On Wednesday, The New York Times published a shocking op-ed allegedly written by a senior official in the Trump administration, and now the world is reacting, including the hosts of late-night and Melania Trump.
In the article, the anonymous writer slams the U.S. president, claims to be part of the “resistance” against Trump to “thwart” his “more misguided impulses,” and even reveals that cabinet members once considered using the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.
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On Thursday, Melania Trump issued a statement regarding the op-ed, accussing the author of “sabotaging” the U.S.
“Freedom of speech is an important pillar of our nation’s found principles and a a free press is important to our democracy,” Melania Trump said (via Deadline). “The press should be fair, unbiased and responsible. Unidentified sources have become the majority of the voices people hear about in today’s news.”
She continued: “People with no names are writing our nation’s history. Words are important and accusations can lead to severe consequences. “If a person is bold enough to accuse people of negative actions, they have a responsibility to publicly stand behind their words. And people have the right to be able to defend themselves.”
“To the writer of the op-ed, you are not protecting this country. You are sabotaging it with your cowardly actions.”
“Mr. President, they traced the resistance. It’s coming from inside the White House! Get out of there and stay out of there!” Stephen Colbert joked in his opening monologue on last night’s “Late Show”.
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Colbert discussed the piece further with his guest, former secretary of state John Kerry, who said the implications of the article “scared the hell out of him.”
“What it means, Steve, is that we don’t really have a president,” Kerry explained. “We have a president who’s there, but he is not capable of doing the job or living up to the responsibilities.”
Meanwhile, on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”, the host tried to identify the mysterious author of the op-ed, joking, “I have to say, I’m surprised by how good a writer Ivanka is.”
One of the leading theories online is that Vice-President Mike Pence penned the piece, based on the use of the word “lodestar”, which Kimmel found suspicious.
“That’s not a common word, ‘lodestar’. Not a lot of people use that word. But you know who does? This guy,” Kimmel said before showing video evidence of Pence using the word on multiple occasions.
“Wouldn’t that be something if it was Mike Pence? This is gonna drive Trump absolutely nuts. Can you imagine what it must be like to have a job at which almost everyone who works for you thinks you’re a complete idiot? I can. I’ll tell you something — it’s no fun at all.”
Over on “The Daily Show”, the op-ed brought about a shocking revelation for Trevor Noah. “This means, this whole time, we’ve been dealing with the watered-down version of Trump?” he said. “You’re telling me that this is the better version? This is the Diet Trump?”
He continued by referencing an infamous adult video: “That’s like finding out ‘2 Girls, 1 Cup’ is the PG version of the clip!”
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Noah also focused on the article’s 25th Amendment bombshell, particularly how cabinet members decided not to go through with it.
“The 25th Amendment is there so you can use it. It’s like there’s a sign that says ‘In case of emergency, break glass,’ but these guys are like, ‘I mean we could break the glass, but then there’d be glass everywhere. Maybe we can just try and steer the fire in a different direction.'”
