I’m a bit embarrassed, chagrined and frustrated with my lack of knowledge as it pertains to how to really get noticed and go places as a writer who analyzes and offers opinions on public policy, culture, etc.
I’m even more red-faced that I’m only stumbling upon this important career strategy now, when it was actually exposed nearly six years ago.
Apparently, you can just make stuff up. I mean, I knew that complete fabrication was OK as it pertained to the words of politicians, influencers, conspiracy theorists and snake oil salesmen, but I had no idea you’re allowed to do that in nonfiction publications that are meant to be taken seriously. In fact, that type of thing in this industry tends to get you fired. But apparently that’s just a deterrent that the bold ignore.
Imagine my shock when I learned that a top member of the Trump administration, Peter Navarro, had made up a source in five of his books on economic policy. That source, economic expert Ron Vara, is just an anagram of Navarro’s last name. Ron Vara really hates China and loves tariffs, and apparently that was part of what attracted the Trump administration to hire Navarro during President Donald Trump’s first term. It was also during that first term that journalists figured out that Ron Vara didn’t exist.
So, what happened to Navarro when it was discovered he had invented an expert source who offered supposed sound economic policy advice? Nothing really. It’s not like Navarro worked for a newspaper or even, as a former professor when he wrote some of those books, a university that could take action against him. He was working for Trump who is, let’s face it, well-versed in falsehoods. In his previous life Trump even pretended to be other people while calling gossip columnists. Navarro simply said “Ron Vara†was an inside joke and he was glad someone had finally caught on. (It’s worth noting that some of Navarro’s co-authors did not find the revelation humorous at all.)
I might have known about this when it was discovered in 2019 and simply forgot because 2020, for multiple reasons, destroyed my brain. But I don’t remember it catching my attention at the time. Navarro’s recent feuding with fellow walking bad-idea factory and Trump whisperer Elon Musk brought Ron Vara back into the spotlight and it was or at least felt like news to me. (During an interview, Navarro first called Musk a car salesman but then settled on automobile manufacturer after tariffs tanked the markets and Musk expressed displeasure about the self-inflicted economic turmoil. Musk later took to his social media platform X and called Navarro “Peter Ro.†So, yeah, they’re both great guys.)
If only I had known that you can just invent an alter-ego and quote yourself as an expert source, I could’ve been scooped up by a presidential administration or a think tank or a weird pillow salesman long ago and be living the sweet life. And then, if I got busted, I could say the whole thing was a harmless, inside joke and we’d all have a healthy, heart-warming laugh. That’s what Fen Bields told me, anyway, and that guy has won six Pulitzers and three Stanley Cups.
Sadly and (just for a moment) seriously, this type of thing is becoming all too common with people who are rising to the top. And we’re supposed to take them seriously? Musk had someone fake high video game proficiency for him, for God’s sake.
What’s worse is that it seems like no one cares. Perhaps that’s because most of us are struggling to pay for child care, health care and rising costs for the most basic necessities of living while wealthy hucksters keep hoarding riches and coming up with ways to get even more. Maybe a lifelong charlatan twice obtaining the highest office in the United States has emboldened other charlatans. Maybe it really is true that, if you’re not cheating, you’re not trying. I hope that’s not the case, but Fen Bields, who has already passed Pete Rose’s hitting record just a month into baseball season, tells me it’s becoming a real blurry line out there.
