? Of course not. Keep in mind though the GOP/corporate special interest obsession with propaganda and how much they leveraged it in the 2016 election—whether influenced/aided by Russia or not. They have or work with people who understand propaganda and are willing to use it in ways not seen before in our country.
For example, in 2016, they used narratives from both the right and the left to sow confusion and help Trump win. In this case, the article appears to be from a group of resisters within the Trump administration but doesn’t seem to do any actual resisting. If you like the president’s narcissism, racism, xenophobia, and predilection for dictators like Putin, Kim Jong Un, and Rodrigo Duterte, have we ever got your guy. In the words of many cons(ervatives) I know, we love him because he pisses off the libtards. If, however, you’re just in this for the tax cuts, we’ve got your guy under control. It is still perfectly okay to vote Republican.
Is this cynical of me? Maybe. Or maybe Soviet journalist Alexey Kovalev is right when he warned us: “Welcome to the era of bullshit.” As it stands, I don’t believe anyone associated with this administration is trustworthy. Especially not a “well-meaning” anonymous source. Nothing is going to change until better people are in place and there are actual checks and balances on Trump and his enablers.
The lie they keep telling us is that Trump is a populist. That he’s okay because both Democrats and Republicans hate him. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this from people: “He’s got to be doing something right if both Republicans and Democrats hate him.” Except Republicans don’t hate him. They love that he passed tax cuts for the wealthy. They’ve egged on his racist base for years in order to accomplish their corporate special interest agenda. They enable him and he enables them. Neither really does anything serious against the other. But the appearance apparently helps both. Each group can still rationalize voting Republican.
If you really want to be a well-meaning anonymous source, you’d tell people to vote and to vote all the corporate special interest corruption out of office. Starting with Republicans. You’d tell people that the problem is government capture. You’d tell people we need legislation or a constitutional amendment to get the money out of politics. You’d tell people that we need to restore democracy by bringing back checks and balances in the form of ousting anyone in Congress who supports or enables it. Where’s this message in the “liberal” media?
It’d be great if the Mueller investigation somehow ousts Trump. But don’t rely on it. Similarly, don’t rely on supposedly “well-meaning” anonymous White House sources. It’s just as likely that they are working with the Trump administration as against it. Get out and vote and help anyone running who is willing to actually fight against Trump and his Republican enablers.
David Akadjian is the author of The Little Book of Revolution: A Distributive Strategy for Democracy (also available as an ebook).