As we all well know, President Trump just wants his advisers to be honest and do the best job they can—even if that means telling him the hard truths. Ha! Just kidding. He wants loyalty. So the president may not be too chuffed about Friday's edition of the Financial Times, in which the chairman of the White House Economic Council, Gary Cohn, publicly criticized Trump's thoroughly criticizable reaction to the events in Charlottesville. Cohn, who is Jewish, described his disappointment with his boss' equivocating statements that essentially equated white supremacists and the anti-racists marching to oppose them.

I have come under enormous pressure both to resign and to remain in my current position. As a patriotic American, I am reluctant to leave my post as director of the National Economic Council because I feel a duty to fulfil my commitment to work on behalf of the American people. But I also feel compelled to voice my distress over the events of the last two weeks.

Citizens standing up for equality and freedom can never be equated with white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and the KKK. I believe this administration can and must do better in consistently and unequivocally condemning these groups and do everything we can to heal the deep divisions that exist in our communities. As a Jewish American, I will not allow neo-Nazis ranting "Jews will not replace us" to cause this Jew to leave his job. I feel deep empathy for all who have been targeted by these hate groups. We must all unite together against them.

Cohn's move to criticize his boss publicly is somewhat extraordinary, particularly as senior White House advisers are dropping like flies. He reportedly did not clear his comments with the White House beforehand. The question remains, however, whether sticking with the administration but offering public rebukes is the most effective—or even a defensible—approach. After all, Cohn's logic here is lacking: No one is suggesting he resign because of what the Nazis in Charlottesville said. They're suggesting it because of what his boss said in response.

Ultimately, it seems Cohn thinks it's worth it to remain in the White House under a president who says there are "very fine people" marching with Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan as long as he has the opportunity to cut corporate taxes as part of the White House's "tax reform" package. The rest of the FT interview is devoted to that issue, and Cohn makes it clear that he's eager to get the corporate rate "as low as possible so that businesses want to create jobs here." He was also totally transparent in his eagerness to cut taxes on the richest Americans, including the estate tax, which applies to only the highest two-tenths of one percent. Perhaps all that's worth working for a man who has presided over the most substantial reenergizing of the white supremacist movement in decades.

Meanwhile:

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Cohn met w Trump Friday in NJ, per multiple sources. He had even drafted a resignation letter, per those sources https://t.co/GYGhilRf5X — Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) August 25, 2017

Jack Holmes Politics Editor Jack Holmes is the Politics Editor at Esquire, where he writes daily and edits the Politics Blog with Charles P Pierce.

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