Hot Type: Lies, Spies, and October Surprises
In her latest exclusive column, Heidi Siegmund Cuda interviews New York Times bestselling author Craig Unger about the 'October Surprises' that threw US elections and shook the world.
“I don't know exactly what will happen, but I will say, ‘Does anyone think there will be an election with no malfeasance?’”—Craig Unger, author, Den of Spies
The ‘October Surprise’ — a headline-grabbing event that can change the trajectory of a November Presidential Election — has become a part of American political campaigning. First coined in 1980, when President Jimmy Carter failed to get American hostages released from Tehran, and Ronald Reagan rode to victory, it’s a strategy that has been repeated often since.
On President Jimmy Carter’s 100th birthday, investigative reporter Craig Unger released his latest book, Den of Spies: Reagan, Carter, and the Secret History That Stole the White House. The first recipient was Carter. Unger sent him a signed copy of Den of Spies, the nickname of the now shuttered American embassy in Iran, and just days later, Carter cast his ballot for Kamala Harris.
As each day brings new October Surprises — more revelations of Russian-paid operatives, more filings from Special Counsel Jack Smith, and more armed arrests and general weirdness from the Trump rallies — is America even capable of being shocked by sabotage?
In a Q&A with Unger, who is also the author of American Kompromat and House of Trump, House of Putin, I ask him to offer us a history of the October Surprises that threw elections for Republicans and what we can anticipate this October.
Heidi Siegmund Cuda: Why did you release Den of Spies on Jimmy Carter’s 100th birthday?
Craig Unger: It's long past due for history to be honest to him. He went out and lost his reelection campaign in 1980 and was basically characterized as a weak president that allowed the United States to be humiliated. And what I write about in Den of Spies is a covert operation run by the Republicans that sabotaged Carter's attempts to bring home the hostages, and they really hijacked American foreign policy, and I believe it was a treasonous covert operation by the Reagan-Bush campaign.”
HSC: We would be living in a very different America if we could go back in time and change the outcome to that election, and can you speak on what was set in motion when this occurred to basically steal the reelection from Carter and install Reagan?
CU: This was a critical moment in American history. It was a watershed in so many ways. For one thing, this was the start of the so-called Reagan revolution. This was the birth of American conservatism, and I think it's extremely important, in that what I show is they got into office thanks to a treasonous covert operation that sabotaged an American Presidential Election.
And this is a critical time in terms of American foreign policy, the Shah of Iran — long, an American puppet — has just been overthrown, and when he was in charge, America, and in fact the entire West, had access to Iranian oil reserves at very reasonable prices. So suddenly, that all changed, and Iran also went from being a very close ally and friend of both America and Israel to an enemy, as it became an Islamist theocracy.
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