The acclaimed US writer Richard Ford believes President Trump occasionally says something “that’s actually not wrong” but does not see it “registered in the news”.
Speaking at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer said that when Trump, who he said was a "fool", does say something correct it does not get reported.
“Trump is always saying rubbish, he’s always lying, he’s a fool, he’s a bad guy,” he said.
"But every once in a while, he says something that’s actually not wrong…something that’s true, [but] I don’t see it registered in the news.”
The author cited the recent Charlottesville riot, and Trump’s claim, in Ford’s words, that “there was responsibility apportionable on both sides”.
“You would have thought he had uttered the most-grave profanity,” he told a sell-out event on the last day of the Book Festival, “except it was true, except it was true. There’s a picture of a guy in this group, anti-white nationalist, shooting a flame thrower at these guys.
“So unless and until the media are…going to report things that actually happened, then I don’t think it’s fake news really, I think it’s just not all the news, and that’s the New York Times’ motto, ‘all the news that’s fit to print’, and I don’t always see it reported.”
Ford was talking to broadcaster Kirsty Wark about events in the United States over the past twelve months, including the riot in Charlottesville.
“Trump said there were some decent people in that group, there probably were some decent people in there,” he added, “and until those kinds of issues are able to be aired, we’re not going to have that kind of melding back together of the polity.”
And he added: “I wanna say, I’m not on their side: I’m against racial hatred, I’m against white nationalism, I’m against the Klu Klux Klan, but they’re there.”
On the issue of Confederate statues, Ford said he supported their removal, arguing that as well as being a slave owner, General Robert E. Lee had “acted to try and dismember our Union…he was a traitor”.
Recalling last year’s Presidential election, Ford said: “I never thought it would happen and I’m appalled that it did happen and I’m ashamed, and embarrassed, and terrified that he is the president…there has been a kind of silent military coup in the United States.”
Ford said the “real underlying problem” was that the Democratic Party in the US was “doing zip”.
“The Democrats are certainly on notice that they’ve got to do something to bring these people into the fold because the Republican Party are not their natural allies,” he added. “If the Democrats can just find a way to get rid of [minority leader] Nancy Pelosi and get rid of [Senator] Chuck Schumer and get some new and younger brains and bodies up at the top of the party. The fact those two people are still running the Democratic Party is an outrage.”
Wark also asked Ford about a long-running feud with fellow Pulitzer Prize-winner Colson Whitehead, who once wrote a “coruscating” review of his short stories.
“I spit in his face,” admitted Ford, “it was so coruscating that Christina [Ford’s wife] wouldn’t let me read it. [There are] adverse effects on writers such as I by reviews and reviewers who blithely take the three years of a person’s life and piss it away in an afternoon and print it in the newspaper and drive readers away from the book."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here