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Donald Trump's attempts to enact an authoritarian regime have once again been foiled by the fact that he doesn't know how to do anything and everyone who works for him is an idiot too. In this episode of incompetence, his first attempt at book-banning went directly south.
After excerpts from Michael Wolff's upcoming administration tell-all, Fire and Fury, portrayed the president as a complete moron who has no idea what he's doing and might also be literally senile, Trump's team went on the offense to have the book shut down before its January 9 release. The president's lawyers immediately sent a cease and desist letter to Henry Holt and Co., the book's publishers.
As PEN America points out, the action was largely unconstitutional, and completely ignorant of the position the president finds himself in when it comes to criticism.
"President Trump’s threats represent a brazen attempt at imposing unlawful prior restraint, a form of censorship repeatedly rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court," PEN America Executive Director Suzanne Nossel wrote in a statement. "For the President of the United States criticism comes with the territory. The President should immediately withdraw and repudiate this outrageous demand, allowing the American people to render their own judgement of the book."
Luckily, the president's wide-eyed attempt at censorship is apparently no match for consumerism. This evening, a spokesperson for Henry Holt told CNN that the book would actually be going on sale tomorrow - four full days before its original release date.
"Due to unprecedented demand," the spokesperson said, "we are moving the on-sale date for all formats of Fire and Fury, by Michael Wolff, to Friday, January 5, at 9 a.m. ET, from the current on-sale date of Tuesday, January 9."
You can pick up the book at your local independent bookseller tomorrow.