Jake Tapper's book has climbed to the #3 spot on Amazon's best seller list

[Kaleva]

Sales aren’t collapsing.

[creon]

1. I am not surprised

Too many people take people like Tapper seriously,

[bucolic_frolic]

2. Controversies breed headlines and sales

Maybe there's a silver lining. We've having a conversation about how old is too old that can reverberate on the current occupant.

[Kali999]

3. kochs

Buy this crap they produce in mass.

[yardwork]

5. Right. The Heritage Foundation and other orgs buy up all the books.

They spike sales numbers, store the books in warehouses, and then release them to the deep discount resellers.

All of Trumps' spawn and cronies have sold ghost-written books that "topped the charts" for a few weeks. Means nothing.

[Kaleva]

7. Did that happen with the books that were negative about Trump?

[yardwork]

20. I doubt the Heritage Foundation wanted those to be bestsellers.

[Johonny]

8. Yip

No one is reading this book. It is one of those here is your free gift. It's like an Anne Koulter book. Despite all those sales, I've never heard one passage quoted. It's like no one ever read page one of her crap.

[Intractable]

4. It's easy to manipulate book sales.

A person or company with a vested interest in pumping up Take Japper or the message that Biden was impaired can just buy up the available copies, and give them out for free at some Republican function.

[Kaleva]

6. Any evidence that that is happening here?

[Mountainguy]

10. It doesnt appear on the top 20 most read books of

The week.

[obamanut2012]

12. Any evidence it isn't happening here?

[themaguffin]

13. LOL, nope.

[boonecreek]

9. It's not even on

The N.Y. Times best sellers list.

https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/hardcover-nonfiction/

I almost posted the fiction list which is probably where it belongs.

[senseandsensibility]

51. Thank you for this very significant point

Amazon best seller list is one thing, but if this book were really selling it would at least be on the NYT best seller list.

[Self Esteem]

86. It is. It's #1 on the most recent update.

[Self Esteem]

83. It is. The list updates every Wednesday. It's #1 on the list.

[boonecreek]

87. Didn't know their list updated on Wednesday.

Thanks for the info.

[Renew Deal]

11. Why does anyone care about this?

[Celerity]

22. +1. I do not know a single person in real life who gives a rat's red arse about Tapper or his book.

[SocialDemocrat61]

14. Who said sales are collapsing?

[Polybius]

16. I read it here a few days ago

Guess the poster was wrong. Here's the link:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220342877

[sl8]

17. That article doesn't mention sales.

I thought the same thing when I first saw the headline, "Jake Tapper's Biden Book Is Collapsing", but the article doesn't say anything about its sales, only that the book is losing credibility.

[SocialDemocrat61]

18. So you didn't read the article.

It doesn’t say anything about sales. Maybe next read more than the headline so you don’t make a false assumption.

[Polybius]

24. Or maybe PoliticsUSA shouldn't create articles with misleading headlines

That's worse.

[themaguffin]

26. LOL

[fujiyamasan]

27. The problem is politicsUSA's headline is blatantly misleading

The right has their own news aggregators too and the headlines are also the same clickbait (just targeting a different audience).

These sites take other people’s reporting and apply their own spin. Politico has its own problems, but like other publications, it would lose all credibility and access if it were found to be making things up.

I just wish people would realize sites like politicsUSA and rawstory do not really practice any real journalism. And I’d rather not run every news story through an ideological filter which basically reinforces my own biases, but maybe thats just me.

[SocialDemocrat61]

35. The headline said nothing about sales either

Just another incorrect assumption.

[fujiyamasan]

49. I agree with the general premise of the politicsUSA author

That it will take time to get a better perspective of the Biden presidency and short lived reelection campaign, but I still find the word “collapsing” to be clickbait. I don’t think post election books are definitive in any sense. They are a first draft and being so rushed, I wouldn’t be surprised if several of the claims are exaggerated, as may be the case with the case with the ads being “unusable”. It sounds like it was a more nuanced situation as the politico article states.

I’ll wait and hear what the Democratic Party response is (especially Biden’s cabinet members). If the claims in the book are disproven it will destroy Tapper’s reputation, and I’ll be just as happy as anyone here to see it happen.

