I know it’s not much, but it’s the best I can do, good news-wise:
It’s hard to recall a former politician who was showered with more free media attention than Chris Christie this month as he peddled his new book, “Republican Rescue.” Invited to appear on a carousel of shows, Christie was all-present as journalists lined up to interview him. CNN even dedicated an entire primetime hour to him, treating the in-your-face Republican as one of the most important political voices in the country.
Consumers aren’t buying it.
A senior publishing source with access to the industry’s BookScan tabulations tells me that “Republican Rescue” sold just 2,289 copies during its first week in stores, which constitutes a colossal publishing flop. That figure does not include digital copies of the book, but based on industry sales patterns, given Christie’s weak showing in stores he likely sold only a few hundred digital ones. (On Sunday, “Republican Rescue” was ranked 15,545th at Amazon’s Kindle Store.)
…
It confirms that the deeply unpopular former New Jersey governor remains, first and foremost, a media creation. For years, he’s been propped up by the press as a populist Straight Shooter, but he left office with an approval rating in the teens, and failed spectacularly when he tried to run for president in 2020. That explains why CNN’s Christie special was a ratings disaster, coming in a distant third place among the three cable news channels that night. (During the show, CNN’s Dana Bash never once asked Christie about the BridgeGate scandal that ended his political career.)
It says a lot that the media turned to Christie, who was a sycophant of the first order during the Trump years, to serve as their new Republican anti-Trump. As to the book sales, who could have known that thinking people on the left wouldn’t buy what Christie was selling, and that there aren’t enough Republicans waiting to be rescued to make a dent in the Amazon best seller list. Most people who buy books are reasonably well informed, except the people who buy and don’t read the books from right wing imprints. Unlike the media (apparently) they are fully aware that Christie is a hypocrite of the first order. Unfortunately, it seems likely that Christie got a huge advance from some idiotic publisher, so he’ll likely do okay money-wise, though this can’t be good for his massive ego.
Post a Comment