In the past week, legendary investigative journalist Bob Woodward’s new book, Fear, was previewed in the press. Much of the initial coverage focused on many high-ranking officials within the Trump administration and their unvarnished opinions of the occupant of the Oval Office. At the same time, a now-infamous anonymous op-ed in The New York Times has only added more fuel to this raging fire.
Trump, of course, isn’t best pleased that people don’t seem to agree that, in his own words, he’s a “very stable genius”. Dr Gina Loudon, an ardent supporter of the President, a campaign surrogate, a Mar-a-Lago club member, a founding writer of Breitbart, and a member of the deeply mysterious Media Advisory Board, seems to have his back, though.
She has a new book out, Mad Politics, which she claims “DESTROYS #Woodward’s drivel” about Trump. Spotted by the Huffington Post, she made an appearance on the transparently propaganda-riddled outlet of Fox’s Hannity show – as she often does – and made some claims that viewers may find distressing.
“My book actually uses science, and real data, and true psychological theory, to explain why it is quite possible that this president is the most sound-minded person to ever occupy the White House,” she claimed. Hannity himself leaned back in glee, absorbing the own-the-libs vibe that was effusing from his guest.
“That’s the fun part of the madness,” Loudon added. “Watching them go crazy over the fact that he’s pretty unfazed by them.” – them being those pesky liberals, of course.
Pitting this against a thoroughly respected, award-winning, era-defining journalist’s book as a strange form of suspiciously timed counterattack is, at the very least, a bold move. If, as Fear notes, Chief of Staff John Kelly did refer to Trump as “an idiot” in “Crazytown”, then it’s not yet clear what in Loudon’s book might, you know, balance that out a little.
It’s also highly likely that the purported “science and real data” isn’t going to live up to anyone’s modest expectations. The book certainly doesn’t sound like it’ll be a riveting scientific journey featuring objective, careful and considered analysis.
The blurb asks potential readers “How can we restore a sound mind to the body politic?” before offering this questionable thought: “The answer, Loudon concludes, may be in joining Trump in a complete rejection of political correctness.”
I, for one, can't wait to see the peer-reviewed data that gave rise to that gem.
This administration, lest we forget, is one of the most ardently anti-scientific ones in modern American history, with its attacks on what it believes to be inconvenient, industry-unfriendly science leading the charge. With that in mind, then, this claim from one of its allies is simply par for the course.
