That damn op-ed! Two days later and people are still chewing over the New York Times opinion-section column from an anonymous senior Trump administration official who claimed to be part of an effort to thwart Trump’s worst inclinations from within.

It’s such big news that people are even talking about it off of the internet. The old people and parents and late adopters who usually stay either fully offline or confine themselves to the relative safety of Facebook are coming out of the woodwork to try to unmask the op-ed author’s identity. To do so, they’re resorting to some interesting methods. Like contacting their children who are journalists to demand answers, which the journalists are then dutifully tweeting about.

Whoever wrote the op-Ed - could you please let my mom know? pic.twitter.com/Y7sZgHiP7S — Emily Tamkin (@emilyctamkin) September 6, 2018

I told my mom who I think it is, and told her she could not tell anybody. https://t.co/XPHl7wnPNw — Laura Rozen (@lrozen) September 6, 2018

Text from my mom: "WTF who wrote that Op-Ed? You can tell me." — Michael S. Schmidt (@nytmike) September 5, 2018

Same. Also please include my dad, brother, 2 friends from kindergarten & my college roommate who is rightfully annoyed that everyone thinks the author is definitively male. https://t.co/ogyP9CJlcR — sarah margon (@sarahmargon) September 6, 2018

Rather than tweeting, Jon Favreau podcasted about it instead, sharing with his Pod Save America listeners the story of a cyclist who asked him who wrote the op-ed while stopped at a red light.

In instances when inquiring minds don’t have a connection to a reporter or member of the media to exploit, they’ve taken to … calling the New York Times directly. This is after White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders directed a few of them this way, of course.

So the NYT switchboard is routing calls for Opinion to...me. And you can guess what people are calling about.

Caller 1: "Thank you!"

2: "Oh, well if you're a reporter, can you explain this anonymous sources stuff to me?" [a nice 5-min convo about journalism ensues]

3: just a rant https://t.co/jL2yRmrQd0 — Vivian Yee (@VivianHYee) September 6, 2018

andddd it's starting.



just got my first call at my landline: "hello, i'm looking for the opinion desk?"



was tempted to tell the woman (who sounded very nice!) that it was don jr and get it over with — Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) September 6, 2018

Now for something different. Just got a call on my work line.



"Hello, I'm looking for the opinion section. Sarah Huckabee Sanders told us to angrily call you. I am not angry. The New York Times is doing a great job."



I paused. Made me sad to tell her I wasn't the right number. — Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) September 7, 2018

Just got a ring from a lovely woman calling from Wisconsin. Told her I was born in Madison and still go back to see my grandfather in Eau Claire. She and her family are heading there tomorrow! Small world. Hope it's a great trip. Don't know who wrote the op ed though! — Amanda Hess (@amandahess) September 6, 2018

When all else fails, people have also proved happy to speculate with the closest available strangers.

What’s DC like?



The cashier at CVS is asking customers who they think wrote the New York Times op-ed. — Erin (@erinruberry) September 6, 2018