New York Times Anonymous Is Out in the Open

You may recall how the New York Times published an anti-Trump guest article by a person only identified as “Anonymous.”  The writer was described as “a senior-level insider who knew … “  Of course, no respectable newspaper would print an article without providing the name of the author.  It is a gross violation of journalistic norms and standards.  So, draw your own conclusion about the Times.

The New York Times Anonymous fancied himself as a “member of the resistance inside the Trump White House.”  His guest article was little more than unprovable claims and nasty gossip.

It was later revealed that the “senior-level author who knew …” was a guy named Miles Taylor – a bureaucratic underling who had very little first-hand knowledge of anything important.  In fact, he never worked in the White House.

While the media hyped his “revelations,” nothing much came of them.  They were mostly watercooler gossip.  It was a shameful episode in the annals of journalism.  Not that such unethical conduct is surprising from the Fourth Estate these days.

Weeeell … Miles Taylor is back again.  He appeared on MSNBC to announce his latest project – and he did so with great hyperbole and enthusiasm.  This is going to be big … BIG … BIG.   He called it the “commonsense Republican coalition.”  Not sure if that is an official organization title or just Taylor’s spin.

Taylor has a plan to take down the Republican Party.  He apparently has assembled a number of yet-to-be-named disaffected establishment Republicans and independents who will coalesce to save the soul of the GOP by defeating it.  He said his list will include prominent officeholders and former officeholders.  We can probably guess many of the names.

Miles Taylor has not decided whether he is part of a coalition or the launching of a new political party.  He just knows that the GOP must be destroyed, canceled, abolished and driven to the depths of Hell.  He claims that America needs a new conservative voice – and he still claims to be a conservative Republican.  (Pardon me as I pause to laugh.)

Taylor’s concern for the Republican Party and conservatism is suspect, to say the least.  After all, he has spent his post-government career – and much of his government career — working on behalf of the far left.  Even before Trump, Taylor leaned Democrat.  He proclaimed his vote for President Obama – twice.  After departing his government job, Taylor signed on with Google as a government affairs and public policy manager.  From there, he leapfrogged to the Biden campaign. 

Taylor’s intent is not the defeat of Trump, as he claims – or even Trump’s influence in the Republican Party.  No no no. He wants to defeat Republicans up and down the ballot – national, state and local. He seems to be selling the notion that a small number of elite establishmentarians like him should run the GOP.  But that is not how the Republican Party operates.  That is the way of the Democratic Party.

I must assume that Miles Taylor is not an unequivocal idiot. So, there must be a seed of rationality to his adventure.  But is it really to create a stronger more powerful Republican Party – or to advance the cause of conservatism?  Or is Taylor’s goal to undercut the GOP so that those progressive Democrats can take more control by winning in the 2022 midterm elections – and advance their far-left agenda.

I have to believe THAT is Taylor’s real goal.  After all, he must understand that creating a viable third party is virtually impossible.  Tradition and laws protect the two-party system.

And even his anticipated “coalition” is not likely to take down the GOP.  He is pitting a small number of unpopular elitist personalities – probably has-beens — against a grassroots populace movement.  Oh … they may get a lot of very favorable publicity for a while by serving as the useful idiots for the Democrats and the left, but there are far greater forces in play than a redux of the disenchanted.  We have seen this movie before. 

Remember the Lincoln Project and the Republican Accountability Project?  And if you do not, you get the point.  I will predict that whatever Taylor & Company will be proposing soon, it will only give that crowd another figurative fifteen minutes of notoriety – after which, Taylor will again be anonymous.

Taylor is operating more like a political picador.  He hopes that his barbs will weaken the GOP enough so that the matador can more easily kill the bull – or in this case, the elephant.

Actually, Taylor was more compelling when he was the New York Times Anonymous. 

So, there ‘tis.