Donald Trump Is Following In The Footsteps Of His Predecessors By Doing This

Becoming President of the United States can be one of the most challenging, yet most fulfilling jobs anyone can aspire to have, which is why it's no surprise that most, if not all the men who have held the office thus far, have taken to writing down their memoirs and autobiographies after they step down. For the most part, these books are helpful because they give readers some insight into decisions made and events which transpired during their times as commanders-in-chief. 

And while many books have been written about the Donald Trump presidency, no book deals were announced with the former president after he left office, simply because none of the big publishing houses had offered him a deal. One publisher told Politico in June that the reluctance was driven by a concern over what would be written. "[I]t would be too hard to get a book that was factually accurate, actually. That would be the problem," the publishing executive said. "If he can't even admit that he lost the election, then how do you publish that?" the publishing executive said. 

But it appears Trump has gotten around those concerns by announcing a book that would be published by a new publisher —  Winning Team Publishing — and which is helmed by Donald Trump Jr. (via Axios) and Trump campaign finance aide Sergio Gor (via Courier-Journal).

Entitled "Our Journey Together," the photographic collection is being touted as his first post-presidency book. Its contents contain more than three hundred official White House images, all selected by Trump himself. In Trump's words, the book "features unforgettable moments from our time in Washington: building the Southern Border Wall; cutting America's taxes; confirming almost 300 federal judges and 3 Supreme Court justices; rebuilding our military; creating Space Force; dealing with Kim Jong-Un, President Xi, President Putin, and many other world leaders" (via ABC).

As Don Jr. revealed to Axios: "My father picked every single photo in this book, wrote all the captions, including some by hand." As a teaser, Axios even features one of the images showing an image of an American flag flying from a crane over a crowd of supporters with an all-caps, handwritten message proclaiming "I LOVE THEM ALL!" Amazon describes the book as having 320 pages and is meant for readers from 12 years old and up. The book's site shows testimonials from just two readers: Don Jr. and Ivanka.

It's not like presidential watchers didn't know a book was coming. Other than the fact that other presidents got to work on their memoirs after their terms ended, Trump had said back in June that he was busy working on his own tome too. He said: "I turned down two book deals, from the most unlikely of publishers, in that I do not want to do such a deal right now. I'm writing like crazy anyway, however, and when the time comes, you'll see the book of all books. Actually, I've been working on a much more important project right now!"

The book isn't cheap, by any standards. It can be yours if you pay $74.99 — or $229.99 if you want a signed copy. For context, a picture book might go for anywhere from $40 to $150 dollars (via ABC). Even then one of its publishers, Sergio Gor, took to social media to warn that the book would be difficult to get. "Congrats to our #1 author! President Donald Trump's new book 'OUR JOURNEY TOGETHER, 'over $1M in sales in just the FIRST 24 HOURS! (Over 9k hardcover copies) ... All without any TV, radio or Amazon sales. Only President Trump could do this!" he said via Twitter.

Social media's reaction betrayed little surprise over the way Trump chose to remember his presidential moments. The Lincoln Project tweeted: "No surprise, it's a picture book."

One Trump critic tweeted: "Don Jr. tells Axios: 'My father picked every single photo in this book, wrote all the captions, including some by hand.' Is this quote real? Seems like someone proud of his 3 year old kids homework?" 

A second raised intellectual property concerns, saying "Wait — the official White House photographer's photos were paid for by taxpayers, weren't they? So not something that Mr. Crayola or the junior less sharpened crayon in the box can grift from? At the least aren't they the property of the photographer?"

This Twitter user also raised a query about the claim that a million dollars worth of books had been sold, pointing out that "At $230 a book that's just over 4,200 books. Not many really. It's all pictures — how apt! Presume he'll be sharing the proceeds with the photographers!"