Multiple aides and allies of Donald Trump confirm that his mood is "volcanic" as he demands the New York Times "turn over" the name of the senior Trump administration official who penned a scathing editorial detailing the staff's efforts to "frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations".

That the op-ed, titled "I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration," even exists is unlike anything that has ever happened in American Politics.  It paints a stunning and disturbing picture of chaos and deception in the White House.

The unidentified author - verified but also shielded by the editors of The New York Times, widely considered to be the nation's newspaper of record - says "the root of the problem is (Trump's) amorality", calls him "anti-trade and anti-democratic", and says he is prone to making "half-baked, ill-informed and occasionally reckless decisions".  This senior administration describes a like-minded group attempting to protect the nation and the world from the worst impulses of a sociopathic man-child sitting in the chair of the United States commander-in-chief.

The author tells of Trump's "erratic" behaviour and the "heroic" efforts of the cabal to stymie his wackier ideas.  The cabal has so far left him place because they like the tax cuts, increased military spending, and deregulation.

"So we will do what we can to steer the administration in the right direction until - one way or another - it's over," the author writes, suggesting the expectation that Trump will be removed from office.  That means impeachment - or the 25th Amendment of the US Constitution which allows the cabinet to remove a sitting president and make the Vice President become "acting" president.

The word "volcanic" was used by both NBC News and The Washington Post to describe Trump, who tweeted the word "treason" in call-caps, and seemed intent to ferret out the author of the editorial.

"If the GUTLESS anonymous person does indeed exist," tweeted Trump, "the Times must, for National Security purposes, turn him/her over to government at once!"

The First Amendment says the Times doesn't have to do that.