re: #319 BeachDem

Listen to certain cable news precincts, and the shock value of running an anonymous op-ed becomes clear. “An extraordinary thing just happened,” MSNBC’s Chuck Todd said at the top of his daily show. He called the piece “unprecedented.”

So what? Like most anonymous quotes and tracts, this one is a PR stunt. Mr. Senior Administration Official gets to use the distributive power of the New York Times to recast an entire class of federal appointees. No longer are they enablers of a foolish and capricious president. They are now the country’s most precious and valued patriots. In an appearance on Wednesday afternoon, the president pronounced it all a “gutless” exercise. No argument here.

From that article—bolding, mine. (Bullshit, Chuck Todd’s and the whole stupid op ed.)

WaPo reaching the point we did hours ago, that this was a CYA effort on the part of the White House staff who have looked to their post-Trump futures and seen nothing but a massive black emptiness. Recasting themselves not as feckless morons or willing enablers, but brave patriots who risked their careers and possibly more to stop the worst of Donny’s impulses.