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Kurt Andersen and Alec Baldwin to Write Satirical Book About President Trump Kurt Andersen-Alec Baldwin Satire Is Part of a Trump Cottage Book Industry
(1 day later)
A little more than a month into Donald J. Trump’s presidency, it’s safe to say that the satire business in America is booming. Penguin Press announced today that Kurt Andersen and Alec Baldwin will team up to write “You Can’t Spell America Without Me: The Really Tremendous Inside Story of My Fantastic First Year as President Donald J. Trump.” The book is scheduled for publication in November. Mr. Baldwin (as President Trump) will read the audiobook version.A little more than a month into Donald J. Trump’s presidency, it’s safe to say that the satire business in America is booming. Penguin Press announced today that Kurt Andersen and Alec Baldwin will team up to write “You Can’t Spell America Without Me: The Really Tremendous Inside Story of My Fantastic First Year as President Donald J. Trump.” The book is scheduled for publication in November. Mr. Baldwin (as President Trump) will read the audiobook version.
Mr. Andersen is a novelist and the host of the public radio program “Studio 360,” but perhaps most relevant for this new project is his experience as a founding editor of the satirical Spy magazine in the 1980s. It was Spy that now famously referred to the future president as a “short-fingered vulgarian.”Mr. Andersen is a novelist and the host of the public radio program “Studio 360,” but perhaps most relevant for this new project is his experience as a founding editor of the satirical Spy magazine in the 1980s. It was Spy that now famously referred to the future president as a “short-fingered vulgarian.”
The real estate mogul was often in the magazine’s cross hairs. “I didn’t think this former hobby of mine would return with this ferocity,” Mr. Andersen said in a phone interview.The real estate mogul was often in the magazine’s cross hairs. “I didn’t think this former hobby of mine would return with this ferocity,” Mr. Andersen said in a phone interview.
Mr. Baldwin’s blustering portrayal of Mr. Trump on “Saturday Night Live,” starting last fall, impresses Mr. