Miles Taylor outed himself on Wednesday as the author of the New York Times’ September 2018 anonymous op-ed “I am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration,” and the reaction was swift. He was not “a senior official in the Trump administration” as the Times claimed, but a mid-level staffer who served briefly as Chief of Staff to Kirstjen Nielsen at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
When President Trump was informed that Taylor admitted to writing both the Times op-ed and his book A Warning a year later (also published anonymously), he tweeted: “Who is Miles Taylor? Said he was ‘anonymous’, but I don’t know him — never heard of him.”
The president added:
Just another NYTimes SCAM — he worked in conjunction with them. Also worked for Big Tech’s Google. Now works for Fake News CNN.
They should fire, shame and punish everybody associated with this FRAUD on the American people!
Mark Meadows, Trump’s chief of staff, scoffed when he heard the news: “You have got to be kidding me. Miles Taylor? That’s who the New York Times granted an anonymous editorial article? I’ve seen more exciting reveals in Scooby-Doo episodes. What a monumental embarrassment [for the Times].”
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany expanded:
This low-level, disgruntled former staffer is a liar and a coward who chose anonymity over action and leaking over leading.
He was ineffective and incompetent during his time as DHS Chief of Staff which is why he was promptly fired after only serving in this role for a matter of weeks.
It is appalling that a low-ranking official would be granted anonymity and it is clear the New York Times is doing the bidding of Never-Trumpers and Democrats.
Even more telling, Michael Bars, a senior White House communications advisor, said that “Miles is a disgruntled former staffer who served barely two months as [Nielsen’s] chief of staff. During his time at DHS we observed an audacious, extravagant and impudent young man, more interested in climbing the professional and social ladder than [in] grasping any real understanding of the complex policy and national security challenges of the day.”
Bars, who worked with Taylor at DHS, added:
The fake news media spent two years telling us that a cabinet-level official was going to step out of the shadows to reveal he or she is “Anonymous.” He’s now emerged from obscurity feigning outrage, seeking the relevance and recognition he was never able to attain at the department. He was let go and is now quite simply lashing out like a petulant, attention-seeking child.
Following his termination from the DHS in May 2019, Taylor joined “Republican Voters Against Trump” and helped them craft an anti-Trump ad for the Biden Campaign. He now is a contributor on CNN.
When the Times’ defended its publication of Taylor’s anonymous op-ed in 2018, it said that it “adds significant value to the public’s understanding of what is going on in the Trump administration from someone who is in a position to know.”
No, it does not. It reveals instead the character of an individual unwilling to support the president while in his employ, and hiding behind the “anonymous” label while attacking him after he was terminated. Taylor claimed in his statement that “Trump sees personal criticism as subversive.” In truth, what Trump saw as subversive was someone admitting to being part of a (then) secret “resistance” movement inside the Trump administration and attempting to undermine his own boss. That is, in fact, subversive, and goes far beyond “personal criticism.”
Then-White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said:
The individual behind this piece has chosen to deceive rather than support the duly-elected President of the United States.
He is not putting the country first but putting himself and his ego ahead of the will of the American people.
This coward should do the right thing, and resign.
So said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo:
I come from a place where, if you are not in a position to executive the commander’s intent, [then] you have a singular option: it is to leave.
This person, instead … chose not only to stay but to undermine what President Trump and his administration is trying to do.
Taylor’s parting shot at the president was revealed in his Twitter “statement” following his admission: “I believe Joe Biden’s decency will bring us back together where Donald Trump’s dishonesty has torn us apart.”
Biden’s “decency” is now being publicly exposed for all to see, a reflection on Taylor’s own inability to recognize fraud and deceit when it’s in front of his own eyes.
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