Senior members of US President Donald Trump's administration are so alarmed by his "erratic" and "amoral" behaviour that they are actively working to undermine him, according to an anonymous "senior official".
The comments came in an article published in The New York Times today.
"President Trump is facing a test to his presidency unlike any faced by a modern American leader," the official wrote in an article entitled 'I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration'.
"The dilemma - which he does not fully grasp - is that many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations," the official wrote.
"I would know. I am one of them."
The official described a "two-track" presidency in which Mr Trump says one thing and his staff consciously do another, for example with regard to what he called Mr Trump's "preference for autocrats and dictators".
And officials actively work to insulate themselves from Mr Trump's "impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective" leadership style, the writer says.
The unsigned piece appeared to reinforce the claims made in a new book by journalist Bob Woodward, excerpts of which were made public on Tuesday, that describes a virtual cabal of high-minded White House and cabinet officials scheming to prevent Mr Trump from taking decisions damaging to the US economy and national security.
The White House has condemned Mr Woodward's book as "nothing more than fabricated stories" and Mr Trump called it "a work of fiction" slamming the writer and the newspaper in a tweet yesterday evening.
Does the so-called "Senior Administration Official" really exist, or is it just the Failing New York Times with another phony source? If the GUTLESS anonymous person does indeed exist, the Times must, for National Security purposes, turn him/her over to government at once!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 5, 2018
But the New York Times article suggests that dissent and resistance inside Mr Trump's White House are even deeper than Mr Woodward described.
The Failing New York Times! pic.twitter.com/SHsXvYKpBf
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 5, 2018
The writer stressed that he or she remains committed to the Republican agenda and does not side with opposition Democrats.
But, the official wrote, "We believe our first duty is to this country, and the president continues to act in a manner that is detrimental to the health of our republic."
"The root of the problem is the president's amorality," the official said.
"That is why many Trump appointees have vowed to do what we can to preserve our democratic institutions while thwarting Mr Trump's more misguided impulses until he is out of office."
The official said that early on in the administration, some officials quietly discussed invoking the 25th Amendment of the US Constitution, which allows the removal of a president judged unable to perform his duties.
"But no one wanted to precipitate a constitutional crisis. So we will do what we can to steer the administration in the right direction until - one way or another - it's over."
The New York Times Opinion desk acknowledged the extraordinary step of publishing such an anonymous op-ed, saying it did so at the request of the author whose identity is known to the paper.
"We believe publishing this essay anonymously is the only way to deliver an important perspective to our readers," it wrote.
Asked about the column during a White House event, President Trump called it a "gutless editorial" and described The New York Times as "failing", and he listed off economic achievements that he said were proof of his leadership
"Nobody is going to come close to beating me in 2020 because of what we've done," said Mr Trump
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders issued a statement calling the author a coward and demanding the person resign.
