Was NY Times Op-ed writer an Obama holdover in the While House?

Joe Herring:

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The author clearly idolizes McCain and denies the existence of a "Deep State," preferring instead to describe the cabal responsible for the slow-motion coup conducted through the increasingly brazen "special counsel" as the "steady state" – an apt descriptor of the permanent government bureaucracy that has been weaponized against the president since early 2016.

There is one further "tell" in the ballyhooed NYT anonymous op-ed – one that indicates that this is even less newsworthy than I first thought.

The author says in his second paragraph:

It's not just that the special counsel looms large. Or that the country is bitterly divided over Mr. Trump's leadership. Or even that his party might well lose the House to an opposition hellbent on his downfall.

The emphasis is mine. A Republican would likely not say "his party," but rather "our party" or "my party."

I am of the opinion that this is likely an Obama holdover (of which there are still more than a hundred in the employ of the White House alone) writing as if he were in fact a disaffected member of the Trump inner circle when he is in truth a bitter refusenik still stinging from the rejection of November last.

I think I know why the NYT kept it anonymous. "Disgruntled Obama holdover" doesn't carry the same cachet as "anonymous senior member of the administration."
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I suspect that the writer of the op-ed was also a source for some of the material in Woodward's book.  He sounds like a disgruntled employee who would like to tar the President with hearsay accusations.

The administration may want to start lie detector tests for all of the Obama holdovers.