As a White House wordsmith during the final gloomy days of the Watergate scandal in 1974, young Khachigian wrote Nixon a memo “futilely pleading that he reject resignation,” he writes in the book.

When he saw a class solely focused on “El Divo de Juárez,” whom his grandmother loved, he recognized the opportunity to learn the language from a master wordsmith.

Such a wordsmith who doesn’t need pollsters and focus groups to tell him what to say is priceless.

An astute wordsmith who writes novels in between TV shows, the Austin, Texas-based creator and showrunner excels in telling faux true-crime stories from the heartland populated with dead bodies, homespun wit and morally conflicted characters.

“Every morning reading him was like going to journalism school. He was one of the best and smartest wordsmiths in this city’s history.”