Lots of photos and obscene captions: Trump has released a book about his presidency that his supporters adore

A few months ago, Donald Trump signed a contract to publish his book. CNN.

Photo: Shutterstock

There was no fanfare that most presidents get when they make memoir deals.
The book is presented in tabletop format, with photographs detailing Trump's presidency - retailing for about $75 and $230 if signed by Trump. The deal included a multimillion-dollar advance for Trump.

Our Journey Together has sold $20 million in less than two months since it went on sale in late November, two people familiar with the book's publication said.
The book's popularity among Trump's inner circle has come from captions he wrote himself, most of which contain unbridled fiery glances at his political enemies.

“We did an initial print run of 200,” said Sergio Gore, a longtime Republican who founded Winning Team Publishing last fall to publish the book.
Gore's partner in the company is Donald Trump Jr., Trump's eldest son. It's the only book they've published to date, but Gore says he's signed two more conservative authors, whom he declined to name.

The premise behind Our Journey Together was simple: Trump's fan base yearned for more from an ex-president known for his explosive temper. So give them what they want like Gore said. In less than two days, sales through Amazon, Barnes & Noble and 45books.com, operated by Winning Team Publishing, sold thousands of autographed copies of the book. Unsigned copies also sold quickly.

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“We still cannot satisfy all customer orders,” Gore said. He says they've run out of books and have submitted a request to print 300 more copies at three locations in the United States.
Those print runs are in the works, but people who ordered Our Journey Together likely won't see the books until late February or early March, Gore said. Current Internet searches for available books turn up nothing, except for copies sold by third parties. A signed copy on Amazon, sold as a "collector's copy", costs $1749. The cost of other signed books on the eBay auction site ranges from $950 to $1300.

Swear words and memories

While hardly a traditional memoir, Our Journey Together is, as Gore said, "pure Trump."
The revelations Trump shares in the book are not deep analyzes of his time in the White House, but rather his unedited interpretations of events or people.

Without a Twitter feed (Trump is still blocked on the social network), the former president seems to be using a literary genre.

Each of the 300 or so photos has a caption written by Trump, some even in his eloquent handwriting - thick black marker scribbles, mostly uppercase but with dotted lowercase 'i's and lots of exclamation points.

“Trying to listen to crazy Nancy Pelosi in the Oval Office is so unnatural,” Trump wrote alongside one photo. For another image of the speaker of the House of Representatives, Trump throws out a hand-scribbled line: "She was screaming and shaking like a leaf, she's crazy as hell, hence the name Crazy Nancy."

Next to a photo of the late Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona, one of his notorious opponents, Trump notes, "Asking for a job for his wife and I smile, but I didn't even like him a bit."

Not all of Trump's goals are political. Of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Trump writes, “Mark Zuckerberg could have come to the White House and kissed my ass. His censorship is terrible for America. His "contribution to the campaign" is even worse."

Some of the photos show cabinet members Trump himself appointed, such as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley and former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper. "General Mark Milley looks like he's praying and 'Jesper' (who said yes to everything) doesn't know if he's alive," Trump tweeted.

"I've never seen a presidential book that other people are working on," said John Reznikoff, founder of University Archives, who has bought and sold hundreds of presidential collectibles in his more than four decades of auction work. After learning of the book's popularity among collectors late last fall, Reznikoff said he bought several copies, as he does with all other presidential memoirs and books.

"The closest thing to printing money"

The reason a presidential book can cost hundreds and thousands of dollars is because of the autograph.

Reznikoff said that books, especially signed books, will undoubtedly increase in value exponentially over time. He pointed to former President Barack Obama's 2020 presidential memoir A Promised Land, signed copies of which are selling at auction for around $600.

"It's hard to find a presidential signature on anything that costs less than $100," Reznikoff said.

He said if Trump signed copies quickly, using the bookplate of his signature—a common practice for authors, which Gore confirmed Trump did—then he could sign several hundred books a day.

"It's the closest thing I can come to printing money," Reznikoff said of the profitability of Trump's signature.

Trump fans are active in branded goods, and Trump himself has used his name on everything from steaks and bottled water to ties, perfume, alcohol and mattresses.

“Sometimes a signed book can be worthless if the signature is easy to find,” Reznikoff said, citing the ubiquity of books by former President Jimmy Carter, who has written more than 20 books.

But for Trump, who has never set high standards for what, when, and why he signs with his name, the book is a solid financial boost.

While most presidential memoirs have a chapter or two devoted to meeting a world leader, Trump recounts the experience in a few sentences.

“Boris is one of a kind!” Trump wrote in the caption of a photo with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, letting large color photographs tell the story.

The importance of the moment - the image of two men greeting each other at a global summit and its impact on modern history - is irrelevant.

The photographs in the book are images taken during his presidency, selected from several hundred thousand, Gore said. About 90% of the images were taken by official White House photographers and are archived and considered public domain because they were taken on behalf of the government to document Trump's tenure. Trump's chief official White House photographer, Sheila Craighead, took most of the images for the book.

A person with knowledge of Craighead's interest in pursuing a deal to create his own book of Trump images — similar to the one published by Obama's former chief official photographer Pete Souza — said Craighead's idea did not find support from traditional publishers.

“The appetite for Trump-related books is pretty low these days,” said the person who has worked with several politically connected authors. “The market was saturated.” However, the person noted that it's not surprising that Trump fans are drawn to a book that essentially features Trump in glossy, large photographs.

This view is shared by Gore, whose motive was to start a conservative publishing house solely to sign Trump and capitalize on his base, and then add other Trump-friendly authors in time.

“Trump wants to write another book after the success of this one,” Gore said, adding that Trump spent several evenings in Mar-a-Lago looking through 8000 to 9000 photographs that Gore and his aides selected for him.

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The only thing preventing Trump from putting his signature on tens of thousands of copies of Our Journey Together right now is, ironically, the supply chain problems Republicans have been trying to blame on his successor. Not enough paper.

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