On Wednesday, September 5, The New York Times published an anonymous opinion piece, or OpEd, that claimed members of the Trump administration acted on behalf of the United States as members of the resistance. The Times only identified the writer as a senior member of the administration for whom revealing their identity would jeopardize their job.
Since then, internet sleuths and the White House worked to figure out who it is. Lists of Trump administration staff lined up to declare "not I" before the President and the public.
On Thursday evening, WikiLeaks took to Twitter to give their take on the anonymous writer. They stated:
"Based upon our statistical analysis of the language used in the New York Times anonymous Op Ed, the author is likely to be an older (58%), conservative (92%) male (66-87%). Sources should protect themselves by consulting 'adverserial [sic] stylometry' and 'forensic author profiling'."
They also included a tiny, nearly illegible, colorful graphic.
However, the Twittersphere quickly pointed out that the demographic WikiLeaks pointed to is the same demographic of the majority of the President's staff.
Without statistical analysis of language, a review of White House and Trump administration senior staff photos would also give an identical analysis.
Perhaps their message would fare better if prefaced with "Not to state the obvious, but...."
But what about that colorful graphic?
The Twitter profile "Alt-Immigration" tracked it down and provided a better image. They expressed their displeasure with the use of the seemingly random graphic rather eloquently.
It is colorful though.
Graphic used in WikiLeaks post on analysis of Trump administration NYT OpEd. (Twitter)
Meanwhile, others provided their own guesses for the identity of the mystery writer.
Sometimes with colorful graphics of their own.
Since The New York Times published the article, the White House issued several statements, including one written for First Lady Melania Trump. The OpEd came on the heels of media attention surrounding renowned investigative journalist Bob Woodward's new book, Fear: Trump in the White House.
Like the OpEd piece, Trump administration officials scrambled to disavow any connection to WoodWard's latest political expose.
