(((BWAA!
the republicans Bought & sold books to themselves, pathetic)))
5-14-2021
The GOP’s big bulk book-buying machine is boosting Republicans on the bestseller lists.
Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), right, and Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) at a news conference on Capitol Hill. Both senators have become accomplished authors —
with the help of bulk book purchases.
(Susan Walsh/AP)
Rep. Dan Crenshaw’s memoir and social critique, “Fortitude: American Resilience in the Era of Outrage,” soared to the top of the bestseller lists when it was published last year.
The book helped raise the former Navy SEAL’s profile and burnished his credentials as a rising star among freshman congressmen.
As it happens, Crenshaw and his publisher, Hachette Book Group, got a little help from the Texas Republican’s friends.
The National Republican Congressional Committee, which works to elect GOP candidates to Congress, spent nearly $400,000 on bulk purchases of the book.
The organization acquired 25,500 copies through two online booksellers, enough to fuel “Fortitude’s” ascent up the bestseller lists.
The NRCC wasn’t the only outfit providing a big-bucks boost to conservative authors.
Four party-affiliated organizations, including the Republican National Committee, collectively spent more than $1 million during the past election cycle mass-purchasing books written by GOP candidates, elected officials according to Federal Election Commission expenditure reports.
The purchases helped turn several volumes into bestsellers.
In addition to Crenshaw’s book, Republican organizations have made large bulk purchases of books by
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.),
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.),
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.)
and Donald Trump Jr.
The Senate Conservatives Fund, a political action committe committed nearly $90,000 to bulk purchases of Cotton’s book, “Sacred Duty: A Soldier’s Tour of Arlington National Cemetery,” which became a bestseller.
In February, the organization paid nearly $65,000 to Regnery Publishing, Cruz’s publisher, for advance copies of Hawley’s forthcoming book.
Another Republican book-buying binge, led by the Republican National Committee, accompanied the release of Trump Jr.’s book, “Triggered,” in 2019.
It was followed in October by the RNC’s expenditure of more than $300,000 on a second Trump Jr. book, entitled “Liberal Privilege.''
The first Trump Jr. book topped the New York Times bestseller list; the second rose and then quickly fell
on Amazon’s chart.
This appears to be a largely Republican phenomenon. While at least seven Democratic senators published books during the past election cycle, neither the Democratic National Committee nor the party’s two congressional arms reported buying any of them in bulk quantities.
Given the potential to drive unrestricted amounts of income to elected officials, bulk purchasing has disturbed some government watchdogs.
The NRCC spent $240,800 to buy Crenshaw’s book from Politics and Prose, the Washington, D.C., book store, instead of Crenshaw’s publisher, Hachette.
Independent retailers such as Porchlight Book Co. of Milwaukee also got big bulk orders from Republican organizations.
Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign made more than $106,000 in book purchases from Books and Greetings, a small store between a sushi restaurant and an Applebee’s in a strip mall in Northvale, N.J. (The campaign didn’t disclose which books it bought).
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