Latest news with #SalenaZito
Politico
an hour ago
- Politics
- Politico
‘There's a lot of fatigue': Trump books draw lackluster sales
To wit: 'Butler: The Untold Story of the Near Assassination of Donald Trump and the Fight for America's Heartland,' by conservative journalist Salena Zito, came out the same week as '2024' and sold about 23,000 hardcover copies, according to BookScan numbers, hitting No. 1 on the Times bestseller list. Zito said in a statement that she was 'deeply humbled by this ranking' and 'grateful to President Trump, who interviewed with me dozens of times for the book and generously encouraged people to read' it. Trump posted about the book on social media, including sharing a preorder link before its publication. 'That's a book that's being published to the MAGAs. So those books are always different in their numbers,' said a book agent. This follows other second-term Trump books experiencing lackluster sales. 'Trump in Exile,' by the Wall Street Journal's Meridith McGraw, has sold roughly 2,000 copies since its release last August, according to BookScan. Axios' Alex Isenstadt's 'Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump's Return to Power,' published in March, has sold around 3,000 copies so far, according to BookScan. McGraw and Isenstadt declined to comment. Author Michael Wolff became one of the masters of the Trump genre with 2018's 'Fire and Fury,' which sold more than 25,000 copies during its first week on sale in 2018 and went on to sell more than 900,000. But the writer sold only around 3,000 print copies during the equivalent first week publicity campaign for his latest installment 'All or Nothing: How Trump Recaptured America,' published in March. (It has now sold around 11,000 copies, according to BookScan.) As these books have posted middling sales figures, publishers are finding it hard to justify signing big advances for new Trump books. That's made it more difficult for political journalists to get lucrative book deals. 'Editors are not spending anywhere near the amount of money that they did this time eight years ago,' said one of the book agents. 'The days of just writing a book to write a book and checking the box for someone's career — those days are over.' 'We are taking on fewer projects in the space because the ones that we do take on, they basically have to rise to a mid six- or seven-figure deal,' said the agent. The person said that they talk with publishers who speak of 'a lot of fatigue in the market' and that there has to be 'a clear path on either breaking news or a 'wow factor' for a book to get that kind of money today.' The skepticism in the marketplace for political nonfiction, particularly Trump books, has led publishers and agents to try to get authors who are big brand names with built-in fan bases like Ezra Klein or Jake Tapper. Both have seen significant success this year with their books 'Abundance' (co-written with Derek Thompson) and 'Original Sin,' respectively. 'Abundance' has sold roughly 146,000 copies since its publication in March, according to BookScan. Tapper, one of the most prominent CNN anchors, was attached to Axios' Alex Thompson's Biden book project after his book deal had been cancelled. 'Original Sin,' which focused more on the 46th president than the 47th, became a No. 1 Times bestseller for two weeks and was on the bestseller list for almost two months. It has sold about 97,000 copies since its publication in May, according to BookScan.
Fox News
8 hours ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Hunter reveals Biden was taking Ambien during presidency
Syndicated political reporter Salena Zito joins 'Fox & Friends' to discuss Hunter Biden's hours-long tirade railing against Democrats and President Donald Trump's deportations.
