SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
From left: Gary Cohn, chair of National Economic Council; Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin; President Donald Trump; Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao; and Director of Office of Management and Budget Mick Mulvaney. (Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP)
Trump Inner-Circle Privately "Appalled" and "Disgusted." Publicly? Dead Silent
"What is more cowardly than dispatching anonymous sources to claim you're 'upset' while lacking the courage to just say so yourself?"
Aug 16, 2017
If top advisors and others are as angry with President Donald Trump as some reporting indicates, why don't they speak out publicly or resign their posts?
"[The] self-exonerating practice of anonymously leaking one's private 'disgust,' while saying & doing nothing publicly, is simply pathetic." --Glenn Greenwald, journalistWhile the New York Times' Glenn Thrush reported he had it from "three people with knowledge" that Gary Cohn, chair of President Donald Trump's National Economic Council, was "upset" and "disgusted" with his boss's defense of white supremacists during an "unhinged" performance at a Tuesday press conference, Cohn has yet to speak publicly about such feelings.
In response to Thrush, many people asked why, if Cohn felt the way he did, would he remain silent or continue to stand with the president? "So he's resigning..." begged one. "That's nice," quipped another. "The exits are clearly marked and not hard to find."
Cohn's private feelings were also reported by Axios on Wednesday, where journalists Mike Allen and Jonathan Swann were "told" that Cohn's reaction to Trump's remarks were "somewhere between appalled and furious."
Noting the discrepancy between what's being said or felt behind closed doors versus what a high-ranking official like Cohn is saying (or not saying) publicly, journalist Glenn Greenwald had this to say:
One anonymous White House official told CNN that none of Trump's senior staff or top advisors--including Chief of Staff John Kelly or Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, both of whom stood nearby as Trump spoke on Tuesday--knew he was going to backtrack on Monday's condemnation of the violent racists who gathered in Charlottesville, Virginia over the weekend. "That was all him--this wasn't our plan," the official told CNN.
Kelly, highlighted Axios, "exhausted and dismayed, was shown in iconic TV shots with his head hanging during Trump's blast"
According to "multiple sources inside and close to the White House described the president's senior staff as confused and frustrated," NBC News reported, "caught off guard by Trump's decision to defend his initial response to the violence in Virginia." The president "went rogue," confessed a person described as a "senior White House official."
\u201cTrump's astonishing presser today stunned staffers because he publicly expressed opinions he'd long shared privately https://t.co/8zmz1ae6lo\u201d— Mark Berman (@Mark Berman) 1502846961
The situation was repeated on Wednesday morning when news broke that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, arguably the nation's second-most powerful Republican, was reportedly "upset" about Trump's comments on Tuesday.
The reporting by CNN, based on a "a source close to the leader," led Greenwald to ask his previous question this way: "What is more cowardly than dispatching anonymous sources to claim you're 'upset' while lacking the courage to just say so yourself?"
Perhaps he'll get an answer soon. According to reports, McConnell will release a statement later on Wednesday.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
If top advisors and others are as angry with President Donald Trump as some reporting indicates, why don't they speak out publicly or resign their posts?
"[The] self-exonerating practice of anonymously leaking one's private 'disgust,' while saying & doing nothing publicly, is simply pathetic." --Glenn Greenwald, journalistWhile the New York Times' Glenn Thrush reported he had it from "three people with knowledge" that Gary Cohn, chair of President Donald Trump's National Economic Council, was "upset" and "disgusted" with his boss's defense of white supremacists during an "unhinged" performance at a Tuesday press conference, Cohn has yet to speak publicly about such feelings.
In response to Thrush, many people asked why, if Cohn felt the way he did, would he remain silent or continue to stand with the president? "So he's resigning..." begged one. "That's nice," quipped another. "The exits are clearly marked and not hard to find."
Cohn's private feelings were also reported by Axios on Wednesday, where journalists Mike Allen and Jonathan Swann were "told" that Cohn's reaction to Trump's remarks were "somewhere between appalled and furious."
