by Mike McClary
Legendary journalist Bob Woodward’s latest book, “FEAR: Trump in the White House,” is a chilling portrayal of the unending chaos at the very center of our government, where Trump’s aides desperately attempt to protect the country and themselves from his erratic, lying, ignorant, unrelenting, and stubborn, narcissistic behavior on a daily basis.
You should read it—it’s stunning. Woodward, of Watergate fame, helped bring down another lying president, Richard Nixon. Woodward has written books about our nine most recent presidents—20 percent of all America’s chief executives. Woodward is careful and meticulous – writing “FEAR” based on real interviews with people involved with this administration, on “deep background,” meaning that their identities would not be revealed.
If they asked to say something “off the record,” he would say no. In most cases, the respondents would go on with, “Well, I’ll just tell you anyway.” He has tape recordings of all these interviews, and in reading the anecdotes, there can just be no doubt that the dialogues in “quotations” are absolutely true-to-life.
The Washington Post’s Fact Checker has calculated that Trump has lied more than 5000 times since his inauguration. In Montana last week, he made 125 false or misleading statements in a mere two hours.
As Hurricane Florence approached the Carolinas, he had this to say: “3,000 people did not die in the two hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico. When I left the Island, AFTER the storm had hit, they had anywhere from 6 to 18 deaths. As time went by it did not go up by much.
Then, a long time later, they started to report really large numbers, like 3000… This was done by the Democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible when I was successfully raising Billions of Dollars to help rebuild Puerto Rico. If a person died for any reason, like old age, just add them onto the list. Bad politics. I love Puerto Rico!” These appalling and bald-faced lies have infuriated Republicans and Democrats alike all across the political spectrum.
Not surprisingly, Trump’s Republican war on truth is being fought at every political level. Corey Stewart is a racist bigot who embraces white nationalists and spreads vicious lies about Tim Kaine.
Our very own Congressman, Dave Brat, is a prime example of a politician who twists facts, insinuates lies about his opponent, and repeatedly lies to his own constituents. According to PolitiFact, 67 percent of Brat’s statements are rated either “False” or “Mostly False.” In contrast, only 17 percent are rated “True.”
Culpeper’s town councilman and chair of the local Republicans, Jon Russell, foolishly promotes Brat by repeating lies about the so-called “deep state” and accusing Spanberger of running as a tool of the Democratic establishment.
You have a choice on November 6. Abigail Spanberger has taken the high road and is running on her vision of service to her constituents, not promoting negative ads nor lying about Dave Brat. She doesn’t have to. His record and his behavior speak for themselves.
McClary is an Armored Cavalry combat veteran and a retired federal executive in Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation of the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration. He lives in Culpeper County.
Sign up for the Blue Virginia weekly newsletter
