Heroic protection of democracy

The nasty guy and his minions are quite upset and the mainstream and social media are all abuzz (and atwitter) over an op-ed that appeared last night in the *New York Times* written by an anonymous White House senior official with the title “I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration.”

I won’t link. If you really want to read it I’m sure you can find it.

I’d much rather write about Melissa McEwan’s response on Shakesville. The premise of the op-ed: the author is part of a team that prevents the nasty guy from indulging his worst instincts, they’re keeping him in check. There are adults in the room. They’re trying to do what is right, even when the nasty guy won’t. The result is a two-track presidency. Aren’t we heroic! We’re protecting democracy!

McEwan responds by saying these people are not elected. They should not be taking over for a president. If they don’t like what the nasty guy is doing, they should not undermine the president but unseat him – argue for his removal, persuade colleagues in Congress to do their jobs, invoke the 25th Amendment (a point Leah McElrath adds).

But they’re not.

So McEwan notes what these people are doing is not protecting democracy, but protecting the GOP agenda of authoritarian takeover from being derailed by the nasty guy.

By writing the op-ed the anonymous author is saying a couple important and scary things:

* The nasty guy isn’t so useful anymore. Though he still warms the chair in the Oval Office, the coup is complete. You don’t have to go through the mess of impeachment.

* Don’t worry, the adults have taken over. You (the voter) don’t have to fret over voting GOP in two months.

McEwan describes the author and colleagues this way:

They want to keep him in place while the GOP consolidates power behind this presidency, whoever is running it. While elections are rigged, while districts are gerrymandered, while votes are suppressed, while dark money funds their candidates, while the judiciary is stacked with corrupt right-wingers, while state legislatures are gerrymandered and stolen, while marginalized people are oppressed, while babies are kept in cages, while class warfare is waged against the 99 percent, while unions are busted, while workers lose their rights, while public education is destroyed, while the environment is irretrievably fucked.

There is, of course, lots of speculation about who the author is. Some of that speculation names the vice nasty guy. He’s always wanted to be president. Perhaps he just announced that though he doesn’t have the title, he wields the power. But the op-ed is awful no matter who wrote it.