September 6, 2016
The Making of Donald Trump rounds home plate with a fourth week on the New York Times Best Sellers List
by Melville House
It’s officially official: David Cay Johnston’s The Making of Donald Trump—the readable, authoritative account of Trump’s rise—is now on the New York Times Best Sellers List for its fourth straight week. That’s right, four weeks. This is big.
We know, we know: you’re excited. We’re excited, too. Here are some ways you can celebrate:
- Uncork that bottle of Trump Vodka you’ve been saving. Pour over ice or chilled cubes of gold-plated concrete. Savor wealthily.
- Buy yourself a new plane. Kind of a splurge, but hey, you deserve it. Write your name on it in huge letters. If your name doesn’t fit, you need to buy a bigger plane.
- Pick a country you don’t like. Don’t worry if you don’t have a good reason not to like it — you can make one up later. Build a wall around that country. Have the country pay for it. Hey, that was easy!
- Get in a fight with a baby.
- Start a crusade in defense of asbestos. Think how smart you’ll sound as you shout it from the rooftops: wake up, sheeple! Asbestos is an “incredible fire-proofing material!” Bathe yourself in “choking clouds of asbestos.” Well, ok, not yourself — but other people. Maybe hire some undocumented immigrants to do back-breaking labor in your happy little asbestos clouds. (For extra fun: refuse to pay them!) Now that’s a party!
Finally, when you’re all but partied out, why not watch this clip of David Cay Johnston on New York’s NY1 TV, discussing Trump’s smoldering heap of a business history (and the “open joke” he was as a casino owner) with Errol Louis.
Then read John Maher’s recent profile of the book for Publishers Weekly, in which Johnston tells us his schedule for writing it was “absolute hell,” and Dennis Johnson, Melville House’s fearless leader, explains that Melville made the book by doing “the kind of thing they tell you not to do in publishing school.” Which, thank God.
And don’t stop there. You should also probably check out Johston’s recent appearance at Truth-Out, where a conversation with Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman and Juan González was favorably remembered. One highlight:
AMY GOODMAN: You got a call from Donald Trump over this?
DAVID CAY JOHNSTON: I got a call related to this, yes. I wrote a piece for Politico magazine back in April about all of Donald Trump’s connections. And Donald finally called me. He’s had my home number for years. He’s called me at home in the past. And he said to me, “Well, you know, you’ve written a lot of things I like. But if I don’t like what you’re writing, I’m going to sue you.” I said, “Well, Donald, you’re a public figure.” In America, that means that he would have to prove that I deliberately, knowingly told a lie about him. And he said, “I know I’m a public figure, but I’ll sue you anyway.” And it’s one of the reasons the news coverage of him has been so soft. He has threatened to sue everybody. That Politico piece that I wrote, I’ve been an investigative reporter for almost 50 years; I’ve never been lawyered like I was for that piece. And it didn’t have anything that hadn’t been published before. He has intimidated the news organizations, and they’re not willing to talk about that.
For a little more partying, consider AOL.com’s piece about the book, its selection as a staff pick at South Hadley, MA’s Odyssey Bookshop, and a lot more.
Unlike actual Trump Vodka, you should probably spend a little time drinking this all in. And then get your copy of Johnston’s book here.