I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration

"I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration" is an anonymous essay published by The New York Times on September 5, 2018. The author was described as a senior Trump administration official. About a week before the 2020 United States presidential election, Miles Taylor, who had been deputy chief of staff to the Department of Homeland Security's secretary Kirstjen Nielsen when writing the essay, revealed himself as the author. The op-ed criticizes Donald Trump and states that many current members of the administration deliberately undermine his suggestions and orders for the good of the country. It also states that some cabinet members in the early days of the administration discussed using the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution as a way to remove the president from power. The New York Times editorial board said that it knew the author's identity but granted the person anonymity to protect him from reprisal. The publication of this editorial was unusual because few New York Times pieces have been anonymously written. Trump expressed outrage at the content of the editorial and called for an investigation to determine who authored the editorial. The author's identity drew much speculation in the media, with over thirty administration officials denying their involvement. On November 19, 2019, a little over a year after publishing the editorial, Taylor went on to publish the book A Warning, also anonymously. Political environment The essay was published on September 5, 2018. During the week that the article was published, the book Fear: Trump in the White House by political author Bob Woodward was being promoted in the media ahead of its September 11, 2018, release date. Woodward's book depicts the Trump administration as being engulfed in chaos and internal opposition to Trump's impulses. The day before the essay's publication, the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary began public hearings on controversial US Supreme Court candidate Brett Kavanaugh. The timing was two months prior to the 2018 US elections and has been questioned as a possible calculated diversion, although The New York Times editorial board denied this.