As Donald Trump’s fraud trial begins todayI remembered another famous story involving a president in an extramarital affair, that of Bill Clinton.
If the two stories splash the White House and the image of the presidency, they are also linked by a particular link, the role of two influential magazine managers: Larry Flynt and David Pecker.
The king of pornography in the service of the presidency
The older among you and/or the history and politics buffs probably remember that at the height of the impeachment proceedings against Bill Clinton, a particularly controversial ally jumped to his defense.
Shocked by the hypocrisy of the Republican elected representatives of the House and the Senate, Larry Flynt, pornography mogul, was transformed into an avenging angel.
He then bought a full page of the Washington to offer up to a million dollars to anyone who provided evidence of sexual adventures by members of Congress.
Result? At least 250 stories, six of which had been validated by investigations. Before the magazine published anything, Republican speaker Robert L. Livingston resigned and admitted adultery.
Indirectly, Donald Trump benefits from this whole story because it has somewhat desensitized American voters.
The editor who can destroy Trump
Among the list of potential witnesses in the trial is the name of David Pecker. The latter is the former president of American Media Inc. which manages the tabloid The National Enquirer.
The publication created in 1926 has a history which, in itself, would deserve several articles. Having already been the voice of isolationism and fascist propaganda, it has evolved a lot, but has always remained sensationalist.
If The National Enquirer can relay scabrous stories and unserious gossip about celebrities, it occasionally happens to publish brilliant stunts which result from meticulous investigative work. Despite these rare successes, it is almost never referred to as a credible source.
Since the arrival of Donald Trump on the political scene, The National Enquirer became infatuated with the billionaire and seemed to take great pleasure in destroying the reputation of his opponents.
However, we would not have limited ourselves to that, we would have bought compromising stories before other media published them, a practice called “catch and kill”.
If the prosecution must prove that Donald Trump did indeed try to cover up the story of the payment to pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels, the testimony of the Pecker clan could be explosive.
Even more dangerous, Pecker met with Michael Cohen, the billionaire’s former lawyer, to hide other stories, including one that involved a relationship with a former playmate, Karen McDougal.
In 2016, candidate Trump promised to clean up the swamp, I rather have the impression that his presidency leads us to talk about all those who are at the bottom.