[SocialDemocrat61]

50. Clickbait or not

It still said nothing about sales. And several, such as Jamie Harrison, have already come forward to say events in the book didn’t happen.

[Kaleva]

39. Here

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=20346517

[SocialDemocrat61]

40. That poster was asking a question

Not making a statement. The clue is the ? at the end.

[Kaleva]

42. The person heard it was and wanted either confirmation

that it was or feedback that it wasn’t and they may have heard wrong or misinterpreted what they had read. Otherwise, why ask such a question?

[SocialDemocrat61]

43. I don't pretend to know someone else's motivation

for asking a question. All I know is that they were asking a question, not making a statement.

[Kaleva]

47. Or it's a rhetorical question

[SocialDemocrat61]

48. Again I don't know what is in someone else's mind.

All I know is that it was a question, not a statement.

[Kaleva]

52. So then , where in my OP did I claim DUers were saying that sales were tanking?

I didn’t but you inferred from my comment that I was.

[SocialDemocrat61]

53. Never said you did

But you did say “sales aren’t collapsing”. I merely asked who said that they were because I had never seen anyone say that either on DU or elsewhere.

[Kaleva]

72. Then why ask me about something I didn't say?

[SocialDemocrat61]

75. You said "sales aren't collapsing"

I was curious if someone had claimed that they were.

[Kaleva]

78. A person in the thread I provided a link to asked about sales tanking

Last edited Wed May 28, 2025, 08:29 AM - Edit history (1)

As you have seen, I provided an answer. The same information that I laterI posted in the OP.

From my statement of fact, you tried to read my mind thinking that I implied that other DUers were saying that sales were collapsing. Otherwise you would have phrased your post to say “ I haven’t seen posts by others saying that sales were collapsing.”.

I could see you asking who they were IF I had stated in the OP that members were saying the book sales were collapsing.

[SocialDemocrat61]

81. I never said you implied anything

That's your projection. You made a statement and simply asked a question about it.

[Kaleva]

90. Here's a recent one

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220357196

[SocialDemocrat61]

91. That was posted today

your op was on Tuesday, 5 days before that was posted.

Do you have the ability to see into the future? Can you tell me the Powerball numbers?

[Sympthsical]

15. The funny thing about all this is

No one needs to read the book. People have eyes and ears and, you know, actually lived through the last few years.

No money to Jake Tapper required.

The weird attempts at "You're not seeing what you're clearly seeing" is somewhat concerning, but I think that's just where we are now with politics on social media. Construct narrative that may or may not have a relationship with reality, push narrative, crush anything that works against narrative.

At that point, isn't it just religion?

[Keepthesoulalive]

31. I want them to start

Reporting on the imbecile in the White House. I don’t care about gossip,I care about my country.
He is manipulating the stock market, grifting, lying and has the worst group of buffoons over all of our agencies. Jake Tapper is a well paid shill, he is not a journalist. Let’s stop giving him air.

[AStern]

19. You seem happy

nt

[themaguffin]

21. They simply pointed it out. Oof.

[ornotna]

23. You seem defensive

Oof indeed.

[themaguffin]

25. Nope. I simply replied. Oof indeed.

[fujiyamasan]

28. It dropped from number 2 a few days ago

Not sure I would consider that “collapsing” either, but maybe it already peaked last week with all the hype.

A week doesn’t make a trend , so we’ll see if it goes much farther. I think these sort of books come out, get a lot of buzz at first and fade within a week or two. Biden was also in the news with the cancer diagnosis. There’s only so much news an ex-president makes, and it’s impossible to ignore the current guy’s daily antics.

[Kaleva]

37. According to Rolling Stone, it was ranked #4 May 19

https://www.rollingstone.com/product-recommendations/lifestyle/joe-biden-original-sin-book-buy-online-1235343211/

[Wiz Imp]

61. I just pulled up the list and it is #2, but it's also its first week on the chart

meaning that #2 ranking encompasses ALL sales to date. It will drop fast enough.

https://www.amazon.com/charts/2025-05-18/mostsold/nonfiction?ref=chrt_bk_nav_fwd

Also, #1 has been on the list for 25 weeks, so I doubt it is racking up huge weekly sales after 25 weeks.

General Guidelines:

To hit #1 on the overall Amazon bestseller list: 3,500 to 5,000 sales in 24 hours are estimated.
To hit the New York Times bestseller list: It takes about 5 times more sales than hitting #1 on Amazon.

