"The first wave of books in the post-Trump era is coming." National Public Radio (NPR) pointed out that.
Recently, a large number of non-fiction books with the theme of former US President Trump’s ruling life have been published one after another, and many authors have tried to restore some truth from the chaos of that year.
Originally, Trump also launched a wave of "charm offensive" against these authors, and accepted at least 12 interviews to help the authors restore the details of the events of the year.
However, with the disclosure of excerpts from various manuscripts, Trump’s attitude "turned sharply", calling previous interviews a waste of time and accusing these authors of being "bad guys".
Trump and the author who wrote the details of Trump’s administration launched another confrontation.
A wave of books in the post-Trump era
Even after Trump left office, the controversy that accompanied him never stopped. From the second impeachment to the legal proceedings, Trump, who was far away from the social platform, never stayed away from the people’s sight.
Nowadays, a new round of controversy surrounding Trump has reappeared. Unlike before, although Trump is still the protagonist of the controversy, he has also become a bystander to some extent.
Recently, many books on the details of Trump’s administration have been published one after another. Most of the authors are journalists or full-time writers of major American media. Trump himself is not directly involved in writing, but only provides relevant details through interviews.
Recently, books have been published one after another, including Nightmare of Authoritarianism: Persistent Threats from Trump Followers, Nightmare Scenes: How the Trump Administration Responds to the Epidemic that Changed History, Frankly speaking, we did win this election: the inside story of how Trump failed, I can handle it alone: Donald J Trump’s disastrous last year, and overwhelming victory: the last days of Trump’s presidency.
In addition to the above books, many are still being written.
Books with the theme of Trump are about to be published one after another, which has triggered a "war of manuscript excerpts". /The New York Times Report Screenshot
The New York Times pointed out that books on similar topics are coming out one after another, which is like a "nightmare" for the author. David Kuhn, a literary agent of Aevitas Creative Management, said that books about Trump are so overwhelming that they may eventually eat into each other.
According to the report, the authors are now caught in a battle of excerpts and excerpts, which is a common propaganda strategy to make their books get more attention by revealing wonderful content.
Numerous books reveal five details of Trump’s administration.
Judging from the excerpts of published books and published manuscripts at present, all the authors try to cut in from different angles and restore Trump’s ruling details.
Detail 1: The Trump administration regards the new crown epidemic as a "public relations issue."
The book Nightmare Scenes: How the Trump Administration Responds to the Epidemic that Changed History focuses on the response of the US federal government to the COVID-19 epidemic, pointing out that the White House and government agencies’ response measures are very chaotic.
The author points out that Trump is not more concerned about protecting the American people, but reducing the official infection data. The federal government has always regarded the new epidemic as a "public relations problem" rather than a "public health problem".
They also quoted Robert redfield, then director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and pointed out that redfield prayed when Trump was infected with COVID-19, hoping that the Trump administration would change its response to the COVID-19 epidemic through this direct contest with Covid-19, but his hope did not come true.
"I can do it alone: Donald J. Trump’s disastrous last year" directly describes the internal dysfunction of the Trump administration. According to several sources, Trump refused to take COVID-19’s threat seriously.
Detail 2: Trump complains about the lack of support from African-American groups
In May, 2020, African-American man George Floyd died after being kneeled by white policeman Chauvin for 9 minutes and 29 seconds on the street in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This incident triggered a large-scale protest against racial discrimination in the United States.
As the protests became more and more widespread, Trump became more and more angry, calling the demonstrators "thugs" and saying that "when the robbery started, the shooting began." "I can do it alone: Donald J. Trump’s disastrous last year" points out that Trump is eager to deploy troops on the streets to suppress protests, just to consolidate his strong image before the election.
The first wave of books in the post-Trump era came. /NPR report screenshot
Frankly speaking, we did win this election: the inside story of how Trump failed, Trump complained that he did not get the support of African-American groups and wanted to hold a rally on June 19, 2020 (the day when slavery in the United States ended).
The book broke the news. Trump also specifically asked an African-American united states secret service agent if he understood the significance of June 19. The agent replied, "I know that it is offensive for me to hold a rally on that day." Although Trump postponed the rally, the author wrote that Trump did not seem to understand the importance of this day.
The author also interviewed Trump about this controversy, and Trump responded, "I did a good thing, and I made June Festival (Juneteenth) very famous."
