this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2023
37 points (93.0% liked)

politics

19080 readers
3380 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] MrMonkey@lemm.ee -1 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] dismalnow@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

In the article, clear indicators that this was a money laundering exercise are described.

A spokesperson for his publisher, a company cofounded by Donald Trump Jr. and a former campaign staffer named Sergio Gor, said “Our Journey Together” sold more than 500,000 copies. The representative refused to provide documentation to back up that figure, which Forbes was unable to independently verify.

NPD BookScan, an industry data service, tracked 10,200 sales at retailers through January 2023. NPD BookScan doesn’t track purchases directly from a book’s website, though, which appears to have been a major sales avenue for “Our Journey Together.”

Just 2% (10,200) of the quoted sales (500,000 copies) is able to be validated from booksellers.

In 2022, the former president’s joint fundraising committee and political action committee paid Winning Team Publishing, which released the book, $231,000.

So they paid the publisher 4% ($231,000) to receive payment ($5,750,000)?

“Our Journey Together’s” $5.75 million payout dwarfed the other royalty payments Trump reported receiving over the past 18 months. “The Art of the Deal,” published in 1987, brought in somewhere between $100,000 and $1 million, according to the filing, which lists the income of Trump’s older books in broad ranges. Four other books each earned him $5,000 to $15,000, one made $2,500 to $5,000 and 10 earned less than $200.

So he made $5 million more with a book which is totally comprised of content from the public domain than his previous (and trackable) pride and joy?

Oh, and..

Trump also disclosed that Winning Team Publishing paid his wife, Melania, $250,000 in licensing fees. The spokesperson said that payment was for promoting “Our Journey Together.”

Except she didn't promote the book. Like, at all.