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| - FACT CHECK: Did The Livermore, California Mayor Write This Piece Explaining Donald Trump’s ‘Success And Popularity?’
A post shared on Facebook attributes to former Livermore, California, Mayor Marshall Kamena a lengthy essay explaining President Donald Trump’s “popularity and success.”
Verdict: False
There is no evidence Kamena, the former mayor of Livermore, authored the essay. The essay was written by conservative writer Evan Sayet and first published in 2017.
Fact Check:
Various iterations of the essay have been shared thousands of times over the years. The essay attempts to defend what the posts describe as Trump’s “lack of decorum, dignity and statesmanship” and goes on to compare Trump to Ulysses S. Grant and George Patton by calling him “America’s first wartime president in the Culture War.”
“The mayor of Livermore California explains Trump’s popularity and success,” reads the text above the essay allegedly written by Kamena. “This is perhaps the best explanation for Trump’s popularity.”
There is no evidence Kamena wrote the essay attributed to him in the Facebook post, which also alleges he “ran on the Democratic ticket as he knew a Bay Area city would never vote for a Republican” but is “as conservative as they come.” Kamena has not served as the mayor of Livermore since 2011, according to his LinkedIn profile. The Livermore mayor application page describes the position as “nonpartisan.”
The Daily Caller News Foundation found no credible sources linking Kamena to the essay. Nothing resembling it appears on his Facebook account. An internet search revealed the author is actually Sayet, a conservative writer. Sayet’s piece was originally published by Townhall.com as an op-ed titled “He Fights” in 2017.
“I am, in fact, the original author,” Sayet confirmed in an email to the DCNF. (RELATED: Did Dr. Anthony Fauci Write This Viral Essay About COVID-19?)
It’s unclear how the essay first became linked to the former Livermore mayor. The misattribution has been debunked by fact-checking outlets such as Snopes, PolitiFact and USA Today over the years.
Kamena did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.
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