Just what we all wanted in 2021: A rehash of Spygate and Arlen Specter
A new Seth Wickersham article ties Donald Trump to Robert Kraft and Arlen Specter in the late senator’s Spygate inquiries. But how “scandalous” is this one?
WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 19: New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft (C) delivers remarks during an event celebrating the team’s Super Bowl win hosted by U.S. President Donald Trump on the South Lawn at the White House April 19, 2017 in Washington, DC. It was the team’s fifth Super Bowl victory since 1960. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesBet you didn't think Spygate would become a popular topic again in 2021. You thought wrong!
Seth Wickersham is doing that thing again. That thing where he takes scattered nuggets of truth and spins them into epic tales of corruption, deceit, and intrigue that fans of the victimized teams lap up like a dog. Wickersham is an excellent writer, which is how he makes these stories so compelling to readers who only half-pay attention. But as a reporter? Not exactly objective. Not exactly works of total non-fiction.
Do you believe Ben Mezrich's book The Accidental Billionaires, the basis for the 2010 film The Social Network, is entirely true and happened as the narrative describes down to the very last detail? Exactly.
Well, here we are again with Wickersham and the Patriots. This time it's not about the issues between Bill Belichick and Tom Brady that he portrayed like a sequel to Hamlet. It's not even about DeflateGate, without question the most over-sensationalized story in the history of sports. No, Wickersham has gone all the way back to friggin' Spygate. The one that's basically been buried forever for years.
But this time, he has teamed up with the late Senator Arlen Specter's son Shanin, and a ghostwriter named Charles Robbins, to tie former President Donald J. Trump to Robert Kraft and Specter's calls for congressional investigations into Spygate. It was absurd of Specter, who passed away due to complications from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2012, to do it back then. It's even more absurd to bring it back up now, and wrap Trump into the whole thing at that.
The latest from Wickersham and Don Van Natta at ESPN.com pored over documents to identify the person who allegedly offered campaign contributions to Specter's presidential run in 2010, in exchange for stepping back from his scrutiny of the Patriots over Spygate. They concluded that the man who made the offer was Trump himself, and that Trump claimed he was acting on Robert Kraft's behalf.
MORE: Robert Kraft reacts to Tom Brady's return
Matt Dolloff is a writer and podcaster for 985TheSportsHub.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, or any subsidiaries. Have a news tip, question, or comment for Matt? Yell at him on Twitter @mattdolloff and follow him on Instagram @mattydsays. You can also email him at mdolloff@985thesportshub.com.
