Donald Trump, Jr bought his way to the top of the bestseller's list. This symbol means purchases wer

[demmiblue]

Donald Trump, Jr bought his way to the top of the bestseller’s list. This symbol means purchases were made by “Institutional, special interest, group or in bulk”.

Link to tweet

[muntrv]

1. That's what they do with all right wing books.

[lagomorph777]

19. What will he do with warehouses full of his shitty book?

Last edited Thu Nov 14, 2019, 12:31 PM - Edit history (1)

Burn 'em? I know right-wingers love a good book-burnin'.

[FormerDittoHead]

34. Check out the book section of the dollar stores aka "The Bill O'Reilly Library"

We have an "odd lot" store near us called "Ollie's" - they STILL have all the "Paula Deen" cookbooks...

[Mike 03]

2. This has happened with other right wing authors.

I can't remember exactly, but it was someone like Ann Coulter, Jerome Corsi or Dinesh D'Souza. The books were being bought and sold in bulk by right wing operators. I think in one case Newsmax bought hundreds of cases of one of these types of books and literally gave them out to people who visited their website. Sorry for the lack of details, but this was probably ten or more years ago.

[JHB]

7. All of them, actually, at one time or another, or repeatedly

It's been a standard practice for a couple of decades now, part of the Wingnut Welfare system to subsidize RW propagandists and as much as possible make conservative views the "background radiation" which defines public discourse.

[Scarsdale]

33. Sarah Palin "wrote"

several books. All best sellers!! Yeah, right. Remember the book signing where hardly anyone showed up? THAT also was a best seller. She tried a political book, a cookbook, a religious book, exercise book. Now she sells tea that causes diarrhea. I think some of her books did that, too. Her famous (!!) moose chilli did not go over well, once she was caught opening cans of something to make it.

[SMC22307]

53. Yep, it's all laid out in 'What's the Matter with Kansas?' published about 15 years ago.

Right-wing think tanks, etc. buy up these crap books and distribute.

[TexasTowelie]

55. It has also happened with authors who are on the left. nt

[Me.]

57. You Are Quite Right

we need to be careful here

[Ohiogal]

3. Do they ever do anything honestly?

[Caliman73]

47. No. They don't. They can't. Truth and facts are not sustainable for the right wing.

Life changes as we experience new things, gain new perspectives and insights. Those things challenge our old ways of thinking and acting. Liberals for the most part respond by adapting to the changes. Conservatives are anchored in their beliefs and are unable for the most part, to accept and change otherwise, who are they?

Right wing ideology is based on the belief in hierarchy stuctured by race, gender, religion, and wealth. There is a belief that White men who are wealthy Protestant Christians are at the top of that hierarchy and deserve to be there, and deserve to set the agenda for the rest of us. The structure of a pyramid naturally excludes the vast majority of people when it comes to the distribution of power and resources. Those at the top can usually manipulate those in the middle by using identity and emotional connection to make them believe they share in the power. They can oppress those at the bottom with the help of those in the middle, but the structure is precarious and always has to fight and find ways to remain salient. Lies about who they are, what they want, and about perceived enemies are what keeps the system going.

So, NO, they cannot do anything honestly because they do not have the numbers nor the ideas that the vast majority of people would care to follow. They have to lie and cheat. They have to hide their true motives.

[badhair77]

4. Bill O'Reiley did that with just about every book, possible every book.

Then he’d give them to the military and pretend he was making a huge donation. Seriously, what soldier abroad is desperately waiting for a BOR book.

[badhair77]

5. It's shameful Jr pushes his way ahead in line, in front of authors who

worked hard on their writing and have something worthwhile to say. Typical Trump move. Shove your way to the front. The same way he pushed past the Prime Minister of Montenegro at the NATO meeting.

[Maraya1969]

6. +1000

[lunatica]

30. And if you notice

When Don Jr is making a mad dash to his vehicle while surrounded with his Secret Service protectors he leaves his strange girlfriend to fend for herself somewhere in the rear end, trying desperately to run in her super tight dresses. It’s funny once you spot it.

Otherwise he sits pouting while she screams in his defense at the crowd of THEIR OWN SUPPORTERS! It’s hysterical!

[BuffaloJackalope]

8. Note HRC's NYT Bestselling Book does not carry that symbol.

[Phoenix61]

16. Good catch. That's because we don't have to cheat.

[Maraya1969]

9. Amazon has a list of "Most Read" Not sure how they calculate but guess which one is #1?

Trump Jr's book is not even on the list. Rachel Maddow's is.

EDIT: Michelle's book has over 16,000 reviews. Trump Jr - 211

That's how they tell!


https://www.amazon.com/charts/2019-11-10/mostread/nonfiction?ref=chrt_bk_dx_intra_nf_rd

[mr_lebowski]

29. They can also count Kindle reading very easily and thoroughly ...

They know what page in the book you read to, how long you took on each page, how much you read per day, etc ...

[lark]

10. They absolutely do nothing without cheating. It's in their dna.

Fakes, frauds, cheats, liars, skanks, idiots, ignorant, vain, vapid, ignorant - the list of bad traits just goes on and on.

