Am I wrong for wanting some answers to the questions that surround the mysterious appearance of Meredith McIver to take the fall for the blatant plagiarism of Michelle Obama’s 2008 convention speech? Is it unreasonable to expect the press to ask some questions and resolve some of the issues pertaining to Ms. McIver?
There are a few issues at play here- the first issue is whether “McIver” even exists, or is another Trump John Miller/John Barron-esque catfish of the media (please recall the media fell to varying degrees to the Barron/Miller act for years. Some caught on and quickly figured it out but others were genuinely misled.) Further, assuming she is a real person, what is the truth behind how she came to be involved in writing the speech? Was she actually involved in writing the speech? What in her own words (not in a letter provided by Trump but out of her own mouth) is her culpability for the plaigerism versus the possible culpability of the potential next First Lady? Was Trump involved in this in any way? And of course there is the issue of possible violation of the law and FEC violations depending on whether she was being paid by the campaign for her work. Enquiring minds want answers to these questions, but alas the media seems to have no interest.
Before moving to the catfish aspect of this story, lets assume Ms. McIver is real and examine some of the issues pertaining to her. First, how many of you were aware that the man who is running Trump’s campaign, Paul Manafort, professes no knowledge of Ms. McIver’s existence? Sort of strange, right?
Manafort "Nobody in campaign knows who she is"
In fact, in his presser Manafort didn’t even pronounce her name correctly, referring to her twice as Ms. McIntire as can be seen in the linked video.
Issue # 1: How is it possible for a major presidential campaign to have a speechwriter working on and obviously making major changes to a major convention speech, and no one in the campaign even know that is occurring? What does that tell us about the competence of Trump as a manager and leader? Could we expect similar rogue actions in the White House (with no subsequent repercussions by the way)?
Issue # 2: Again, assuming the reality of Ms. McIver, what is her version of the story? Was the letter coerced? Was she even really involved in the speech, or was the letter a complete cover for a Trump family member or Melania? I’ve heard some say “what does it matter?” Please. It matters. If for nothing else than human interest, but beyond that it really matters because it goes once again to the character of Trump. If he is willing to casually cover up missteps with lies will he do the same in the White House? That might be something nice to know before we elect him president.
Issue #3: FEC violations. It would be nice to hear directly from Ms. McIver if she has done previous work for the campaign. Trump’s FEC filing shows she was never paid by the campaign, making her contributions a violation of law if she has been doing work. Again, we have a right to know.
So, as you can see before we even get to the conspiracy theories of her existence-or if you simply aren’t willing to go “there” in believing the creator of John Barron and John Miller could come up with a female version to be his full time fall girl-there are plenty of valid reasons to demand the press push for an interview with Ms. McIver simply to resolve the myriad issues she presents as a real person.
All that said, if I had to bet money right now, I’d bet she is not a real person. Searching the internet for any history of her is to enter a black hole of dead ends and misinformation. The classic catfish situation. Her online existence is a veneer.
Take for instance the photo linked above. This is one of the very few photos that appear online that purport to be Ms. McIver. I believe this photo is the only one online that links to a page that was available prior to this story breaking. It is supposed to be McIver in Trump’s office. If you look closely at her chin, it’s pretty clear it has been photoshopped (the background cuts into her chin line on the right). Right after this story broke last week, a Meredith McIver account was activated on Twitter (@imeredithmciver) that was clearly a fake account meant to snark, and started posting a number of obviously photoshopped pics of McIver. One theory is this was done to muddy the waters on the fact that the one available pic of her online prior to all this going down was a clearly photoshopped pic.
Beyond that, without falling down the rabbit hole of photoshopped and faked pics, there is a much simpler question. Is there any documented online evidence this woman has ever appeared in public or sat for an interview with a reporter? Keep in mind this woman is a best selling author, living in New York City, and supposedly a high level assistant to Donald Trump. Is there a single example of her ever appearing in public, promoting a book, appearing at a book signing, or sitting for an interview to promote one of her best selling books? I can’t find one. Does that raise any red flags with anyone?
There have been a few people step up to vouch for her, but evidence of her existence always shrinks away upon further examination. Piers Morgan posted on Twitter he knew her well, but then sheepishly admitted his contacts with her had been via e-mail. There is a 2007 article that refers to McIver bringing Trump something, but then the reporter said on Twitter she was only in the room “5 seconds” and she has no memory of what she looked like. The NY Times tracked down a supposed ex-boyfriend (from a long time ago) for a story on her, but it is unclear who referred the Times to this person, and whether that is anything that adds any validity to her existence. No proof was provided confirming the guys story.
There is evidence of the existence of a Meredith McIver in New York, but it is very limited. Her residence is owned by a co-op, so no proof of ID there. There are voting records- that is mainly what the media focused on. Beyond that, not much at all. There are many other aspects and details to this story beyond what I can go into here, but for me it boils down to this simple question: does it make any sense in this internet age that a woman could live in New York City and be the personal assistant, media relations person (per a business card mailed to someone) and writer for a flamboyant billionaire running for president, and have absolutely NO EVIDENCE that she has ever appeared in public or sat with anyone for an interview? Does that make any sense to anyone? It sure doesn’t to me, and we always have to keep in mind that when dealing with a normal person this may sound like a nutty conspiracy, but we are dealing with Trump, a pathological sociopath that has catfished the press on multiple occasions in the past.
My theory is Trump created this character many years ago to be his “ghostwriter” on his books. That way, he could use a pool of writers and not share proceeds with anyone on the books. Like John Miller and Barron, this persona slowly grew over the years. In 2007 he blamed “McIver” for mistakes about his debt and net worth in some of his books. Also, around that time is the one 5 second sighting by a reporter, and convenient reference in a story. It is the classic catfish scenario- people know her through letters and e-mails. No reputable person can step up and say they abolutely know her, have seen her, and can ID her from a photo.
I’d encourage anyone interested in following this to follow @MeredithMcTrump on Twitter, who is doing an excellent job in documenting all the inconsistencies and problems with the existence of one “Meredith McIver.”