Fox News
3 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Extra: Behind The Moments That Fueled President Trump's Political Comeback
The moment that changed an election. That's how Washington Examiner political reporter Salena Zito remembers the assassination attempt on Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last July. She was there when shots were fired by 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, grazing the ear of the then-former President, critically injuring two men, and killing husband, father, and firefighter Corey Comperatore, who was hit while shielding his family from the gunfire. Although the Secret Service claims major changes have been made, questions about security failures persist. We spoke with Zito about her perspectives from that day, the months leading up to it, and her new book, 'Butler: The Untold Story of the Near Assassination of Donald Trump and the Fight for America's Heartland.' We often have to cut interviews short during the week, but we thought you might like to hear the full conversation. Today on Fox News Rundown Extra, we will share our entire interview with journalist Salena Zito on President Trump's comeback and his secret to winning over the Heartland in last year's election. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit
Forbes
3 days ago
- Politics
- Forbes
Salena Zito talks 'Butler,' Her Book On The Trump Rally Shooting
Donald Trump pumps his fist as he's rushed offstage by U.S. Secret Service agents after being grazed ... More by a bullet during a rally on July 13, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Photo by) Salena Zito was standing just four feet from President Trump's podium when she heard the pops. All of a sudden, what was meant to be a campaign rally on July 13, 2024, in the Republican stronghold of Butler, Penn., became the scene of an attempted assassination. Zito, a writer for the Washington Examiner and native of the region, had just wrapped a pre-rally interview with then-candidate Trump. Her daughter — a photojournalist — was close by when the shots rang out. A nearby security officer tackled Zito, likely to protect her from being struck by a stray round. Capturing a moment that changed everything in Butler, PA 'I was very aware that history was happening in front of me,' Zito told me, in an interview about her new book Butler: The Untold Story of the Near Assassination of Donald Trump and the Fight for America's Heartland, which hit shelves last week — and has just debuted at #1 on the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list. 'The angle I was looking at (President Trump), it was so crystal clear. I saw the streak of blood across his face. I saw him grab his ear. I saw him take himself down, and not fall down. I knew what the sound was immediately.' Zito's book is a raw and detailed account of that day. 'Her analysis is sharp-eyed and her anecdotes revealing,' reads a review of Butler in The Guardian. And speaking of reviews, her subject couldn't resist adding one of his own — Trump raved in a Truth Social post that Zito's is a 'powerful new book' and that she 'was an eyewitness to that terrible day, and understands the unbreakable Spirit of our Movement to FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT.' The book is also something deeper. Beyond the you-are-there narrative, Butler is a meditation on place – on the kind of regions, like Butler County, that Zito argues are too often overlooked by the media and political class. 'I want readers to understand the importance of place,' she told me. 'Not just in what happened in Butler. But in how the country voted. Place and rootedness has a lot to do with that.' Zito writes with authority not just because she was there — but because she's actually from there. Her family settled in Butler County in the 1750s. She knows the rhythms of the region and the values that drive the people who live there, and her reporting connects the dots between a town rocked by a would-be assassin and a country that re-elected Trump months later, in part because of places just like Butler. The book also contains new insight from Zito's interviews with the president in the aftermath. 'What he says about why he said 'fight, fight, fight' — he told me that the next morning,' she said. 'He understands now the presidency isn't just about him. It's about projecting strength. It's about preserving the vision of what the presidency is supposed to be.' She added that Trump, whom she's interviewed many times over the years, seemed fundamentally changed. 'He believes he was saved for a reason. There are a number of things he did that day that he never does. The way he is governing now is as a man who understands he was given a chance — and he wants to use that chance to accomplish something.' Butler is as much about the gravity of that day as it is about how geography, identity, and community helped shape a moment in history and a candidate whose life almost ended before the election did. And with the book now sitting atop the New York Times bestseller list, it's clear that message is resonating. 'Trump is one of only two presidents that have ever campaigned in Butler,' Zito reminds me. 'The other is John F. Kennedy.'
Fox News
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Remaining Question A Year After Butler
Over one week has passed since President Trump signed the 'big, beautiful bill' into law, and he is now urging Republican Senators to support a package that would codify his proposed cuts via the Department of Government Efficiency. Meanwhile, House Republicans have already approved the package. This week, the House will take up several measures seeking to make the U.S. the leader in financial technology, cryptocurrency, and digital assets innovation. House Majority Whip Congressman Tom Emmer (MN-6) joins the Rundown to discuss the passage of the President's 'big' bill and the upcoming 'crypto week.' On July 13, 2024, an attempted assassination of President Trump took place at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. One year later, the country continues to wrestle with the question: how could such a breach have occurred? Veteran journalist Salena Zito witnessed the event firsthand, which she recounts in her new book, Butler: The Untold Story of the Near Assassination of Donald Trump and the Fight for America's Heartland. She joins the podcast to examine how the Butler incident marked a turning point for America, igniting an 'awakening' in Middle America and a pushback against the political status quo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit
