IMHO Right or wrong … General Kelly thought he was the strong tower that was holding our nation together.
He may even run for POTUS himself … in that case even more trash will spread.
ISTR that he was one of the likeliest candidates for “Lodestar” pretty much from the beginning.
My internet money is on Mattis as Lodestar because he used “malign” as an adjective in his resignation letter, as Lodestar did in the infamous op-ed. It’s an uncommon usage as it is, and after the discussion around it in the wake of the op-ed, I think Mattis used it deliberately. True, he could have done it just for the lulz, buy I find it more likely that he was tipping his hand on the way out as one more parting shot.
I thought Mattis too, but as previously pointed out on SD … Mattis wasn’t in the WH, but a Secretary of Defense and as such removed from the inner circle.
I thought Fluellen was the leeker.
If you can mock a leek, you can eat a leek!
I always thought it was Kelly. He has the hubris and had the best opportunity.
Also, I don’t think “malign” is really all that exotic.
Let’s check John Kelly’s hat on March 1, then we’ll know.
Kelly is every bit as racist and hateful as Trump, but is also more competent, making him dangerous.
What do you mean by “the NY Times leaker”? NY Times never publishes a story based on a single anonymous source.
The anonymous op-ed writer from within the admin.
It wasn’t a story written by a reporter. It was an editorial written by one person.
What does any of this have to do with leaking? That linked article and the rest of your OP don’t match the title.
Kelly was my first guess, but Mattis is second, FWIW. I am amazed it has remained secret for so long.
I doubt it’s either man.
It is definitely not Kelly, a disgusting liar who has no principles; “Lodestar” has some principles. It might be Mattis, but there are too many other possibilities for that to be likely. I don’t think “Lodestar” is that important a person.
I agree it’s neither but it’s less likely to be Mattis. Not his style at all and he didn’t work in the White House. Most likely it’s someone who worked for Kelly that the general public never heard of.
Instead of a leaker let’s call him a tattle tell … didn’t the tattle tell say the word ‘we’ when he informed us in his article of the stabilizing influence they were having on the WH?