Jimmy leaned closer to the president and asked him, man to man, “Where do you think the video came from? What do you think about those stories it was produced by Russians to cause dissension?”

Wrightman grimaced; darn, that was a painful thought. With obvious reluctance he finally agreed, “Truthfully, Jimmy, we haven’t been able to rule that out.”

The administration followed up that appearance with the strongest tried and true political strategy: Promise them money. The next afternoon the secretary of the treasury, Penelope Farber, announced “a reverse tax credit.” To further stimulate the economy, a $1,000 tax credit was being granted to all Americans earning $40,000 annually or less. For people counting at home, this was the twelfth attempt to use tax credits to convince people to begin spending at pre-pandemic levels. “This stimulus will pay for itself by the increased economic activity it creates,” the secretary explained. “So we’re confident this new benefit will not increase the deficit one penny. Consider it an early Christmas present.” It was late August.

Even that diversion didn’t stop the decline in Wrightman’s approval numbers. The growing acceptance that he had mistakenly authorized the raid in which innocent people had been killed and then tried to cover it up fueled the furor. Mistakes were acceptable; cover-ups were not. We saw the anger at the Pro every day. We became sort of a central clearinghouse for people to vent their frustration. Among the obvious changes, a security guard was stationed at the door and Howie was forced to rent an expensive X-ray system to scan every piece of mail.

Ambitious politicians from both parties seized the opportunity to come out strongly and bravely in support of the truth. Several members of the House angrily demanded that a congressional committee be formed to investigate why no congressional committee had been formed to investigate this raid.

Millions of Americans had voted for Wrightman demanding only one thing from him: That he tell the truth. That tenuous belief they had placed in his administration was suddenly shaky. The lie was like a dab of toothpaste stuck to your finger: no matter what Wrightman did, he couldn’t shake it off.

I watched all this happening with the growing sense of dread that I was right about my fears. The American people don’t like to be told what to do. Rather, they like to be manipulated into being told what to do. They had been told not to hold large demonstrations. Exactly nobody was surprised when pro- and antiadministration demonstrations erupted into brawls. Law enforcement did as much as possible to keep the two sides apart, but they were outnumbered. Street fights broke out in a dozen cities. Cars were set on fire. Rioters in several cities crashed through the downtown area, breaking windows and looting stores. It was difficult to watch this without thinking of the chorus from We’re Your Children’s 2021 “smash” hit, “Welcome to Portland,” “It ain’t pretty, burning a city; it ain’t no fun, but it gotta be done…”