Seven points on the anonymous New York Times "resistance" op-ed

1) It concedes Trump’s accomplishments are big. Early in the piece, the author admits that the Trump administration has had significant success on the issues most important to American voters. “Many of [the administration’s] policies have already made America safer and more prosperous,” he writes. Later, he makes a list: “effective deregulation, historic tax reform, a more robust military and more.” Perhaps the author doesn’t see it that way, but peace and prosperity are any president’s two most important accomplishments. Conceding Trump’s achievement undercuts the broader theme of the article.

2) Its complaints are small. Why does the author object to Trump? The president is not a true philosophical conservative, he says: “The president shows little affinity for ideals long espoused by conservatives: free minds, free markets and free people.” In addition, the author complains that the president’s “leadership style” is “impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective.” And that can make White House meetings an ordeal: “Meetings with him veer off topic and off the rails, he engages in repetitive rants, and his impulsiveness results in half-baked, ill-informed and occasionally reckless decisions that have to be walked back.” The author may view that as a devastating critique, but to others it will seem like style points and inside baseball. And compared to his admission that Trump has made the country “safer and more prosperous,” the article’s gripes are relatively minor.