Anonymous

Nobody asked but …

The “senior official” who penned the anonymous opinion / editorial piece, published by the New York Times, is not a “coward,” but he or she is certainly a goner.  The tragedy is that we should be hailing this person as a hero, not hunting this person like an escaped convict.  Every public employee should be protecting us from the dark side of his or her boss.  Maybe the bosses would awaken to quit going to the dark side.

With respect to the coward claim, surely no one believes that the undercover writer will keep that anonymity — not even the writer can believe that.  This person has drastically changed the course of his or her life.  He or she will not have to endure being the subject of an adulatory parade.  With great luck, this person will not suffer the fates of Snowden, Assange, Manning, or Kaepernick, but it is recognized that the toll will be heavy.  Any expectation otherwise seems like magic thinking.

The spin machine has already wheeled into action, with slurs and calls for DOJ investigations.  Our political wars have devolved into assassinations by implication.

The man in the street maintains his jaundiced view of underlings who would decry the king.  Our culture will not embrace ratfinks anytime soon.

— Kilgore Forelle