MEDIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Years ago, businessman Donald Trump advised those who would succeed in business that a little paranoia might help. With some inside his administration announcing that trusted appointees are trying to thwart him, he now has support for any paranoid inclinations of his own…The most troublesome parts of Trump’s agenda involve favoring Vladimir Putin and other authoritarians while undermining traditional allies. His worst inclinations find him impulsively insulting friend and foe, provoking racial animus, lying, and railing against enemies, real and imagined. The main problem with the shocking article, which seems unprecedented in American history, is that it could make Trump behave in an even more deranged way, as the palace intrigue grows more intense. The White House was already roiled by the early reports on Bob Woodward’s upcoming book, ‘Fear: Trump in the White House,’ which depicts an administration lost in what one insider was said to have described as ‘Crazytown.’ Imagine what has happened within those walls in the wake of the anonymous op-ed.”
–Michael D’Antonio, “NY Times op-ed writer took huge gamble on stopping Trump,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, September 5, 2018