A national defense analyst expressed his amazement that President Donald Trump has accomplished so much in the face of sabotage – from both Democrats and establishment Republicans.

On Friday, Trump called on United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions to launch an investigation into the identity of the anonymous "senior official" behind the op-ed published in the New York Times that described an effort inside the White House to protect the country from the president's "misguided impulses."

Trump quickly responded, calling the opinion piece critical of his leadership a "national security" issue.

The head of Center for Security Policy in Washington, D.C., Frank Gaffney, pointed out that the Trump administration has been afflicted from its inception by people who are not supportive of the president’s program.

"What I think most people believed that was confined to people who were holdovers from the Obama administration – of whom there were enormous numbers, in part, because of one of the things Democrats specialize in doing – is taking people who are appointees and having them converting to civil servant status employees of the government,” Gaffney explained. “And you can't fire them as a practical matter."

The defense expert also noted that the administration turned over the keys to the personnel system to Republican establishment types.

"[These establishment types] brought in Republicans who think a lot more of John McCain than they do of Donald Trump, and so the president has been truly saddled with resistance within as they say of both the Democratic stripe and the Republican establishment stripe,” Gaffney explained. “And when you think about it, it's kind of amazing he's gotten anything done at all – let alone as much as he's gotten done – in the face of what can only be described as sabotage."