White House adviser's nonfiction books quote a made-up character

The publisher and co-authors of books by White House adviser Peter Navarro don’t find a recurring inside joke of Navarro’s particularly funny.

Navarro, it appears, invented a person—Ron Vara, an anagram of his last name—and quoted him in six nonfiction books, according to journalist Tom Bartlett.

While Navarro said in an email that Vara was a “fun device” and never “used improperly as a fact source,” at least one co-author says he wasn’t in on the joke and didn’t find it amusing.

And going forward, Navarro’s publishers will include a note in future editions stating: “Ron Vara is not an actual person, but rather an alias created by Peter Navarro.”

You can read more about Navarro's "alter ego" in NPR.