No one said Trump had a stroke!

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2020

Except for the people who did: Don Winslow writes crime and mystery novels.

Ten years ago, the New York Times' Janet Maslin said he was pretty darn good:

MASLIN (7/7/10): “Don Winslow is an author currently living in the United States, most recognized for his crime and mystery novels.” That’s the one-sentence entirety of the biographical notice Mr. Winslow has attracted on Wikipedia, though he has a dozen novels, a couple of movie deals, a slew of ardent reviews, a whip-cracking way with words and a whole lot of Southern California surfer baditude to his credit.

Those earlier books (11 published here, one available in England with no set American publication date) have much sparkle to recommend them. But they aren’t “Savages,” the one that will jolt Mr. Winslow into a different league. “Savages” is his 13th and most boisterously stylish crime book, his gutsiest and most startling bid for attention.

It’s clear that “Savages” has no dearth of nerve from the snow-white, one-page opening chapter, which consists of exactly two words...As opening gambits go, this one is pure kamikaze, and it could have backfired accordingly. But Mr. Winslow has written the killer book to back it up.

It sounds like Winslow's no slouch. In recent years, he's also become a bit of an anti-Trump force.

Back on August 1, he's the one who tweeted the claim that Donald J. Trump has suffered a series of mini-strokes. This is what he said:

WINSLOW (8/1/20): One of the benefits of making videos that garner 5 million+ views is that you hear from a lot of people, including whistleblowers inside Trump administration.

I've received three communications saying that during his term Trump has suffered a "series" of "mini-strokes."

Winslow included a chunk of tape in which Trump was slurring his words.

Has the commander-in-chief suffered a series of mini-strokes? It's certainly a possibility, but we can't really answer your question.

At any rate, according to Reuters and U.S. News, Trump may have been responding to Winslow's claim when he tweeted, yesterday, that he hasn't suffered a series of mini-strokes.

Early last evening, the New York Times published a version of the same Reuters report, making the connection to Winslow. For the record, here's what the commander said:

COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF DONALD J. TRUMP (9/1/20): It never ends! Now they are trying to say that your favorite President, me, went to Walter Reed Medical Center, having suffered a series of mini-strokes. Never happened to THIS candidate—FAKE NEWS. Perhaps they are referring to another candidate from another Party!

Fox News also made the connection to Winslow. According to this report, "#TrumpStroke was trending on Twitter on Tuesday as Winslow's tweet got renewed attention." That renewed attention would have been created by discussion of a claim made in Michael Schmidt's new book, which makes no specific reference to strokes or mini-strokes.

Why did the commander say that "they" are now trying to say that he suffered a series of mini-strokes? We can't tell you that. But last night, Rachel and Lawrence happily told us that no one had ever said that Trump suffered strokes or mini-strokes.

The pair of pleasing cable stars assured us that Trump had made his latest blunder—that he had responded to a claim no one had actually made. Rachel specifically said that no one had said anything about a stroke.

We'll be perfectly honest. As experienced cable viewers, we saw no obvious reason to believe the presentations being made by these crowd-pleasing "cable news" stars.

It's true that Schmidt's new book makes no reference to strokes or mini-strokes—but sure enough! On Monday night, Joe Lockhart had made such a reference, craftily tweeting this:

LOCKHART (8/31/20): Did @realDonaldTrump have a stroke which he is hiding from the American public?

Playing one of Trump's favorite games, Lockhart later said he'd just been asking a question when he composed that tweet.

We watched Rachel and Lawrence as they happily clowned last night. They pleasured us with the pleasing idea that Trump had responded to a claim no one had actually made.

It's true that Schmidt made no such claim, but Lockhart had floated the idea of a stroke and Winslow had alleged a "series of mini-strokes."

There's no way Rachel and Lawrence, or at least their staffs, didn't know those things by showtime—but as experienced as corporate entertainers, they knew they mustn't tell. It was more fun to say that Trump had denied an allegation no one had ever alleged.

We'd like to link you to the transcripts and show you the pair's exact quotes. For better or worse, the corporation no longer offers transcripts, and we don't want to waste our own time transcribing their pleasing remarks.

MSNBC stopped transcribing its TV shows on Monday, July 13. In fairness, if we were paying millions of dollars to major cable stars like these, we wouldn't transcribe their shows either.

Winslow's wiki today: According to Maslin, Winslow rated one sentence on Wikipedia back in 2010.

Today, his entry is more extensive. You can peruse it here.

According to Winslow, Trump has suffered a "series of mini-strokes." Yesterday, he repeated that earlier claim.

As with almost everything else, there is absolutely no doubt that it could be true.