Detail 3: Trump is reluctant to express his position on the riots on Capitol Hill.
The book "Overwhelming Victory: The Last Days of Trump’s Presidency" focuses on the turmoil that occurred in the last months of Trump’s presidency, which recounts the riots that occurred on Capitol Hill on January 6, local time from the perspective of White House staff.
The book tells that Trump didn’t realize how serious what happened at first. At 2: 24 pm that day, he also tweeted that Vice President Burns didn’t have the courage to do the right thing. He believes that the protesters want Burns to do the right thing. The author writes that Trump thinks these are "good protesters" and belong to him.
The staff around Trump didn’t think so. Many people, including Mark meadows, the then White House chief of staff, began to urge Trump to take a stand on the current situation and warn the protesters. It was not until 2: 38 pm that the staff managed to send a tweet from Trump’s account to support the Congressional police and law enforcement.
Detail 4: The contradiction between Trump and his allies around him
In addition to the specific ruling content, many books also describe the relationship between Trump and people around him.
The book "The Nightmare of Authoritarianism: The Persistent Threat from Trump Followers" mentions that Trump has a group of loyal followers around him, and taking former US Attorney General Barr as an example, it analyzes the change from him following Trump’s instructions to refusing to endorse Trump’s election fraud remarks.
Frankly speaking, we did win this election: the inside story of how Trump failed also revealed the contradiction between Trump and Burns.
In 2018, lewandowski, Trump’s adviser, was hired by Burns’ political committee, and Trump thought it was a betrayal. He crumpled up a newspaper that published the matter and threw it at Burns. Burns threw the newspaper back again, explaining that it was the suggestion of Trump’s son-in-law kushner.
Detail 5: Trump praised Hitler’s remarks
Frankly speaking, we did win this election: the inside story of how Trump failed, and Trump once praised Hitler, the German Nazi leader during World War II.
According to the book, Trump once said to the White House Chief of Staff that "Hitler did a lot of good things." /"Guardian" report screenshot
According to the book, in 2018, Trump and then White House Chief of Staff John Kelly went to Paris to commemorate the formal armistice of the First World War. In a discussion at that time, Trump said, "Hitler still did a lot of good things." He further defended Hitler’s economic policy.
Trump denounced the author of the book as a "bad guy"
At first, Trump welcomed the publication of these books.
According to the "Business Insider" website, although Trump claimed that he was "writing crazily" and had just rejected two publishing invitations, in fact, because of the riots on Capitol Hill, the publishing industry was as far away from Trump as possible because they might have to spend a lot of energy to verify the authenticity of Trump’s remarks.
The New York Times pointed out that Trump realized that books about him were overwhelming, and he didn’t sign any books, so he tried "charm offensive" and invited many authors to his Haihu Manor in Florida. Trump is keenly aware of his position in the news media ecosystem and only refused several interviews.
One of the authors expressed surprise at Trump’s enthusiasm. "We are really surprised that he spent so long talking with us. According to his interest in the theme and content of the book, he really wants to be a part of the historical narrative of his presidency."
However, with the publication of the book and the disclosure of the manuscript excerpts, Trump was disappointed.
After agreeing to a large number of book interviews, Trump claimed that these interviews were a complete waste of time. /Washington post Report Screenshot
On July 9, local time, Trump issued a statement saying that meeting with these authors was a complete waste of time, accusing the authors of creating "pure novels". "These authors are usually bad people. They only write things that meet their intentions, even if these things have nothing to do with the facts."
Trump also specifically pointed the finger at Michael Bender, the reporter of The Wall Street Journal, the author of Frankly speaking, we did win this election: the inside story of how Trump failed, calling the anecdote with Burns "completely wrong" and attacking Bender as a third-rate reporter.
In addition, the remarks about Hitler have also been refuted. According to the Guardian, a Trump spokesman pointed out that this is completely wrong. Trump never said this. "This is a fabricated fake news."
Bender retorted on Twitter that his content was supported by multiple sources, re-emphasizing the authenticity of its content.
With more and more books published on the theme of Trump’s administration, it is expected that the "saliva lawsuit" between Trump and the author will continue.
Beijing News reporter Ruoruoxi Luan
Editor Bai Shuang proofreads Li Shihui.