Anonymous Is More Dangerous Than You Know

The fallout from the New York Times article has mainly centered around two principle ideas:  who wrote it and how it is an “internal coup.”

These are both misconceptions of where the real danger lies within the article and the White House, if the article and author are to be believed.

The piece is actually directed towards Republicans and Independents who voted for Donald Trump in 2016, but are not sure they could vote for him again right now at the midterm elections or in the future.

Anonymous lays the reasons out in vivid detail in the piece.  The author writes: “We want the administration to succeed and think that many of its policies have already made America safer and more prosperous.”

This is elixir to those people who voted for him in 2016 and held their nose.  These are the people who said, “Yes, he’s crass, and yes, he’s sexist, and yes, he’s not the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but he will do what we want him to do.”

These folks are reassured by Anonymous that adults are still in the room with the sometimes immature leader who hurls insults like a toddler at anyone who opposes him.

Anonymous respects these voters, and caters to them by reciting the litany of conservative core issues in which the administration is succeeding.  The author touts “effective deregulation, historic tax reform, [and] a robust economy.”

While at the same time, the author accepts the fact that the man in the White House “shows little affinity for ideals long espoused by conservatives.”

Anonymous is an apologist for all of the inadequacies of the Administration and its leader, who in effect has said to those conservative voters in the country, “We’re getting what we want, it’s just a little messy in here.”

That’s exactly why the American people – and American conservatives – should be frightened.  Conservatives believe in the rule of law.  They believe in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.  They believe in a free press.  Yet, Anonymous and the others like the author in the Administration that are supporting the current regime are knowingly undermining the institutions from within because they believe in the pursuit of their own agenda.

More frightening yet: they want other conservatives to go along with it.  “Hey, our people are in there taking care of business, so the President can’t screw it up too badly,” is what Anonymous wants them to believe.

Conservatives need to be wiser than that.  The dysfunction and the chaos that the author describes is real.  The fact that the president himself does not support long-held conservative ideals is real.

However, the idealistic hope that true conservatives will keep the ship of state afloat even with an erratic captain is a pipe-dream, and one that the nation can ill-afford.