NYT Runs Op-Ed from Anonymous Senior Trump Admin Official...

[ηєω ƒяσηтιєя]

An NYT tweet confirmed the author is male.

Which tweet? Could be subtle/intentional misdirection. If it were you doing something like this, wouldn't you have to know what Trump's reaction would be, and try to arranged in coordination with the NYT all the misdirection/ambiguity that you could in advance?

https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1037428142649094145

The tweet says "he" so obviously it's a male.

It could actually be the traditional (and somewhat archaic at this point) general/gender-neutral "he." It's completely feasible that a well-recognized writing organization like the NYT still follows those pronoun usage rules.

Fair enough.

Well, now you're just over analyzing.

The op-ed openly brings up the 25th amendment as a way of removing the President. That is not beanbags. Under those circumstances, I think you would have to be pretty insane to not take extensive precautions to protect the author.

If it were actually Pence (as adrac is posting the possibility of based on the word "lodestar") that would be pretty remarkable not least because it talks about the 25th amendment.

If it were Pence, that would be basically a not-too-subtle threat to Trump - don't do anything too crazy or we are prepared to 25th amendment you. (!)

We live in "interesting times."

Fair enough. However, I highly doubt that it's Pence.

[7,052,770]

Pence has the most to gain from this article. Sessions probably has the least to lose.

[Banana Republican]

I wouldn't be surprised if when this gets analyzed further, there turn out to be phrases like "lodestar" and "first principles" used by an even great number of entirely different people.

If you were trying to seed an op-ed with linguistic misdirection (knowing in advance that the whole political world would be combing through every last word with a fine-toothed comb), lacing it with phrases used by lots of different people would be exactly the sort of way you could make it impossible to tell who actually wrote it.

[Koharu]

I doubt it's Pence, as well, at least alone.

It's also possible multiple people worked together on this document, though only one leaked it.

[tallguy23]

I doubt it's Pence, as well, at least alone.

It's also possible multiple people worked together on this document, though only one leaked it.

My thoughts as well. I wouldn't be surprised if it were 2-3 people working together.

[Comrade Funk]

Need Scooby-Doo and the gang to solve this mystery.

[GeorgiaModerate]

It's also possible that the author is deliberately choosing phrases used by others in order to throw people off the track.

[KingSweden]

It's also possible that the author is deliberately choosing phrases used by others in order to throw people off the track.

Right.

All in all, very troubling stuff. Remove the specific protagonists of this story - unelected officials have essentially seized the President’s decision making without his consent.

[new_patomic]

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1037464177269514240

[Wrong about 2024 Ghost]

Need Scooby-Doo and the gang to solve this mystery.

And when they pull the mask off Old Man Trump at the end, it turns out he's really Azathoth. Then he eats the world.

[Koharu]

It's also possible that the author is deliberately choosing phrases used by others in order to throw people off the track.

Right.

All in all, very troubling stuff. Remove the specific protagonists of this story - unelected officials have essentially seized the President’s decision making without his consent.

Yep. As above, this is basically a quiet coup and we should be thankful? Ugh.

[riceowl]

I don't think Pence's job would be in jeopardy (he can't be fired, can he?), so I don't see how it would be him.

[emailking]

I don't think Pence's job would be in jeopardy (he can't be fired, can he?), so I don't see how it would be him.

I don't see how it can be Pence from a logistical perspective, but there's a reason he has sucked up to Trump for the last 2 years. He wants to be elected President someday. He obviously sees it as in his interest to stay in Trump's good graces.

[Pericles]

I don't think Pence's job would be in jeopardy (he can't be fired, can he?), so I don't see how it would be him.

Maybe that he can be dumped from the 2020 ticket?

[riceowl]

Also if it was Pence the better story would be "VP Attempts to Publish Op-Ed Bashing President"

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/alanhe/status/1037468880569069568

So, Mr. Principled Senator Corker, why haven't you done anything about it?

The inmates are truly running the asylum.

[Joe Kakistocracy]

My money is on John Barron.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

[kyc0705]

An NYT tweet confirmed the author is male.

Which tweet? Could be subtle/intentional misdirection. If it were you doing something like this, wouldn't you have to know what Trump's reaction would be, and try to arranged in coordination with the NYT all the misdirection/ambiguity that you could in advance?

https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1037428142649094145

The tweet says "he" so obviously it's a male.

It could actually be the traditional (and somewhat archaic at this point) general/gender-neutral "he." It's completely feasible that a well-recognized writing organization like the NYT still follows those pronoun usage rules.

I very highly doubt that a publication as major as the New York Times would still be using default male pronouns in 2018. I think this tweet is definitely an indicator that the op-ed author is male.

EDIT: Based on this blog post about the NYT's style guide, it would seem that while the publication has no hard rule on the matter, most of their writers are trending towards using "they" as a singular pronoun when specifically identifying a person as "he" or "she" is not an option. I would guess that the social media team is probably not adhering to archaic grammar rules, either.

[Miss J]

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1037464177269514240

Yep, Cheeto.  Say it again once more - and look into the mirror.

[ηєω ƒяσηтιєя]

Also, let's make something clear, the person who wrote this (whomever that may be) is NOT a hero.

[KingSweden]

This is PERFECT

[eric82oslo]

https://twitter.com/danbl00m/status/1037428190166347776

Apparently Pence uses the word "lodestar" somewhat frequently. That doesn't mean it has to be him, but it raises his odds relative to other obvious "senior officials" that people have discussed. I would kill to see some real linguistic analysis on this.

Lodestar was the only Word I didn't understand in the op-ed lol.

[IceSpear]

I agree with the above.

And the GOP should and will pay for what they have done to the country.

Dude Bush lead us into the most unpopular war since ‘Nam, created our debt crisis, spied on US civilians, and crashed the economy. An the GOP was out of power for only two years

[IceSpear]

Also if it was Pence the better story would be "VP Attempts to Publish Op-Ed Bashing President"

This. Would the NYT really be able to resist that scoop?