Profile by Summer Lane |
From the moment President Donald Trump stepped off the golden escalator at Trump Tower in 2015, he has been under attack – and it’s an ongoing attack that has come from within.
Whether it has been the “Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax,” the sham impeachment trials during his time in the White House, the unprecedented lawfare, or the vitriolic, agenda-driven media machine, President Trump is easily the most politically persecuted leader in American history.
While some may refer to these disruptive operations as efforts linked to the murky Deep State or the secretive intelligence community, according to New York Times bestselling author Lee Smith, the shadowed enemies within the United States are hardly amorphous.
“Those are all abstractions – in fact, there are real people who are spending real money to advance their interests and the person at the head of this network is Donald Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama,” he told Write Revolution News.
Smith has been writing for more than 30 years. After working in the Manhattan magazine business for some time, he said he moved to the Middle East after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
His first book, The Strong Horse: Power, Politics, And the Clash of Arab Civilizations, was released in 2010. After relocating again – this time from the Middle East to Washington, D.C., – he began writing about American politics.
“What I saw started happening in 2016 looked like Arab world stuff…what the media was doing and what the intelligence services were doing…was the same thing that the Arab media and Arab intelligence service do to their adversaries,” he explained, discussing the vicious attacks against then-Republican presidential candidate and real estate titan Donald Trump.
In 2019, Smith released The Plot Against the President: The True Story of How Congressman Devin Nunes Uncovered the Biggest Political Scandal in U.S. History. The book focused on then-Congressman and Head of the Intelligence Committee Devin Nunes’ shocking discovery of the internal sabotage against President Trump from political operatives, the intelligence community, and the American media.
Just one year later, Smith also published The Permanent Coup: How Enemies Foreign and Domestic Targeted the American President. Following the 2020 presidential election, the book was made into a documentary film directed by Amanda Milius, and even garnered an Academy Award nomination, Smith told Write Revolution News.
His new book – releasing officially on Amazon October 29 – digs deep into Smith’s investigative skills and takes a look at the chilling and steely machine that has gone to war with President Trump for the past nine years.
Titled Disappearing the President: Trump, Truth Social, and the Fight for the Republic, it brings readers up to speed on the tumultuous events that have unfolded since Trump announced his intention to run for president so long ago – events that were meant to destroy him.
But what does it mean to “disappear a president?”
It’s a term, according to Smith, that was prominently used by the Latin American intelligence communities in the 70s and 80s – particularly in Argentina – that referred to literally removing a political opponent, either by killing them, imprisoning them, or otherwise silencing them.
In terms of President Trump, Smith highlighted the parallels between such terrifying intelligence operations in foreign countries and what’s unfolding today in the United States.
Smith explained:
“There was buy-in from Big Tech, from Wall Street, [and] from a lot of other people, but it was primarily government institutions – and again, this was led by Barack Obama – and the different people that he left scattered across the U.S. government, so that’s what disappearing refers to. That’s the long eight-year operation trying to disappear Trump from public life and in spite of all that, Donald Trump not only has his voice back but Donald Trump looks, right now, set for being re-elected as President of the United States.”
The president’s voice, as Smith (and Trump) refers to it, was taken from him in 2021 when he was censored from every major platform following the events of January 6. Trump was banned from Twitter (now X), Facebook, and Instagram. It was this brutal censorship that prompted the president to launch his own free speech media platform, Truth Social, which is now headed up by the same man who uncovered the plot against the president: Devin Nunes.
Truth Social allowed President Trump to communicate with the American people freely and openly. Launched in early 2022, it is still his primary mode of communication for public policy discussion, commentary, and endorsement statements.
Smith described the platform as a “backstop” for protecting the free speech of President Trump, whom he astutely called “the free world’s leading dissident.”
“Truth Social is a very important instrument not just for Donald Trump and not just for the America First movement but for everyone who believes in free speech,” Smith said.
And with the election merely days away, free speech has never been more important, especially with the media and shadowy bad actors more desperate than ever to stop President Trump from likely winning back the White House.
In 2024, Smith noted the duality of the political climate, acknowledging Americans’ doubts surrounding our election systems following 2020, which have cast a shadow on the electorates’ trust in the integrity of the national vote.
“We go into this of two minds: that it’s a normal election and that it’s not a normal election for America, that cheating is likely to play a big role,” Smith said.
Amid sky-high polling and electrifying national support, President Trump’s chances look better than ever, but it may come down to fighting it out in court, according to Smith.
“A lot of it has to do with what kind of legal help has Donald Trump lined up to fight the day after the election, the week after the election, the month after the election?” he remarked.
In Disappearing the President, Smith had the honor of interviewing President Trump.
“It was a real pleasure to interview him, he’s very generous, he has a great sense of humor and he’s a very warm person, and you know, this comes out when people see those rallies with tens of thousands of people – no matter how many people are there the president’s warmth and generosity and his sense of humor comes across,” he said.
That special interview – as well as many others – are exclusively available in the book. “Those interviews, those conversations, are really the core of the book,” Smith shared.
Photos: Courtesy of Lee Smith
Connect with Lee Smith:
Follow him on X and Truth Social.
Buy an early-release copy of Disappearing the President exclusively through Encounter Books.
Purchase Disappearing the President on Amazon beginning October 29 or pre-order beforehand.
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