Noting the discrepancy between what's being said or felt behind closed doors versus what a high-ranking official like Cohn is saying (or not saying) publicly, journalist Glenn Greenwald had this to say:
One anonymous White House official told CNN that none of Trump's senior staff or top advisors--including Chief of Staff John Kelly or Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, both of whom stood nearby as Trump spoke on Tuesday--knew he was going to backtrack on Monday's condemnation of the violent racists who gathered in Charlottesville, Virginia over the weekend. "That was all him--this wasn't our plan," the official told CNN.
Kelly, highlighted Axios, "exhausted and dismayed, was shown in iconic TV shots with his head hanging during Trump's blast"
According to "multiple sources inside and close to the White House described the president's senior staff as confused and frustrated," NBC News reported, "caught off guard by Trump's decision to defend his initial response to the violence in Virginia." The president "went rogue," confessed a person described as a "senior White House official."
\u201cTrump's astonishing presser today stunned staffers because he publicly expressed opinions he'd long shared privately https://t.co/8zmz1ae6lo\u201d— Mark Berman (@Mark Berman) 1502846961
The situation was repeated on Wednesday morning when news broke that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, arguably the nation's second-most powerful Republican, was reportedly "upset" about Trump's comments on Tuesday.
The reporting by CNN, based on a "a source close to the leader," led Greenwald to ask his previous question this way: "What is more cowardly than dispatching anonymous sources to claim you're 'upset' while lacking the courage to just say so yourself?"
Perhaps he'll get an answer soon. According to reports, McConnell will release a statement later on Wednesday.
If top advisors and others are as angry with President Donald Trump as some reporting indicates, why don't they speak out publicly or resign their posts?
"[The] self-exonerating practice of anonymously leaking one's private 'disgust,' while saying & doing nothing publicly, is simply pathetic." --Glenn Greenwald, journalistWhile the New York Times' Glenn Thrush reported he had it from "three people with knowledge" that Gary Cohn, chair of President Donald Trump's National Economic Council, was "upset" and "disgusted" with his boss's defense of white supremacists during an "unhinged" performance at a Tuesday press conference, Cohn has yet to speak publicly about such feelings.
In response to Thrush, many people asked why, if Cohn felt the way he did, would he remain silent or continue to stand with the president? "So he's resigning..." begged one. "That's nice," quipped another. "The exits are clearly marked and not hard to find."
Cohn's private feelings were also reported by Axios on Wednesday, where journalists Mike Allen and Jonathan Swann were "told" that Cohn's reaction to Trump's remarks were "somewhere between appalled and furious."
Noting the discrepancy between what's being said or felt behind closed doors versus what a high-ranking official like Cohn is saying (or not saying) publicly, journalist Glenn Greenwald had this to say:
One anonymous White House official told CNN that none of Trump's senior staff or top advisors--including Chief of Staff John Kelly or Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, both of whom stood nearby as Trump spoke on Tuesday--knew he was going to backtrack on Monday's condemnation of the violent racists who gathered in Charlottesville, Virginia over the weekend. "That was all him--this wasn't our plan," the official told CNN.
Kelly, highlighted Axios, "exhausted and dismayed, was shown in iconic TV shots with his head hanging during Trump's blast"
According to "multiple sources inside and close to the White House described the president's senior staff as confused and frustrated," NBC News reported, "caught off guard by Trump's decision to defend his initial response to the violence in Virginia." The president "went rogue," confessed a person described as a "senior White House official."
\u201cTrump's astonishing presser today stunned staffers because he publicly expressed opinions he'd long shared privately https://t.co/8zmz1ae6lo\u201d— Mark Berman (@Mark Berman) 1502846961
The situation was repeated on Wednesday morning when news broke that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, arguably the nation's second-most powerful Republican, was reportedly "upset" about Trump's comments on Tuesday.
The reporting by CNN, based on a "a source close to the leader," led Greenwald to ask his previous question this way: "What is more cowardly than dispatching anonymous sources to claim you're 'upset' while lacking the courage to just say so yourself?"
Perhaps he'll get an answer soon. According to reports, McConnell will release a statement later on Wednesday.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.