As referenced in Beth’s Notes last night, a former Forbes writer produced an article for the Washington Post that claims he has tapes that prove Donald Trump lied to him in order to get onto the Forbes 400 list. In order to facilitate the lie, Trump reportedly claimed he was “John Barron”.
This is not the first time Trump has been exposed as Barron… or John Miller. Both were pseudonyms he used repeatedly in the early 1990s when pretending to be his own publicist, according to The New Yorker:
Since Trump’s voice, even then, was instantly recognizable, it’s hard to conceive of him pretending to be somebody else, such as a fictional spokesman. But, evidently, that is what he did when dealing with some reporters, calling himself John Miller or John Barron. Now the Washington Post has surfaced a tape of one of those conversations, which took place in 1991 with Sue Carswell, then a reporter for People magazine.
On Friday morning, Trump denied that he was the person on the tape. “It doesn’t sound like me on the phone, I will tell you that. And it was not me on the phone,” he said on the “Today” show. But anyone who listens to the recording will quickly discover that it sounds very much like Trump.
And there was the letter he is suspected of writing under the guise of his secretary, although one can easily imagine this being transcribed by Ms. Gallego as Mr. Trump dictated… if only Ms. Gallego could be confirmed to have existed. From The Washingtonian:
The letter in question, which can also be read on New York magazine’s website, says
“Based on the fact that I work for Donald Trump as his secretary—and therefore know him well—I think he treats women with great respect, contrary to what Julie Baumgold implied in her article … I do not believe any man in America gets more calls from women wanting to see him, meet him, or go out with him. The most beautiful women, the most successful women—all women love Donald Trump.”
Carolin Gallego December 7, 1992
There’s no shortage of articles about the unique way the President speaks and writes, which is what makes Gallego’s letter so intriguing—particularly the final sentence. Also of note is the fact that Trump’s longtime assistant was named Norma Foerderer. She retired in 2005 and was replaced by Rhona Graff.
There seems to be a pattern of behavior if these reports are accurate. And, armed with that pattern, it seems reasonable to look at another recent story about leaks from the White House. According to the New York Observer:
President Donald Trump publicly wages campaigns to oust “leakers” from the West Wing. But in private, he reportedly provides the press with a cornucopia of exclusive scoops under an anonymous alias.
A Trump By Any Other Name… Still Smells Of Tweet.
