# Taking Bets: Who is the 'insider' who wrote the NYT Opinion Piece? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 6, 2018, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-bets-who-is-the-insider-who-wrote-the-nyt-opinion-piece/820852 "2018-09-06T01:55:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2020, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-bets-who-is-the-insider-who-wrote-the-nyt-opinion-piece/820852/201 "2020-10-29T02:58:30Z")
Was he lying then, or is he lying now? > [@](#): > > “I wear a mask for two things, Anderson: Halloween and pandemics. So, no,” says Miles Taylor, when asked by Anderson Cooper if he is the author of the op-ed book written by someone called Anonymous. Chris Cuomo rips into him: > [@](#): > > “You lied to us Miles,” anchor Chris Cuomo said in the interview on Wednesday evening. “You were asked in August if you were Anonymous here on CNN with Anderson Cooper and you said no. Now why should CNN keep you on the payroll after lying like that?” [https://www.axios.com/anonymous-miles-taylor-cnn-confrontation-1df8ff7d-a5af-483f-bebf-6ff13d34f8d0.html](https://www.axios.com/anonymous-miles-taylor-cnn-confrontation-1df8ff7d-a5af-483f-bebf-6ff13d34f8d0.html) ---
**Author:** ![agzem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a8b319/32.png) [@agzem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/agzem)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2020, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-bets-who-is-the-insider-who-wrote-the-nyt-opinion-piece/820852/202 "2020-10-29T04:20:44Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > The [wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_Taylor_(security_expert)) article on him says he was Chief of Staff, not a deputy Chief of Staff. That makes him pretty senior He wasn’t Chief of Staff when the op-ed was published.Taylor was just a policy advisor. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2020, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-bets-who-is-the-insider-who-wrote-the-nyt-opinion-piece/820852/203 "2020-10-29T04:54:59Z")
“Just a policy advisor” - a policy advisor who gave policy advice directly to the President of the United States, as mentioned in the AP article: > [@](#): > > But as DHS chief of staff, **Taylor was in many White House meetings with the president on his border policy and other major homeland security issues.** He also states that he heard the President offer pardons to Homeland Security officials if they broke the law while following his orders: > **[‘If You Get In Trouble I’ll Pardon You’: Ex-DHS Official Miles Taylor Says...](https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2020/08/25/if-you-get-in-trouble-ill-pardon-you-ex-dhs-official-miles-taylor-says-trump-promised-protection-for-illegal-policies/#495ba39044f8)** > > Taylor predicts more Trump officials will come forward before the election and argue that a second term 'would be more dangerous than the first.’ The article also adds: > [@](#): > > Trump said he “never met Taylor" despite photos of them together. The book _Anonymous: A Warning_ came out on November 19, 2019, with the by-line “A Senior Trump Administration Official”. He appears to have left DHS in the summer of 2019, so that description would be appropriate for the book. ---
**Author:** ![agzem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a8b319/32.png) [@agzem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/agzem)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2020, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-bets-who-is-the-insider-who-wrote-the-nyt-opinion-piece/820852/204 "2020-10-29T06:03:44Z")
The Washington Post is calling out the NY Times for their exaggeration of Taylor’s relevance: “I would not describe him as a senior administration official,” said Joe Lockhart, who served as press secretary in the Clinton administration. > **[The New York Times called ‘Anonymous’ op-ed author Miles Taylor a Trump...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/media/anonymous-miles-taylor-new-york-times-senior-official/2020/10/28/73634c0a-1959-11eb-82db-60b15c874105_story.html)** > > The author’s self-reveal raised questions about whether his role was overhyped by the description. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2020, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-bets-who-is-the-insider-who-wrote-the-nyt-opinion-piece/820852/205 "2020-10-29T06:13:09Z")
> [@agzem](#): > > The NY Times said “anonymous” was a "“senior administration official”. Taylor wasn’t even a senior level official at DHS. > [@agzem](#): > > He wasn’t Chief of Staff when the op-ed was published.Taylor was just a policy advisor. > [@agzem](#): > > The Washington Post is calling out the NY Times for their exaggeration of Taylor’s relevance: You seem much more invested in proving him not-very-senior than in the substance of what he had to say. Isn’t that strawmanning? ---
**Author:** ![agzem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a8b319/32.png) [@agzem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/agzem)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2020, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-bets-who-is-the-insider-who-wrote-the-nyt-opinion-piece/820852/206 "2020-10-29T06:23:26Z")
Possibly but that’s a different discussion. NYT portrayed him as an insider and I think most people were thinking that was a cabinet level position or someone who worked directly with the President. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2020, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-bets-who-is-the-insider-who-wrote-the-nyt-opinion-piece/820852/207 "2020-10-29T13:26:54Z")
It is not strawmanning. While there is no textbook definition of a “senior administration official,” characterizing the writer as such has a strong impact on how much credibility readers afford his opinions and perspectives. In his opinion piece and his book, Taylor wasn’t asserting specific facts that could be verified or refuted no matter who he was. He mostly just spoke generally about Trump being erratic and impulsive (breaking news there) and that there was a widespread “resistance” to Trump within the Administration – even to the point of there being “whispers” about invoking the 25th Amendment. No mention of who’s in this resistance or making these “whispers” that could substantiate his story. The only basis for judging the veracity of these claims is how the NYT chose to identify the writer, so its more than legitimate to debate whether characterizing Taylor as a “senior administration official” was the correct decision. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-bets-who-is-the-insider-who-wrote-the-nyt-opinion-piece/820852.md?page=10)