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'Fact-checking nightmare': Publishers are openly mocking Trump's inability to land a book deal
June 15, 2021
A presidential memoir by Donald Trump would almost certainly become a best seller, but the problem is nobody wants to publish one.
The twice-impeached one-term president is struggling to score a major book deal, which is unheard of in the literary world, because publishers worry that the memoir would be ripped apart by fact-checkers and because the Trump brand is radioactive after the Jan. 6 insurrection, reported Politico.
"It would be too hard to get a book that was factually accurate, actually," said one major figure in the book publishing industry. "That would be the problem. If he can't even admit that he lost the election, then how do you publish that?"
Publishing a Trump memoir would be a logistical nightmare that could drive away talent from any publisher who took on the project, said another insider.
"It doesn't matter what the upside on a Trump book deal is, the headaches the project would bring would far outweigh the potential in the eyes of a major publisher," said Keith Urbahn, president and founding partner of the Javelin literary and creative agency. "Any editor bold enough to acquire the Trump memoir is looking at a fact-checking nightmare, an exodus of other authors, and a staff uprising in the unlikely event they strike a deal with the former president."
Trump claims that he's received two offers "from the most unlikely of publishers" but says he isn't ready to make a deal yet, and he insisted to Politico in a statement that "two of the biggest and most prestigious publishing houses have made very substantial offers which I have rejected."
"That doesn't mean I won't accept them sometime in the future, as I have started writing the book," the former president told the website. "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."
Industry sources, however, are skeptical.
"He's screwed over so many publishers that before he ran for president none of the big 5 would work with [him] anymore," said one industry insider.
Another industry source openly mocked Trump's claims.
"It's likely that a few unlikely people did approach him!" said an industry source in a text message. "But that could be, like, a publisher in Zimbabwe."
That source punctuated their joke with a laughing/crying emoji, while still another mocked the ex-president.
"Somebody could have offered him $100," a third source said. "It doesn't mean anything."
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US House panel: Justice Department documents show Trump pressed to overturn 2020 election
June 15, 2021
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Documents obtained from the U.S. Department of Justice detail efforts by then President Donald Trump, his chief of staff and other allies to pressure the department to challenge the 2020 presidential election results, the U.S. House Oversight and Reform Committee said on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Catherine Evans)
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'Highway robbery': Madison Cawthorn raises suspicions by paying inexperienced buddy $127,111 as top staffer
June 15, 2021
Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) appears to be overpaying an underqualified friend to serve on his congressional staff.
Quarterly disbursement statements show Cawthorn's chief of staff William "Blake" Harp made $31,777.77 in the first quarter of the year, the equivalent of $127,111 annually, despite having no background in government and not much other work experience besides running fireworks stands, reported the Citizen Times.
"One hundred twenty-seven thousand dollars is not exorbitant for a chief," said another Republican legislative staff member. "It's highway robbery for anyone for whom it's their first real job and they bring no discernible skills."
Harp and Cawthorn have known each other since at least 2016, when they were both around 20 years old, and neither has any experience in government until Cawthorn became the youngest member of Congress with his election in November.
"At one level, the Cawthorn chief of staff pay is on the low side for the position," said ethics expert Norman Orstein. "But the vast majority of chiefs have a lot of experience, usually on the Hill, sometimes running campaigns. This one does not fit any usual category, and looks quite suspicious."
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