[demmiblue]

11. He is using those bulk bought books to fundraise for daddy:

[WePurrsevere]

13. Pfft! Just Cons selling more BS to their ignorant Cult45 marks. nt

[WePurrsevere]

12. Pathetic! More cheating by tRepubliCons. nt

[llmart]

14. If that's the case and the NYT uses that symbol to indicate it...

they need to revise what can be on their best sellers list. Otherwise, what's to keep an author from maybe having a wealthy relative buy up all the first editions, getting it at the top of the best seller list, thus making more people want to read it?

[Phentex]

15. I have often thought this about certain celebrity books...

like when it comes to reality tv stars and everybody writes a book. I find it hard to believe they become NYT Best Sellers without some help.

[llmart]

42. Plus, most of the times they don't even actually "write" the books.

The editors probably do most of the writing.

[demmiblue]

17. Art of the Steal: How Trump boosted his book sales and gamed the New York Times best-seller list.

Donald Trump’s proudest accomplishment—next to his high-rises, his golf courses, and his daughter Ivanka—is his book, Trump: The Art of the Deal. Published 30 years ago this fall, the book has long served as his calling card—evidence that he’s the greatest negotiator ever to live, and proof positive that he’s fit to be president. When critics tried to laugh him off during his campaign, Trump fired back with his bone fides. “I went to the Wharton School of Finance, I was a great student,” he boasted. “I go out, I make a tremendous fortune. I write a book called The Art of the Deal, the number-one-selling business book of all time.” What else do voters need to know? After all, it’s the rare businessman who can land a spot on the New York Times best-seller list.

Contrary to Trump’s claims, however, other business books have sold far more copies than The Art of the Deal. Total sales figures for Trump’s memoir are estimated at between one million and four million copies—compared to at least seven million for Rich Dad, Poor Dad; 25 million for The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People; and 30 million for How to Win Friends and Influence People. And while it’s true that The Art of the Deal spent 48 weeks on the Times best-seller list—even reaching the number-one spot, where it remained for 13 weeks—that achievement was due not just to Trump’s image as a celebrity, but also to his vanity and penchant for gaming the system.

The story of how Trump all but assured his book reached the best-seller list was first revealed by Jack O’Donnell, a former Trump executive who detailed his boss’s self-dealing in his 1991 tell-all, Trumped! According to O’Donnell, who oversaw marketing and served as president and chief operating officer of the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino from 1987 to 1990, the Trump Organization helped boost The Art of the Deal by purchasing tens of thousands of copies on its own. In his book, O’Donnell recounts buying 1,000 copies of The Art of the Deal to sell in the Plaza’s gift shop—only to be told by fellow executive Steve Hyde that it wasn’t nearly enough. “You’ve got to increase your order,” Hyde told him. “Donald will go nuts if you don’t order more books.” How many more? Four thousand copies, O’Donnell was told.

“We were pressured to buy a lot of books,” O’Donnell tells the New Republic. So many, in fact, that he had to find creative ways to get rid of them all. “What we would do is use them as a turn-down service in a hotel,” O’Donnell laughs. “You know how in a nice hotel they turn your bedcover down and put a mint there? We were putting books on the bed.”

https://newrepublic.com/article/144541/art-steal-trump-boosted-book-sales-gamed-new-york-times-best-seller-list

Like father, like son.

[Firestorm49]

18. Maybe the bulk purchases were made with the intent of burning them.

[lagomorph777]

20. My thought too. Winter's coming; nice to have a big bonfire.

And as a bonus, it makes global warming worse.

[bitterross]

21. I'm curious about Brian Kilmeade's book. That should be interesting.

Anything by a FOX talking head that is about the US vs. Mexico should be a laughable affair to read. I wonder if he's been hawking that on TV? It doesn't have the little "I paid for my position on this list" symbol by it.

[SoCalNative]

22. I look forward to finding this book by the shelf full

in my local 99 cent store in a few weeks time.

[jmbar2]

23. It's a convenient way to money launder

Foreign operatives can put money in his pocket just by buying a bunch of books. So easy even a caveman....

[Rorey]

32. Exactly NT

[struggle4progress]

24. "Daddy's campaign got me on the best seller list! Thanks, Daddy!"

[Nitram]

25. Conservatives live in a world where they have to cheat to look like they are winning.

Pathetic.

[cannabis_flower]

26. If I really wanted to read it (and I don't)

I bet I could get it at the resale shop for $1 in a month or two!

[amuse bouche]

27. This is a surprise to no one

Besides, everyone knows MAGAts can't read

[DallasNE]

28. I Read A Report - Not The Onion

That claimed a Russian company bought 70,000 copies. That would be in bulk - lol.

[demmiblue]

45. I saw that earlier... it was from a satire site.

Hard to tell the difference these days.

