--- title: Jimmy Kimmel Has Some Theories About the Anonymous Op-Ed description: Jimmy Kimmel said he suspects Vice President Pence is behind the anonymous New York Times op-ed criticizing President Trump. canonical: https://time.com/5388504/new-york-times-op-ed-trump-jimmy-kimmel/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-09-06T12:56:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T07:53:21.945Z og:title: Jimmy Kimmel Has Some Theories About Who Wrote the Anonymous Op-Ed Attacking Trump og:description: "I'm surprised by how good a writer Ivanka is" og:url: https://time.com/5388504/new-york-times-op-ed-trump-jimmy-kimmel/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4516ad8740d3c628/69893778929fad8ba3bf1483/screen-shot-2018-08-10-at-9-40-03-am.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1356 og:image:height: 763 og:image:alt: Jimmy-Kimmel-Trump-Space-Force og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Jimmy Kimmel Has Some Theories About Who Wrote the Anonymous Op-Ed Attacking Trump twitter:description: "I'm surprised by how good a writer Ivanka is" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4516ad8740d3c628/69893778929fad8ba3bf1483/screen-shot-2018-08-10-at-9-40-03-am.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Jimmy Kimmel Has Some Theories About Who Wrote the Anonymous Op-Ed Attacking President Trump > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=81d4c649-8378-42b5-ae04-9f3c3ec46062&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Trump Calls New York Times OpEd "Gutless" [Watch (HLS stream): Trump Calls New York Times OpEd "Gutless"](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/f99l4Nz4.m3u8) (0:30)  _Published 2018-09-05. An anonymous “senior official in the Trump administration” is claiming to be part of a network of appointees and others who are working to thwart President Donald Trump from inside his own White House._ by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Sep 6, 2018 12:56 PM UTC by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Sep 6, 2018 12:56 PM UTC Jimmy Kimmel has joined the army of Americans speculating about who wrote an [anonymous New York _Times_ op-ed](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/05/opinion/trump-white-house-anonymous-resistance.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage) criticizing President Donald Trump. An unnamed senior administration official penned an op-ed Wednesday, claiming to be a part of a group of conservatives within the Trump Administration who are working against the President, sparking a hunt for the author. Kimmel opened his bit Wednesday night by joking “I’m surprised by how good a writer Ivanka is” – a reference to First Daughter and White House Advisor Ivanka Trump. Kimmel then sided with people online pointing to Vice President Mike Pence as the op-ed writer, because of the use of the word “lodestar” in the article. Pence frequently says “lodestar” in various written statements and television appearances. “Wouldn’t that be something if it was Mike Pence?” Kimmel asked after playing a reel of video footage showing Pence’s repeated use of “lodestar” over the last few years. “Trump just announced that the Space Force’s first mission is to locate and destroy the lodestar, whatever that may be.” Pence [denied being behind the op-ed](http://time.com/5388483/mike-pence-denies-writing-anonymous-op-ed/) in a statement through his office on Thursday. > [](https://twitter.com/VPComDir/status/1037656944348221440) ## Transcript We have somebody in what I call the failing New York Times, that's talking about he's part of the resistance within the Trump administration. This is what we have to deal with. And the dishonest media, cuz you people deal with it as well as I do. Failing New York Times has an anonymous editorial, can you believe it, anonymous? Meaning gutless, a gutless editorial. We're doing a great job the pole numbers are through the roof, our pole numbers are great and guess what nobody is gonna come cross to beating me in [ UNKNOWN ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5388504/new-york-times-op-ed-trump-jimmy-kimmel/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5388504/new-york-times-op-ed-trump-jimmy-kimmel/"},"headline":"Jimmy Kimmel Has Some Theories About Who Wrote the Anonymous Op-Ed Attacking President Trump","datePublished":"2018-09-06T12:56:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-13T07:53:21.945Z","description":"\"I'm surprised by how good a writer Ivanka is\"","url":"https://time.com/5388504/new-york-times-op-ed-trump-jimmy-kimmel/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4516ad8740d3c628/69893778929fad8ba3bf1483/screen-shot-2018-08-10-at-9-40-03-am.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4516ad8740d3c628/69893778929fad8ba3bf1483/screen-shot-2018-08-10-at-9-40-03-am.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Jimmy-Kimmel-Trump-Space-Force","caption":"","creditText":"ABC","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5388504/new-york-times-op-ed-trump-jimmy-kimmel/","name":"Jimmy Kimmel Has Some Theories About Who Wrote the Anonymous Op-Ed Attacking President Trump"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Trump Calls New York Times OpEd \"Gutless\"","description":"An anonymous “senior official in the Trump administration” is claiming to be part of a network of appointees and others who are working to thwart President Donald Trump from inside his own White House.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/f99l4Nz4/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-09-05T22:18:41.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/f99l4Nz4.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5388504/new-york-times-op-ed-trump-jimmy-kimmel/","duration":"PT30S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5388504/new-york-times-op-ed-trump-jimmy-kimmel/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```