So being high on Amazon's list doesn't imply huge sales.

[Initech]

29. BOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

[vapor2]

30. WTF???????

[no_hypocrisy]

32. You know what to do:

Write scathing reviews on his Amazon page.

[stillcool]

33. wonder what the reviews are like

but not really, or I'd go look. Guess I don't want to give the bullshit even that amount of interest. Yet I clicked on this thread. What a putz I can be.

[Tree Lady]

58. I just looked and the average is 4.1

I wouldn't trust most of them as they will be by people pretending to be democrats as one review said a book all dems need to read!

[Self Esteem]

70. Read most the negative reviews and they're generally from people angry at Tapper...

...for covering up Biden's decline.

Not a lot of reviews from people calling the book bullshit - just that Tapper was part of the cover up and it was apparent to anyone paying attention Biden was declining mentally (not that I agree but that's the tone of most negative reviews).

[Blue Owl]

34. He also broke into my top ten list of 'Most Punchable Faces" for 2025

[Bettie]

36. Boy, I bet that list gets shuffled around

a lot based on who is involved in the biggest fuckery on any given day.

[Cha]

56. ...

🕯️🕊️💙🌈🌻🇨🇦🌊

[ananda]

38. Probabl due to big buys from rich Trumpers.

...

[Takket]

41. why in the wolrd would anyone want to read that book?

Rethugs hate Biden, can't imagine why they would want to read a book about him.

Indies hardly pay attention to politics, can't imagine why they would read a book about Biden.

Democrats: Self explanatory.

Who is reading this??????

[MorbidButterflyTat]

66. Jake's mommy?

[LetMyPeopleVote]

44. tapper is spending all of his time on CNN promoting this sad and false book

[LetMyPeopleVote]

45. Jon Stewart erupts over CNN's promotion of Jake Tapper's book on Biden's mental health.

Link to tweet

[LetMyPeopleVote]

46. Fmr DNC Chair Jaime Harrrison dubbed this book a A BOLD FACED LIE

Last edited Tue May 27, 2025, 08:03 PM - Edit history (1)

This book is full of bald face lies

Link to tweet

[Kingofalldems]

54. Bad Things About Democrats

[W_HAMILTON]

55. Right behind Dr. Seuss's, "Oh, the Places You'll Go!"

Last edited Tue May 27, 2025, 07:43 PM - Edit history (1)

Heckuva job, Tappy!

PS - And, no, this isn't sarcasm -- his """hot new release""" is literally lagging behind a decades-old Dr. Seuss book.

[MorbidButterflyTat]

67. The places he'll go: the bargain bin and the remainder warehouse

[betsuni]

69. For the rest of his life he'll tell people at the bar that his book once climbed to #3 on the Amazon best-sellers list.

They'll smile politely and look away, muttering "Asshole" into their drink.

[Chasstev365]

57. Who's buying the copies?

Trump?
Fox?
CNN?
The Heritage Foundation?
Judicial Watch?

[LetMyPeopleVote]

59. BIDEN WORLD STRIKES BACK

Biden world has been fact checking Tapper's silly book. Tapper is a bad reporter who made up crap for this book

Link to tweet

According to this morning's Politico Playbook, after days of wall-to-wall hype for Original Sin—Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s $32 attempt at a Biden takedown—the cracks are already showing.

This time, it’s about a closed-door town hall in April 2024. Tapper and Thompson claim Biden “had trouble” answering pre-approved questions and that the footage was so bad, the campaign scrapped it.

Except—that’s not what happened.

Biden allies just dropped three never-before-seen ads from the event. Yes, they were polished. Yes, they tested them. But the idea they were unusable? That’s Tapper spin—unverifiable, uncorroborated, and now contradicted by the actual footage.

The kicker? Tapper defends his version with a quote from an “unnamed Biden adviser” he personally supplied to Playbook. Even Playbook couldn’t verify who said it. That’s the level of “fact-checking” behind this book.

This isn’t journalism. It’s a smear job dressed up as reporting, built on anonymous sources, cherry-picked anecdotes, and claims the actual people involved say are false.

Biden’s team isn’t just disputing Tapper’s narrative—they’re dismantling it, piece by piece.