[Brother Buzz]

31. The orange anus still has a warehouse filled to the rafters of his books he bought

[mr_lebowski]

35. DJTJr is probably telling people that ask that this symbol means it's a Christian Book (nt)

[AtheistCrusader]

36. Those books will be distributed at churches and such. This is a serious Campaign Finance issue.

[Pepsidog]

40. Dollar section and Barnes and Noble within a week or two.

[TexasTowelie]

51. Didn't one of the Democratic candidates for president do something similar?

While I support Democrats, expect the opposition to point out the hypocrisy if we pursue this line of attack.

[sheshe2]

52. Yes.

[AtheistCrusader]

56. Not that I am familair with, but I don't know everything.

Lots of presidential campaigns are, in my opinion, all expense paid book tours.

I tend to notice the other side though. Gingrich. Trump (accidentally won). Their campaigns seemed little more than for-profit schemes at the beginning.

[NurseJackie]

58. I believe so, yes.

expect the opposition to point out the hypocrisy if we pursue this line of attack.

You know it!

[JohnnyRingo]

37. They'll be selling them at campaign rallies.

He'll rubber stamp his "autograph" inside and people will pay extra. He may even set up a table to sign them himself if sales lag.

I admit this is fair and even smart, but who's going to read it?

[Scarsdale]

38. One thing we can be certain of

is that no cash was spent on this book from any tRump family member. They feel that the US Treasury is their own personal piggy bank. Jr. and his latest "side piece" are travelling the country at our expense, pulling in $50,000 a shot for speeches. This crew will fight to the last breathe to keep daddy in the WH, to enrich themselves.

[Pepsidog]

39. Acid For Children by Flea looks good. Jr, and his haggard, pornstar, plastic-injected, who Daddy

wanted to tap, is good for absolutely nothing. Just wait until Kimberly starts melting, he will drop her faster than his book sales without bulk buys.

[NightWatcher]

41. How many did we pay for? You KNOW somehow they screwed taxpayers into paying

[NurseJackie]

43. I'd read that's how "Dianetics" made it to the NYT Bestseller's list.

They'd buy in bulk and give it away and hope for suckers to make their purchase decisions based on the bestseller list.

[chowder66]

48. Yep.

I worked at a Hollywood Blvd. bookstore and we were a prime target for them.
They had men in suits come in and buy every copy and/or have us order a ton of them. Then they would return them.
The store finally stopped them but this was how they got their books on the list, they also had their members buy a ton of books. That was I think their second gambit.

[Blue Owl]

50. Jr.'s got the MoRon L. Hubbard playbook

[rurallib]

44. Get a free copy with your stay at a Trump(tm) Hotel!

[aggiesal]

46. This book should have been #1 in the Fiction section n/t

[chowder66]

49. 8 notable attempts to hack the NYT bestseller list....

One example from the article;
Donald Trump loves to brag about how he’s a great businessman, and how he’s a great bestselling writer, and how he’s a great bestselling writer of a great book about being a great businessman. The Art of the Deal is second only to the Bible, right? But recently in the New Republic, Alex Shephard reported that when it comes to the popularity of The Art of the Deal, Donald Trump may not be as great as all that. Shocker! Shephard reports that ex-Trump executive Jack O’Donnell’s 1991 tell-all Trumped! explains exactly how The Art of the Deal became such a big bestseller: the Trump organization bought “tens of thousands of copies on its own.” Shephard reports:

In his book, O’Donnell recounts buying 1,000 copies of The Art of the Deal to sell in the Plaza’s gift shop—only to be told by fellow executive Steve Hyde that it wasn’t nearly enough. “You’ve got to increase your order,” Hyde told him. “Donald will go nuts if you don’t order more books.” How many more? Four thousand copies, O’Donnell was told.

. . .

And it wasn’t just the Plaza Hotel that was buying the book in bulk. According to O’Donnell, Trump executives were instructed to buy thousands of copies for their properties. In typical Trump fashion, the boss pitted his top executives against each other: When Trump’s then-wife, Ivana, ordered 4,000 books for the Trump Castle Casino in Atlantic City, O’Donnell was warned that he needed to match her. “Hey, Jack,” a fellow executive cautioned him, “you better buy as many books as Ivana, or Donald will use it against you.”

To be fair, Shephard says, The Art of the Deal would have wound up a bestseller anyway. But only last year, Trump pulled the same thing with his book Crippled America: How to Make America Great Again (which I have never heard of), buying $55,055 worth of copies at Barnes & Noble. Again, not illegal—unless he gets any royalties from the purchases. “It’s fine for a candidate’s book to be purchased by his committee, but it’s impermissible to receive royalties from the publisher,” a representative of nonpartisan nonprofit Campaign Legal Center told The Daily Beast. “That amounts to an illegal conversion of campaign funds to personal use. There’s a well established precedent from the FEC that funds from the campaign account can’t end up in your own pocket.” Of course, that probably didn’t stop him. It’s Donald Trump, after all.

https://lithub.com/8-notable-attempts-to-hack-the-new-york-times-bestseller-list/

[Upthevibe]

54. So that explains it....I didn't know that's what that symbol stood for...

in fact, I don't think I ever even noticed it. Now it makes since....I wouldn't think his followers do much readin'....