Taking Trump at his word

In September 2016, Salena Zito, who was then covering voters in The Heartland, wrote of the then-candidate Donald Trump, in a column for The Atlantic: “the press takes him literally, but not seriously; his supporters take him seriously, but not literally.” The phrase quickly slipped into Trumplore. Trump allies, such as Peter Thiel, invoked it to argue that while reporters and fact checkers obsessed over the fine print of Trump’s pronouncements on, say, banning Muslims from the US and building a wall at the southern border, his supporters were hearing more general pledges to, say, reform immigration. Trump critics, such as Dara Lind, then of Vox, complained about the moral and factual slipperiness of such logic—criticisms that were vindicated when Trump moved to literally ban Muslims and literally build his wall almost as soon as he took office. Ever since then, the literally/seriously motif has echoed, Zelig-like, through the press. We’ve heard of Trump being taken seriously and literally, seriously but not literally (by the media this time), and neither seriously nor literally—the latter because, as The Atlantic’s David Frum put it last year, the president’s “words are as worthless as Trump Organization IOUs.” In large part, the phrase and the many variations thereupon are hard to pin down because Trump himself is hard to pin down. Since taking office, he’s said literally tens of thousands of things that aren’t true while also pursuing his more extreme campaign... Continue reading at 'Columbia Journalism Review'

[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2020-08-03 12:05:46 UTC ]
News tagged with: #open internet #british government #finance minister #news corp

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Audiobook reviews: Authors take the mic

The oral tradition has been a part of the human condition for as long as we have been communicating. If you lost your audience after the first hour of “The Epic of Gilgamesh,” you could forget about a return engagement. Authors now sit in comfy studios and need not memorize their stories. But can... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-06-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #oral tradition #human condition


Romance writer's bid to stop authors from using word 'cocky' fails in court

Self-published author Faleena Hopkins asserted her right to the word, but judge calls attempt to stop other authors using it ‘weak’ Romance writers around the world can breathe a sigh of relief after a US court ruled that they can continue to use the adjective “cocky” in their book titles, after... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2018-06-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book titles #trademark office #individual titles #common words


BookExpo 2018: Jonathan Lethem: Trumped No More

When Jonathan Lethem (the author of 'Motherless Brooklyn' and many other books), who works at his craft every day, is so upset he doesn’t want to write, something is very, very wrong. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-06-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #jonathan lethem


Coal Barons Who Donated $1 Million to Trump’s Increasingly Suspicious Inauguration Fund May Get Huge Favor

Bloomberg published an eyebrow-raising report Thursday night about a draft proposal being prepared by the Trump administration that would subsidize the coal industry in part by invoking a Cold War-era law intended for use in national security emergencies: Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2018-06-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #trump administration


Bates takes over from Merullo at PFD

Annabel Merullo is stepping down from her role as head of books at Peters Fraser and Dunlop (PFD), to be replaced by Tim Bates. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-05-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #annabel merullo #dunlop pfd #peters fraser #tim bates


Biteback's Iain Dale steps down, Andy McNab takes new role

Biteback managing director Iain Dale is stepping down in June after a decade with company "to concentrate on his broadcasting career", while author and former SAS soldier Andy McNab is taking on an advisory role to "guide Biteback into next stage of growth". Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-05-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Trump exposé helps Hachette UK to first quarter growth

Hachette UK’s sales are up 1.4% in the first quarter of 2018, spurred on by Michael Wolff's January bestseller Fire and Fury (Little, Brown Book Group). Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-05-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Taking the natural route

The recent critical acclaim enjoyed by illustrator and writer Jackie Morris as a consequence of The Lost Words, her collaboration with Robert Macfarlane, has helped draw attention to a 25-year career of book artistry. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-05-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Spread the Word launches writer development programme

Development agency Spread the Word is launching a new annual development programme for London-based writers. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-05-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Trump administration will end protected status for Hondurans

The Trump administration says it will strip legal protections for 86,000 Hondurans who live in the U.S., the latest group of longtime undocumented residents who now face the prospect of deportation back to their troubled home countries. Kirstjen Nielsen, the Homeland Security secretary, on Friday... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-05-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Industry Notes: ‘Words Without Borders’ at 15; Riggio, Kinney at BookExpo, BookCon

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[ Publishing Perspectives | 2018-05-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bandit takes on Thompson's wartime saga for TV

Kate Thompson’s Second World War factory drama has been optioned for television. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-05-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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HQ takes on Kitchin and Wakeford as senior editors

Emily Kitchin and Dominic Wakeford are joining HQ Fiction as senior commissioning editors. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-04-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Prima Games Takes Travel Publishing to Virtual Worlds

The 25-year-old imprint at Penguin Random House’s DK division has adopted a hybrid publishing model to evolve along with the video game industry. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-04-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Nasrallah takes $50k International Prize for Arabic Fiction

The International Prize for Arabic Fiction has gone to Jordanian-Palestinian author and former refugee Ibrahim Nasrallah for his “masterful” rendering of a dystopian future. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-04-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Martin Lewis is right to take on Facebook – it has too much power | Ellie Mae O’Hagan

As some publishers try to clean up rogue online advertising, the platform has been slow to act on complaints. Time for regulationOne of the ways Facebook has been able to get away with some pretty questionable behaviour over the years is that exploiting users’ data is an abstract problem that... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2018-04-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ex-FBI chief James Comey takes his book tour to Amazon

James Comey's book tour will make a stop at Amazon.com Inc. headquarters Monday. The former FBI director will discus his new book, "A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership," part of which takes aim at President Donald Trump, who fired Comey last year as the bureau's investigated Russian... Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal

[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2018-04-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Royal biographer takes on All the Queen's Corgis

Royal biographer Penny Junor is publishing a book about all the dogs the Queen has owned in her lifetime, called All the Queen's Corgis. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-04-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Taking the Measure of Sexual Misconduct Charges in Publishing

Book sales of Dashner, Asher, and Alexie have taken some hits since they were accused of sexual and emotional harassment and abuse earlier this year. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-04-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Indies take four spots on Best First Novel shortlist

Titles from independent publishers make up four of the six-strong Authors’ Club Best First Novel shortlist. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-04-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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