And Tapper’s credibility? It’s unraveling just as fast.

[crimycarny]

60. Has Jake Tapper been a guest on any of the popular late night talk shows? (Colbert, Seth, etc)

I know that Jake Tapper was supposed to appear on Jimmy Kimmel as a guest, but then Kimmel cancelled that show and aired a repeat instead.

I haven't seen Jake as a guest on the main late-night shows, only fringe shows such as Megyn Kelly's podcast, Piers Morgan. Has anyone else? Perhaps I just missed it.

[Wiz Imp]

62. The highest number of seen for Tapper books sold so far is 100,000

As a comparison, Bob Woodward's "Rage" about Trump from 2020 sold 600,000 copies in its first week alone. His book "Fear" from 2018 sold 750,000 in its first day.

Not very impressive numbers from Tapper...

[MorbidButterflyTat]

63. What's the point of this thread?

You seem determined to be a cheerleader for someone blatantly lying and profiting from the filthy lies about President Biden.

Or just a "I'm right, you're wrong," thread.

[Kaleva]

64. You can just ignore the thread

If it bothers you that the book is selling well at this time

[MorbidButterflyTat]

65. That's telling me!

[Mysterian]

98. Better to ignore the OP

Bye

[Kingofalldems]

80. The point in my opinion:

Republicans good. Democrats bad.

[betsuni]

85. Yes. Has a sort of "Look, Mommy! I'm riding my bike without training wheels, look!" quality to it.

[sakabatou]

68. How many of those were bulk orders?

[Kaleva]

71. You'd have to do some research to find out

[thought crime]

73. This is something that will soon be forgotten

Won't matter for long. Cover up? Just remind them that Reagan was clearly afflicted while in office.

[Patton French]

74. Not sure why that trash of half truths is being promoted here.

NT

[Mike Nelson]

76. Agree...

... attention, Jake Trapper googles, popularity, sales are not "collapsing" and the book is a success. BUT, I can save people the money they might spend on the book - here is what happened:

President Biden considered his advancing years and decided to drop out of the 2024 race. Naturally, he decided to pass the baton to his very capable VP Kamala Harris. Regrettably, they lost the election - and a demented man, with serious cognition issues, won.

[betsuni]

77. My goodness, what a relief! Only his professional integrity and reputation are collapsing, not sales.

352 pages to tell us Joe Biden is old and bore people to death with his phony scandal which doesn't even seem to be about anything.

[catrose]

82. Really sorry

[pstokely]

84. people buying it as a decoration?

like an old encyclopedia set?

[LetMyPeopleVote]

88. LOL Lets look at comparative book sales to other real best sellers

Tapper's crappy book is bombing

Link to tweet

[Kaleva]

89. Has that been confirmed?

I see no link to the source.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

92. Tapper's tv ratings are also crashing

Link to tweet

[Kaleva]

93. His book continues to sell well

NYT, Publishers Weekly and Amazon have it ranked in the top 5

[LetMyPeopleVote]

94. Really? In comparison to other real authors, these sales are crappy

Link to tweet

BREAKING!!

Recent Political book sales:

Bob Woodward’s Fear? 1.1 million in 1wk
Mary Trump’s tell-all? 950,000 in a DAY!Even Bolton’s nap-fest hit 800K in wk

@jaketapper
&
@AlexThomp
?

..... 53,737 !! 🤣🤣🤣😭😭

[Kaleva]

95. If it's on the best sellers list of several organizations, it's selling well.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

96. LOL- Tapper is a hack and a failure

Link to tweet

NEW: DOWN GOES TAPPER

Jake Tapper’s hit piece on Joe Biden got more publicity than any book in recent memory thanks to CNN — and still flopped with just 53,737 copies sold in week one.

For comparison: Bob Woodward’s Fear sold 1.1 million in its first week.

Meanwhile, Tapper just posted his lowest-rated month in nearly a decade on CNN, shedding 25% of his audience.

Big hype. No sales. No viewers. No credibility.

You chose poorly, Jake.

[Kaleva]

97. Can you provide a link to the original source?

I haven’t been able to find it. The one that states sales were 57000 or so.

In the other thread here, there are links to the NYT Best Seller’s list, Publishers Weekly List and Amazons Best Seller’s List.