Dick Morris has been all over Newsmax promoting his (Newsmax-published) pro-Trump book, so it was time to follow that up with an endorsement from the man himself in order to goose sales, and an Aug. 30 article by Nick Koutsobinas did the trick:
Former President Donald Trump is urging Americans to read the new bestselling book by Dick Morris.
It’s called “The Return: Trump’s Big 2024 Comeback” and predicts Trump is not only running for president again, but that he will overcome big odds to win again.
Writing on his Truth Social platform this weekend, Trump posted: “‘The Return’ is a fantastic political analysis of what very well may be taking place in the not too distant future. Dick Morris is a #1 New York Times Bestselling Author, who is also a true political pro. Great book, get it now!!”
“The Return” has been an Amazon #1 bestseller as well as a top 10 Publisher’s Weekly bestseller.
An anonymously written Sept. 6 article touted the results of the plug:
Dick Morris’ new book, “The Return: Trump’s Big 2024 Comeback,” continues to soar on the bestselling lists after former President Donald Trump’s endorsement.
Last week Trump took to his social media platform Truth Social and made a post about the book.
“‘The Return’ is a fantastic political analysis of what very well may be taking place in the not too distant future,” Trump wrote, seemingly confirming Morris’ contention that the former president is, indeed, running again.
Trump continued: “Dick Morris is a #1 New York Times Bestselling Author, who is also a true political pro. Great book, get it now!!”
The social media push appeared to propel book sales.
“The Return” began the week as high as No. 4 on Amazon’s overall bestsellers list. It tops the No. 1 spot on Amazon’s lists in several key categories, including Elections, Political Parties and Political Advocacy. It also was No. 8 on the Publishers’ Weekly list of bestsellers.
The article didn’t mention that Morris has been an adviser to Trump, so it’s hardly surprising Trump would endorse it, nor did it mention that the book was published by Newsmax book division Humanix.
Then it was time to play the old right-wing game of bashing the New York Times because Morris’ book isn’t on its bestseller list. The apparently unironically named Charlie McCarthy did the deed for his boss in a Sept. 13 article:
The New York Times’ bestsellers list appears to be censoring Newsmax host Dick Morris and his new bestseller, “The Return: Trump’s Big 2024 Comeback.”
“The Return” is topping several bestseller lists, including Amazon, Publisher’s Weekly, and others, but is nowhere to be found on the Times’ nonfiction list.
Based on retail sales compiled by Bookscan for the week of Aug. 28, “The Return” should be No. 4 on the Times’ list.
But Morris’ book is nowhere to be found with more than 4,000 book sales for the week. But a book co-authored by Oprah Winfrey had less than 3,000 book sales and made the list at No. 9.
[…]“The New York Times would not be caught dead promoting a book praising Donald Trump and calling for his reelection on its bestseller list, but any book criticizing Trump is guaranteed top billing,” Morris told Newsmax Tuesday.
McCarthy did not cite any evidence that the Bookscan list is what the Times bases its bestseller lists on. Instead, he complained that “Conservatives have long criticized the Times bestseller list as having a liberal bias and de-ranking right-leaning titles,” which ignores that conservative publishers routinely game the Times lists by selling books in bulk to activists; the Times also notes that bulk sales drove a book’s positioning on the list, which also irks conservatives. McCarthy also didn’t disclose that Newsmax published Morris’ book. This suggests that Newsmax is either not buying Morris’ books in bulk or is doing it so blatantly that the NYT is on to the game.
McCarthy returned for a Sept. 19 article in an attempt to push the same line again:
Newsmax host Dick Morris’ “The Return: Trump’s Big 2024 Comeback” continues to make a big impression on national bestseller lists — hitting the top 10 of the respected Wall Street Journal’s nonfiction bestseller lists.
But The New York Times continues its censorship of “The Return” despite it outselling almost all the books on its top 15 list.
“The Return” soared six spots to place No. 7 on Publisher’s Weekly hardcover nonfiction list as of Monday morning in its 13th week among the top 25.
Morris’ book also hit The Wall Street Journal’s list for hardcover nonfiction at No. 8 for the week ending Sept. 10.
Again, McCarthy failed to explain why the Times is obligated to mirror other lists, and he again failed to disclose that his employer published the book he’s plugging. He also didn’t mention that the Wall Street Journal has a right-wing bias, which arguably makes Morris’ appearance on the list suspect.
Why is Newsmax making a big deal out of this? Because appearances on bestseller lists creates a virtuous cycle of boosting book sales, and because the Times list is the most prestigious, an appearance there increases sales the most. In other words: Newsmax is crying “censorship” solely to increase book sales. That’s all.