The anonymous author writing critiques from inside the Trump administration has dropped breadcrumbs pointing to their identity - here's everything we know

The anonymous op-ed author makes it clear that they support traditional Republican politicians and principles.

In the initial anonymous op-ed there are quite a few clues as to what type of person in the Trump White House wrote it.

The piece emphasizes that the author believes strongly in traditional Republican principles like "effective deregulation, historic tax reform, a more robust military, and more." Those are the parts of the Trump administration that are championed. In contrast, the author denounces Trump's "amorality."

The content of the Times op-ed has been thoroughly dissected and could point to a number of Republicans under Trump. Blind guesses from Times staffers (who didn't actually have any identifying information besides their own intuition) at the time included Vice President Mike Pence, then-White House Counsel Don McGahn, and then-Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis.

Of course, the two latter guesses are no longer at the White House, and Pence added his name, along with all of his staffers, to the list of official denials.

But what's clear from the content of the op-ed is that whoever wrote it stands for the traditional Republican values iterated by the party's top politicians in years past, which the author no longer believes stems from the Oval Office.

The author also name drops John McCain in the op-ed, and quotes Teddy Roosevelt and Cicero in "A Warning."

In line with what the author touted as the accomplishments of Trump's administration so far, the anonymous senior official also uses references that reflect someone who was a huge fan of Republican politicians prior to the Trump era, and is also someone who enjoys history and classics.

In the op-ed the author ends with a reference to Senator John McCain's farewell letter, so McCain is clearly someone the author admires greatly.

"All Americans should heed his words and break free of the tribalism trap, with the high aim of uniting through our shared values and love of this great nation," the op-ed reads.

They also note their disagreement with Trump's favor toward "autocrats and dictators" like North Korea's Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In "A Warning," according to the review of the book by the Times, the author references quotes from historical and literary figures like Teddy Roosevelt and Cicero, the Roman statesman. They describe themself as a "student of history."

And there's another key mention of McCain in "A Warning" – the author says one of the last straws for their willingness to give Trump a chance was when he tried to raise the flag above half mast following McCain's death.

Some of the vocabulary used in the author's writing has given people an idea of who they may be.

Right after the op-ed's publication in September 2018, a prominent theory of its authorship was that Vice President Mike Pence wrote it. Not only would Pence be one of the most dramatic reveals, but there was a word used in the op-ed that rang some alarms.

"Lodestar" was used at the end of the op-ed and made some sleuths think it had to be Pence, who has a history of using the clunky vocabulary term.

This may have been short-sighted, Vox wrote, because a lot of people use the word "lodestar." Also, it's possible that whoever wrote the op-ed specifically threw in vocabulary meant to cast suspicion elsewhere, to avoid being fired from their position in the White House.

Pence, for his part, has denied authorship, along with the author being anyone who works with him.

Omarosa Newman, Trump's former confidante and White House adviser, hinted at the op-ed author's identity in a Twitter poll.

In a Twitter poll, the former Trump adviser included four White House staffers who she said she believed were likely candidates for the piece's authorship.

Newman noted that her best guess would be the person "who is looking to exit the WH soon." She also later said that the author had been quietly removed from the White House, but they still say they're working there, so Newman's poll isn't necessarily reliable.

The list included Andrew Bremberg, the director of the Domestic Policy Council who was recently confirmed as US ambassador to the Office of the United Nations, and Nick Ayers, though he left the White House in January after serving as Pence's Chief of Staff.

Bremberg has repeatedly been reported as eyeing an exit strategy from the White House.

John DeStefano was also on the list, but the long-serving Trump aide left the White House in May 2019 to advise Juul in its dealing with the Food and Drug Administration. There was also Bill Stepien, who is still currently the White House political director, but multiple people told Politico that Stepien was loyal to Trump as of late 2017.

The results are in...
(btw Nick Ayers is VP45’s Chief of Staff). 🤔 pic.twitter.com/lq8CralKpm

One line of sleuthing apart from Newman's poll also pointed to Bremberg.

Bremberg doesn't generate a lot of press for himself, but he has deep roots in the traditional Republican party, having worked for former President George W. Bush's administration and under Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and former Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.

As one of the Twitter users behind the blog "Our Bad Media" (which has exposed plagiarism by Fareed Zakaria and Malcolm Gladwell), @blippoblappo, explained on Twitter, Bremberg's role as head of the Domestic Policy Council focuses largely on deregulation, the first thing that was emphasized as a success under Trump in the op-ed.

The Hill profiled Bremberg in February 2017 and described him as Trump's "details guy." It's the most comprehensive media attention paid to Bremberg thus far. He isn't a very buzzy figure in the Trump administration, and his Google search results and social media mentions are significantly less dense than the oft-suggested candidates for the anonymous authorship.

"Some White House aides know little about Bremberg," The Hill reported. But behind the scenes, he wrote a harsh memorandum on immigration – the type of traditional Republican policy heralded by the op-ed writer.

The Hill also wrote that those who know Bremberg were "encouraged" by his presence in the administration to defend the party.

"'It was encouraging to a lot of people who were a little nervous about Trump," one source told the Hill, adding that they thought he could "preserve the peace in the party."

'They knew the traditional principles would be preserved," the source told the outlet.

The lack of mainstream attention could put Bremberg in a good position to keep publishing material about the "resistance" from within because the work itself is what's getting the headlines and buzz, not him.

Of course, all of these reported suspicions are unconfirmed. But as Republicans slip out of the White House one by one, there aren't too many staunch traditionalists left behind in Trump's White House who ring the anonymous author alarm.