One of the few moments of high drama in an otherwise understated film, All The President’s Men, is when Ben Bradlee (played by Jason Robards) finally loses his temper about the timidity of sources on the then-nascent Watergate investigation.
This week has been a chance to experience a Ben Bradlee moment of our very own. We got our first glimpse of Bob Woodward’s apparently impeccably sourced book but, notably, many names were withheld. If he remains as loyal to these sources as he was to FBI Special Agent Mark Felt, the original “Deep Throat” who helped him and Carl Bernstein uncover Watergate, then he gives credence to the White House apparatus that released gushing statements from those identified by Woodward as being the most highly critical of Trump. The anonymity theme continued last night when the New York Times published an op-ed from a senior official in the Trump administration. It should have been damning but, instead, the lack of a name undercut every claim. There might well be a Deep Throat operating inside the White House but, if anything, the source has strengthened the President’s hand.
Americans might understandably wonder if Trump himself wasn’t behind this masterstroke of the dark political arts. Under a more politically astute president, the op-ed could well have been the administration’s Reichstag fire. It doesn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know about the most over-analyzed president in living history. Instead, it spoke about a “resistance” to Trump operating inside the White House. It played to those paranoid fears that Trump has been exhibiting for a long time but it has now made them look significantly less paranoid. It has allowed Trump to get onto the front foot after a bad few days.
Backed up by sheriffs visiting the White House, he spoke about the “gutless editorial” and how “we” (implying the law enforcement and members of his administration) have to deal with these problems. It was a chilling moment when he tried to drag the sheriffs into his political arena. He suggested all manner of federal overreach, misuse of power, and attacks on the free press. “The Times must, for National Security purposes, turn him/her over to government at once,” Trump later tweeted. There’s no chance of that, of course, and Trump’s greatest worry should be that they might. The anonymity of his enemies helps Trump make enemies of anybody who opposes him.
This is the flaw in what has become the standard approach to reporting the Trump White House. The argument that the Oval Office is populated by adults biting their lips in order to save the Republic is beginning to wear thin. The reticence of critics to come forward is certainly notable.
It is remarkable, too, that the number of people departing the Trump administration hasn’t been matched by an equal number of people speaking out against the President. Perhaps that’s less surprising given the $15,000 a week that the Trump’s team apparently offered Omarosa Manigault Newman in order to prevent her speaking critically about Trump.
Yet the fact we’re back to quoting anonymous sources should be a worry in itself. Nixon had his famous “enemies list” but, at times, Trump appears to be the physical embodiment of grudges, neuroses, and long-held fears. America is now waiting for somebody to step forward and speak from an authoritative position about what’s so wrong with the commander-in-chief. Unless they do that, they are mere phantasms rising from “the swamp”, perpetuating Trump’s narrative of a deep state out to get him.
Last week, America lost John McCain who had long held the role of chief-antagonist to the President. America needs another McCain. What it really doesn’t need is another Deep Throat.
