Donald Trump Jr.’s new book Triggered hit No. 1 on The New York Times’ book list, but it received a note that many of the sales were due to bulk purchases, setting off rumors that sales were inflated. At a recent event, Trump Jr.’s brother Eric added fuel to the rumors after reportedly asking guests at a party to purchase 100 copies of his brother’s book.
The New York Times added a dagger symbol to Trump Jr.’s book on its bestseller list last week, noting that the book’s sales were aided by “institutional, special interest, group or bulk purchases.” Right away, as The Guardian reported, the book came under fire, with some people suggesting that the Republican National Committee and other conservative groups were goosing book sales .
Whether or not that was the case, Eric Trump may have contributed more fuel to the rumor fire when he asked guests at a party to make bulk purchases of the book.
“Who will buy 100 books?” an insider reported Eric Trump asked at the party.
After over a dozen people raised their hands, he confirmed the support.
“You’ll remember who raised their hands, right?” he purportedly asked girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle.
A book representative told Page Six that Eric Trump was joking when he made the comment.
“Eric said it in jest, and there was no follow-up. [Trump Jr.] sold over 70,000 books in his first week, and his brother simply joked about people buying 100 books, which never happened,” the rep said.
But the insider disputes the account.
“It definitely wasn’t a joke,” they said.
Trump Jr. was upset after hearing that he was receiving criticism for his book’s sales. He took to social media to defend his memoir, subtitled How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us , retweeting a message from Andrew Surabian — a Republican strategist — that laid out the numbers for the book’s sales.
“Don did multiple book signings where he sold 1,000+ books apiece. BookScan data will show he sold more books than the #2 and #3 books combined. Media/Dems want to pretend otherwise, but he was #1 on merit.”
NUMBER 1: Donald Trump, Jr.’s ‘Triggered’ is a #1 New York Times bestseller, with a caveat.
Some of the sales were “bulk purchases,” often meaning the author or someone associated with them bought a large number of copies pic.twitter.com/iu78IJxeR0
— Bloomberg Quicktake (@Quicktake) November 14, 2019
Trump Jr. also thanked View host Whoopi Goldberg for talking about the book repeatedly, which he says helped his book reach the top of the nonfiction bestsellers list.
Trump Jr.’s publisher denies having received any third-party book purchases, and the RNC says that while they have purchased copies of the book, it was only to keep up with demand, not to goose sales.
