Salena Zito made a point of sending President Donald Trump a thank-you note every time he posted about her book.
Zito interviewed Trump for the project, “Butler: The Untold Story of the Near Assassination of Donald Trump and the Fight for America’s Heartland,” so it made sense that he took an interest. But she was still taken aback at the repeated boosts he gave the book on his massive platform — at least nine times this year. She wanted to make sure that he knew “that I was very grateful.”
“He one time responded by taking my text, printing it out, underlining the word ‘grateful,’ and sending it to my house,” Zito told NOTUS.
But despite being in touch throughout the book and even after, she said there was “no coordination” about his unexpected book promotions.
“Every time he did it, it was a surprise,” Zito said. “And I would call my publisher, and they’d be surprised.”
Zito is one of a growing list of authors whose books have gotten glowing posts from Trump. Since he took office this year, he’s recommended books on Truth Social more than 50 times. In more than half of those posts, he even provided an Amazon link, and at times he’s written forewords for the books he promotes.
Trump has spent years saying he doesn’t have time to read, but when it comes to books on topics he’s interested in, he seems unable to resist reverting to his roots as a salesperson. His social media shows a steady stream of endorsements for conservative books and authors, and some observers say the current White House has turned itself into an engine for elevating pro-Trump stars and influencers.
“This presidency has also been more attuned to basically using the White House and using the arms of government as a way of boosting the ideas and the personalities of right-wing social media, and so I think this is part of a broader kind of the grifter economy as it’s related to the presidency,” A.J. Bauer, an assistant professor who studies media activism at the University of Alabama, said of Trump’s book endorsements.
“Influencers and the like, and the halls of governance — there used to be a little bit more distance kept between those in earlier administrations,” Bauer continued.
The White House, meanwhile, framed Trump’s endorsements as proof of his singular taste.
“As a repeat best-selling author, President Trump has an unmatched ability to recognize talented works from extraordinary individuals,” Taylor Rogers, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement to NOTUS.
For some of the other authors whose work he’s posted about, the posts have been welcome, if out of the blue.
James Jones, a former medical adviser to Trump and author of “Venom and Valor: A White House Physician Assistant’s Battle for Survival in the Amazon,” didn’t get a post describing it as a “fantastic Book” until the start of December, more than a year after his book was published.
“He thought it was interesting, you know. That’s the most I can make of it,” Jones said, laughing. “Obviously, I’ve been associated with the White House for some period of time, so that’s why. And it’s an interesting story, and it’s true.”
“I don’t think it’s a massive bump, but, you know, I’m sure it didn’t hurt anything. But I haven’t seen anything that’s excessive,” Jones said of his book sales following Trump’s post.
And did he hear from Trump about his book otherwise? “Not directly, other than just what he’s posted,” Jones said.
Still, the president boasted that he boosted Jones’ book sales at the White House Christmas reception, an event that the White House called the press pool back in to so the media would catch Trump’s remarks.
“It sold about two copies, but it had a hell of a cover,” Trump said of Jones’ book. “I put it out: ‘Great book. Bop bop bop,’ picture of this viper, coming like, boom from the White House. And his publisher calls him, said, ‘Doctor, what happened? What’s going on?’ … They sold 100,000 books.”
“I’ve sold a lot of best-sellers, when I like people,” Trump said.
Rep. Barry Loudermilk, author of “And Then They Prayed,” was just as mystified as Jones and Zito that Trump posted about his book in November. He said he found out at the same time that everyone else did that Trump called his book “inspiring” in a post to his millions of followers.
“I did not expect that endorsement, although I had given him the first copy of it that came out pre-publication, and I had been told he’d been reading it,” Loudermilk said. “But yeah, I was surprised when he came out with those kind comments about it.”
Loudermilk said his book had “already reached bestseller status,” but he said that after the post, “we did see a little bit of a bump” in sales.
Trump’s book promotions aren’t unique to his second term. Matt Gertz, a senior fellow at the left-leaning nonprofit Media Matters, wrote in 2017 that Trump often endorsed books after an author appeared on a Fox News show, sometimes within minutes. Gertz found that the pattern has continued into Trump’s second term.
“I think any conservative author is aware of the possibility that if they’re on Fox News, the president could be watching,” Gertz said. “Trump famously does not read, so he has not actually consumed the product. But it’s really more of an endorsement of the author.”
Trump has acknowledged he doesn’t read every book before posting. In a July 4 post promoting former Speaker Newt Gingrich’s book, “Trump’s Triumph: America’s Greatest Comeback,” he urged his followers to “BUY A COPY NOW.”
“Word is that it’s Fantastic, but I haven’t read it yet - I’ve been a little too busy. When I do I’ll let you know what I think, but Newt always does it right!!!” Trump wrote.
Scholars studying conservative media trends, like Reece Peck, an associate professor at the College of Staten Island and the CUNY Graduate Center, said Trump’s book endorsements demonstrate his outsized, and unprecedented, influence on modern right-wing culture.
“It’s all very much, like, scarily sycophantic. It just seems like, ‘our president’s the greatest,’ and ‘the president that came back,’ or ‘the president that survived.’ It all is very Donald Trump-worshiping. And I guess it’s a sign of the times,” Peck said after looking through a list of Trump’s Truth Social book endorsements. “I couldn’t imagine them doing books like this on George Bush.”
Government ethics watchdogs, who are some of Trump’s most frequent critics, say his book endorsements are part of a larger pattern of him commercializing the presidential office.
“There are all sorts of problems with it in terms of recommending somebody read a book if you know you’re going to benefit — if not financially, you might actually benefit because of the kind of better coverage you will get because of it,” said Stuart Gilman, a former Office of Government Ethics assistant director under George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. “The books are just one small symptom of a much larger problem, and unfortunately, I think that at this point, nobody’s willing to take that on.”
Trump promoted his own book, “Save America,” twice within a month of taking office. He also posted about his son Eric Trump’s book, “Under Siege,” four times in September and October.
Jordan Libowitz, a spokesperson for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said that Trump’s book promotions are legal, in part due to past presidential administrations holding themselves to such high standards that such rules weren’t viewed as necessary: “Reagan went so far as to sell his ranch. Jimmy Carter put his peanut farm in receivership,” Libowitz said.
“He’s allowed to do this. It’s unusual, absolutely, if you look at the books he’s plugging and telling people to read, it’s often by people in a right-wing ecosystem that he views as supporting him,” Libowitz said. “Trump is a salesman, and Trump sells things with Trump’s name on it.”
Trump’s staff maintains that there are no conflicts of interest at play.
“The media’s continued attempts to fabricate conflicts of interest are irresponsible and reinforce the public’s distrust in what they read,” Rogers said in response to questions about those criticisms. “The President is and always has been motivated solely by what is best for the American people.”
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