The media continues to hammer away at the fact the RNC spent $100,000 on books to boost Donald Trump Jr.’s book onto the bestseller list.
That theory, however, was debunked, by of all media outlets, CNN.
Sorry Left, You Got It Wrong
When ‘Triggered’ was atop the New York Times bestseller list, there was a dagger placed next to the listing.
This is to let people know there were some bulk purchases made on that particular book.
There was immediate pushback by the left and the media, stating the book did not deserve to be on the list because it appeared as though Trump supporters were making bulk purchases to boost the book atop the listings.
The RNC had bought considerable copies of the book as a giveaway at one of its upcoming events.
This is not nefarious in nature and it is actually quite typical to do this when one of the invited speakers has a book coming out.
It is also true that in the overall scheme of things, that one purchase had nothing at all to do with how well this book is doing in terms of sales.
As CNN pointed out, the 3,500 to 7,000 copies the RNC purchased (depending upon the purchase price) were not even close to offsetting the margin Don Jr. held against the number two book on the list.
During the first week, “Triggered” sold 70,730 copies and the number two book, “Finding Chika,” had only sold a little more than 30,000 books.
During the second week, “Triggered” sold 44,337. “Sam Houston and the Alamo Avengers,” the number two book, had only sold 23,654 copies.
Backed by Industry Professionals
Those that are “in the know” in the book industry backed up this math, also noting that the New York Times gives less weight to bulk purchase anyway.
One expert that spoke with CNN stated, “People are making way too much of something that has no basis in fact.”
A second expert agreed, stating, “It would have been impossible for them to not give it number one — even excluding the bulk copies.”
I found it funny both experts would not give their names so they could discuss the matter “candidly.”
This more than likely means they were afraid to give their names for fear of repercussion.
The one person that spoke on this and supported the same position was Eric Nelson, who does not even like Trump.
Nelson is the vice president and editorial director for Broadside Books.
He commented after the New York Times put out a headline questioning if Trump Jr.’s book should hold its position on its own list.
The article was authored by Alexandra Alter and Nicholas Confessore with a headline of “R.N.C. Spent Nearly $100,000 on Copies of Donald Trump Jr.’s Book” and a sub-headline that stated, “’Triggered’ published Nov. 5, topped the best-seller list thanks in part to a big order from the Republican National Committee.”
Nelson stated that even though he is “not a fan of Don Jr.,” the claim made by the Times was “empirically, provably false.”
He further stated that “second-grade math” proved their claim to be outright false.