Donald Trump, the US$20 million coffee table author
Trump, unlike most ex-presidents, hasn’t yet signed a multimillion-dollar deal for a post-presidential memoir. But he has signed his name on a coffee-table book documenting his presidency that’s bringing in millions, CNN reports.
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The coffee table book, titled Our Journey Together, has drawn in US$20 million in gross revenue since Winning Team Publishing released it in November, CNN reported.
Winning Team Publishing was founded by Trump ally Sergio Gor, also a business associate of Donald Trump Jr., for the purposes of publishing Our Journey Together, and now has additional conservative writers’ projects in the works.The book, CNN said, includes about 300 pages of official White House photographs and other snapshots from the Trump presidency. They all come with captions written – some with Sharpies – by Trump. His annotations are colourful commentary reminiscent of his Twitter missives, peppered with insults and slights about his political foes. Twitter permanently suspended Trump’s account in the wake of the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol.
“Attempting to listen to crazy Nancy Pelosi in the Oval Office – such natural disagreement,” Trump wrote alongside a photo from a contentious December 2018 Oval Office meeting with former vice-president Mike Pence and Democratic congressional leaders over the federal government shutdown taking place at the time.
“She was screaming and shaking like a leaf, she’s fucking crazy, hence the name ‘Crazy Nancy’,” Trump said in another handwritten caption, according to CNN.
The book is now flying off the shelves, with Gor struggling to keep up with the demand and recently putting in a request for 300,000 more copies to be printed. The few copies available online are being sold at a massive upcharge by third-party resellers.
“We still can’t keep up with the customers,” Gor told CNN.
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Still no official memoir in sight
Since leaving office, Trump has been the subject of many books by top journalists and tell-all memoirs written by some of his former aides, like former press secretary Stephanie Grisham. The former president has also offered up copious amounts of his time to authors, voluntarily sitting for interviews for at least 17 book projects at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, according to political news site Axios.
But there have been no offers disclosed from any of the major publishing houses for his memoirs, Politico reported in June. Publishing industry insiders told the outlet that the lack of interest from big publishing houses is due to Trump being “radioactive” following the Capitol riot. There are also concerns that his book will be “a fact-checking nightmare”, they told Politico.Could Ivanka Trump or Kimberly Guilfoyle become first lady in 2025?
One industry source went further and said that Trump “has screwed over so many publishers that before he ran for president none of the big five would work with [him] any more” – and that’s before the baggage from January 6.
“If my book will be the biggest of them all, and with 39 books written or being written about me, does anybody really believe that they are above making a lot of money? Some of the biggest sleezebags [sic] on earth run these companies,” Trump said in his own statement to Politico, adding that publishers care about “no morals, no nothing, just the bottom line”.
DJ Trump on the decks at Mar-a-Lago
Trump does have a new gig though, according to a note sent on Wednesday, February 2, to members of the Mar-a-Lago Club, the exclusive golf resort where the former president now spends much of his time.
Trump “play[ed] the role of disc jockey” during dinners on Friday and Saturday evenings, February 4 and 5, at the resort in Palm Beach, Florida, said the note per The New York Times.
“The music will be amazing, it will be lots of fun, and will go until the late evening,” the note continued.
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It was unclear when exactly the former president would assume the role of part-time DJ and whether he would actually spin the decks or just select the music.
Congressman Eric Swalwell of California joined the chorus of Twitter users who followed up Haberman’s post with mocking suggestions of what Trump might choose to play.
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