I am really starting to believe the op/ed was a plant. The author didn't say anything negative about Trump that wasn't already out there. What was new/shocking was the revelation of a collective within the government working to actively subvert the President. A deep-state by any other name. This revelation was laced with trigger words and phrases for the Trump base like 'resistance' and 'deep state' and fits the narrative of Trump being victimized by those that don't want to see him MAGA. And Trump has only very tepidly attempted to discredit the op/ed's validity or control perception in its wake. Contrast that to how he has rallied people to attack the assertions of Woodward's book. His MO is to attack, deny and discredit vehemently until he has no other option. But not so much here.
The more I consider the op/ed, the more a question keeps popping up in my head: If the President is such a danger to America that you as a senior staff member would work behind the scenes to thwart his intentions, why on earth would you publicize that? Putting the governmental 'resistance' into the spotlight only alerts and embarrasses the President to act. It makes you or others working similarly more likely to be discovered and replaced by someone supportive of the President. It makes your efforts to protect America much less likely to succeed. So why do it? I can't think of any good, logical answer for that.
I believe it more likely that the op/ed was carefully crafted for some other purpose and planted with the NYT by someone who could plausibly have authored it. The question then becomes what could the op/ed's other purpose of be? Lets return to the big reveal of the piece. Who could benefit from the belief that there is a real, no-shit shadow-state in the government that is working against the President, sabotaging his efforts to lead and effectively undermining his election? Donald J Trump
If that shadow-state is real, or enough people believe it to be so, then he would be justified in dismantling it. Expect to see that notion reinforced and acted upon at some point. Expect it be used as the basis for Trump to carry out a political purge. Expect it to be used to target people like Sessions, Rosenstein and anyone else who doesn't completely kowtow to Trump's authority. Expect it to be used in an attempt to end Mueller's investigation.
That scenario is at least logical. Diabolical, but logical.