Donald Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., released his first book on Tuesday. Titled Triggered: How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us , the book immediately shot to the top of the Amazon.com “Political Commentary and Opinion” bestseller list, as well two other politics-related Amazon lists. But by Tuesday afternoon, questions had already emerged about whether the Republican Party itself was engaged in a behind-the-scenes effort to inflate the book’s sales, according to an Associated Press reporter, posting via Twitter .
AP White House correspondent Zeke Miller posted an email sent out Tuesday by the Republican National Committee, in which the RNC offers “hand-signed” copies of Trump Jr.’s book to Trump supporters who donate “$50 or more” to the RNC.
“This is a tactic that helps boost reported sales,” Miller wrote on his Twitter account.
Investigative reporter Judd Legum also stated via his own Twitter account that Trump was “using campaign funds to bulk purchase his son’s book.” Legum appeared to be referring to the large number of books likely acquired by the RNC to operate the donor giveaway pushed by the Tuesday fundraising email.
Though the RNC offered copies of the book supposedly autographed by Trump Jr. himself for a minimum donation of $50, the listed cover price of a hardcover copy of Triggered is $15.99.
From: Donald Trump Jr. Subject: TRIGGERED Preheader: The Left doesn’t want you to read this book. pic.twitter.com/fdCnotlr76
— Trump Fundraising Emails (@TrumpEmail) November 5, 2019
Trump Jr. has made frequent appearances at his father’s rallies, as well as numerous solo campaign stops. He was also at the center of the investigation into the Trump campaign’s alleged connections to Russia in the 2016 presidential campaign, due to his meeting with a group of Kremlin-linked Russians on June 9, 2016. That meeting was designed for Trump Jr. to receive “incriminating” information on Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton from the Russians.
But special counsel Robert Mueller did not find that Trump Jr. had committed a criminal offense by taking the meeting, even though soliciting campaign help from a foreign source is illegal. Mueller wrote that he was not sure Trump Jr. “knew generally that his conduct was unlawful.”
In Triggered , however, Trump “barely mentions” the 2016 meeting, according to a summary of the book by The Guardian . The Trump scion only briefly characterizes the incident as “the infamous Trump Tower meeting … which supposedly exposed me as a Russian spy.”
Trump Jr. also refers to Mueller in the book as a “feeble old fool,” and calls Mueller’s investigation “crooked.” In fact, according to the Guardian summary, most of the book is taken up by “a litany of trolling and insults” directed at “liberals,” as well as his father’s personal and political enemies.