NY Times publishes bombshell anonymous 'resistance' op-ed, Trump responds furiously

President Donald Trump responded furiously to an anonymously penned op-ed published Wednesday in The New York Times apparently written by a senior member of his administration that critiqued the president personally.

'Our first duty is to this country'

The op-ed writer said that they were one of many members of the administration who were trying to guide the president toward conservative policies, but that he had become increasingly unstable.

"[W]e believe our first duty is to this country," wrote the anonymous source, "and the president continues to act in a manner that is detrimental to the health of our republic."

"That is why many Trump appointees have vowed to do what we can to preserve our democratic institutions while thwarting Mr. Trump’s more misguided impulses until he is out of office," they added.

The writer also said that there were suggestions of using a drastic measure to unseat the president.

"Given the instability many witnessed," they wrote, "there were early whispers within the cabinet of invoking the 25th Amendment, which would start a complex process for removing the president. But no one wanted to precipitate a constitutional crisis. So we will do what we can to steer the administration in the right direction until — one way or another — it’s over."

The supposed administration member cited the president's "half-baked, ill-informed and occasionally reckless decisions," as the reason he needed to be controlled by "adults in the room," with more solid footing.

Here's how Trump responded

The president took time during his meeting with sheriffs Tuesday to address the op-ed, and excoriated the author, and the New York Times. He was so proud of his statement that he posted a video to his social media account.

"Sheriffs," said the president, addressing the law enforcement officials at his meeting, "can you imagine this?"

"We have somebody in what I call the failing New York Times, that's talking about he's part of the resistance within the Trump administration," he explained. "This is what we have to deal with, and the dishonest media."

"It's really a disgrace," he added. "But I will say this. Nobody had done what this administration has done in terms of getting things passed."

'A gutless editorial, we’re doing a great job!'

Trump touted the successes of his administration, including record low unemployment.

"Nobody has ever done in less than a two-year period," he continued, "what we've done, so when you tell me about some anonymous source within the administration, probably who's failing, and probably here for all the wrong reasons, no."

"And the New York Times is failing," he added, "if I weren't here, I believe the New York Times probably wouldn't exist. And someday when I'm not president which hopefully will be in about six and a half years from now, the New York Times and CNN and all of these phony media outlets will be out of business, folks, they're be out of business, because there'll be nothing to write, and there'll be nothing of interest."

"If the failing New York Times has an anonymous editorial," he said, "can you believe it? Anonymous, meaning gutless, a gutless editorial, we're doing a great job!"

The president's statement elicited great applause from the law enforcement officials assembled at the White House as he walked away.

Here's the full video of Trump's comments:

The president appeared to add to his statement with a one word tweet from his official account.