White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Thursday encouraged angry Trump fans to call the New York Times‘ opinion desk in retaliation for the anonymous op-ed it published written by an administration official — but her call for retribution backfired horribly.

“If you want to know who this gutless loser is, call the opinion desk of the failing NYT,” Sanders wrote, adding the phone number for the opinion department.

ADVERTISEMENT

For those of you asking for the identity of the anonymous coward: pic.twitter.com/RpWYPHa6To — Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) September 6, 2018

After the press secretary called for angry Trump supporters to call the opinion desk, Times reporters began tweeting that they had indeed been flooded with calls — but that many of them were supportive.

“After @PressSec directed people to call the @nytimes and ask the opinion section to out the Op-Ed writer, many have called instead to voice their support for the Op-Ed and the NYT news coverage of the Trump administration,” the Times‘ national security correspondent Amy Fiscus tweeted.

She added that one person told Washington correspondent Emily Baum to “print the news, honey!”

ADVERTISEMENT

After @PressSec directed people to call the @nytimes and ask the opinion section to out the Op-Ed writer, many have called instead to voice their support for the Op-Ed and the NYT news coverage of the Trump administration. “Print the news, honey!” one told @Emily_Baum — Amy Fiscus (@amyfiscus) September 6, 2018

Reporter Ken Vogel shared a voicemail another Times fan left him.

ADVERTISEMENT

“I just wanna thank you a million times over,” a woman calling from California said. “This is the most hopeful I’ve felt about our government in a long, long time.”

Not sure this is what @PressSec had in mind when she urged people to call The New York Times general switchboard to demand the identity of the writer of the anonymous op-ed. pic.twitter.com/B2ZMEFya6t — Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) September 6, 2018

ADVERTISEMENT

Political correspondent Elizabeth Dias tweeted that she received a similar call.

“Well, Sarah Sanders left your number so we could complain, but I support the New York Times,” the transcribed message read. “I’m from Nebraska. Go, New York Times!”

ADVERTISEMENT