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Anonymous Trump op-ed shows America's pilot is 'trying to crash the plane,' Noah says

2:22
Trump calls anonymous op-ed 'gutless'
Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
ByKarma Allen
September 06, 2018, 7:22 AM

Trevor Noah said it seemed as if America's pilot was "trying to crash the plane" on Wednesday after reading an alarming op-ed in The New York Times that spoke of internal plans to thwart the president.

"There's a secret group of people within the White House actively working to curb President Trump, which is wild, because this means this whole time we've been dealing with the watered-down version of Trump," Noah on "The Daily Show" Wednesday. "This is the Diet Trump?”

Noah weighed in after The Times published an opinion piece authored by a source who claimed to be a senior administration official who supports many of the president's policies but is alarmed by his dangerous temperament.

President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Congressional leaders in the Roosevelt Room, Sept. 5, 2018, in Washington.
Mark Wilson/Getty Images

"Meetings with him veer off topic and off the rails, he engages in repetitive rants and his impulsiveness results in half-baked, ill-informed and occasionally reckless decisions that have to be walked back," the anonymous official wrote.

After reading the op-ed, Noah said the country appears to be in even more more trouble than he thought.

"Before this, I knew there was turbulence," Noah said. "But now someone came on the PA system and said, 'Uh, ladies and gentleman, the pilot is actively trying to crash the plane. But don't be alarmed, we're doing everything we can to stop him ... so please keep your seat belts fastened and enjoy your peanuts and tax cuts.'"

Trump called the NYT op-ed "gutless" and demanded that "the failing New York Times" release the source's name.

In this Sept. 29, 2015, file photo, Trevor Noah appears during a taping of "The Daily Show," on Comedy Central, in New York City.
Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
PHOTO: President Donald Trump, national security advisor H.R. McMaster, White House chief of staff John Kelly and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis attend a briefing in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Oct. 5, 2017, in Washington, D.C.
President Donald Trump (C), national security advisor H.R. McMaster (L), White House chief of staff John Kelly (2nd L) and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis (R) attend a briefing with senior military leaders in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Oct. 5, 2017, in Washington, D.C.
Andrew Harrer-Pool/Getty Images, FILE

"We have somebody in what I call the failing New York Times, and he's talking about he's part of the resistance within the Trump administration," the president told law enforcement officers at the White House on Wednesday. "This is what we have to deal with. And, you know, the dishonest media, you people deal with it as well as I do. It is a disgrace."

Trump also questioned if the source may have been made up.

"Does the so-called ‘Senior Administration Official’ really exist, or is it just the Failing New York Times with another phony source," he tweeted. "If the GUTLESS anonymous person does indeed exist, the Times must, for National Security purposes, turn him/her over to government at once!"

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