Quick update: Jim Webb NOT being considered for Secretary of Defense.

A couple of days ago I posted a story from the New York Times that said that former presidential candidate Jim Webb was under consideration for the next Secretary of Defense. I said back then that a potential problem for the idea was the fact that the New York Times was using anonymous sources and the whole thing could be fake news. Fast forward a couple of days and POTUS tweets this out...

The story in the New York Times regarding Jim Webb being considered as the next Secretary of Defense is FAKE NEWS. I’m sure he is a fine man, but I don’t know Jim, and never met him. Patrick Shanahan, who is Acting Secretary of Defense, is doing a great job!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2019

It seems pretty clear that the New York Times (and, to be fair, Breitbart who also covered the story with their own anonymous source) were incorrect. Trump has said that Webb is not under consideration and that the whole thing is fake news.

I figured that I should write up an update to the previous story just so people know that my suspicions were correct and that the story is fake news. Modern journalism so often resembles a game of telephone, when they aren't making things up entirely, so it always pays to be skeptical of news stories with anonymous sources. If no one is willing to go on record with it, there is a good chance it's not true or not accurate.

As far as Jim Webb goes, I am somewhat disappointed that he isn't under consideration. I have said he is one of only a few Democrats left that I like (the other main one being Senator Joe Machin) and using him would be a good bipartisan move. He also has similar beliefs to President Trump compared to people like Jim Mattis and Rex Tillerson. Personality might have been an issue since both Trump and Webb are fairly stubborn men but it appears it was not meant to be.