Donald Trump thwarted by White House ‘resistance’

Donald Trump’s “worst inclinations” are being reined in by a group of senior White House staff mounting a “quiet resistance”, according to one of the US president’s own officials.

The claim was published in an anonymous opinion article in The New York Times yesterday. The paper says it has chosen not to identify the official because his or her job would be in danger.

“The dilemma – which [Trump] does not fully grasp – is that many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations,” the article states. “I would know. I am one of them.”

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It goes on to criticise Trump’s “amorality”, characterising his leadership style as “impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective”. It also reveals that senior aides have discussed invoking Article 25 of the US constitution, which provides for the removal of an incapacitated president from office.

Trump lashed out shortly after the article was published, calling it “really a disgrace” and demanding that the official should be identified.

The New York Times article “amplified the sense of paranoia inside the West Wing and resurrected the feeling that the White House is under assault from within”, CNN says. Earlier this week, a book published by Bob Woodward suggested that the administration was in a state of “nervous breakdown”.

However, says The Washington Post, the anonymous article could be a “PR stunt” designed to distance the Republican Party from the president in the run-up to the November midterm elections.