Donald Trump Passes Off Jesse Watters Book Blurb as Original Endorsement
Former President Donald Trump’s endorsement for Jesse Watters’ new book reads like a publisher’s synopsis – because that’s exactly what it is. The blurb directly plagiarizes HarperCollins’ description of Watters’ “How I Saved the World.”
Trump released his statement on the Fox News personality’s book, “How I Saved the World” on Wednesday. The blurb contains some standard congratulations for Watters and a call to action for fans to grab their own copy. But, as many Twitter users pointed out, the endorsement was written in a decidedly un-Trumpian fashion.
The statement reads:
“Great book out by Jesse Watters, How I Saved the World. Interspersed are his thoughtful suggestions for overcoming left-wing radicalism, maintaining American democracy, moving beyond aging hippies (like his long-suffering, loving parents), saving the world from social justice warriors and the deep state—all while smirking his way through life in only the nicest way. Get your copy today, congratulations Jesse!”
The use of words such as “interspersed” and the flowing syntax of Trump’s supposed writing signaled that something was up.
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman posed the inevitable question of who did write the statement and Slate’s Jeremy Stahl found the answer. Trump’s statement was directly lifted from the book’s “details” page. Only the first and last sentences are original.
I wanna know who wrote this pic.twitter.com/dPger7Y3Gz
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) July 14, 2021
LOL. Trump's latest statement is an endorsement of Jesse Watters' book that reads like a personal blurb/review from someone who has read the book, but which is actually lifted verbatim from the book's details page. pic.twitter.com/DKUHgxebMk
— Jeremy Stahl (@JeremyStahl) July 14, 2021
Watters shared the endorsement on Twitter after the discovery without mentioning that it directly ripped off his publisher, HarperCollins. The Fox News host has been critical of President Joe Biden over past plagiarism scandals.
pic.twitter.com/GNo3WQgKSY
— Jesse Watters (@JesseBWatters) July 14, 2021
“How I Saved the World” was released on July 6 ahead of Watters’ show, “The Five,” celebrating its 10-year anniversary this week. In addition to Watters’ “thoughtful suggestions” and tales “smirking his way through life,” the book also promises to help conservatives better understand liberals and vice versa.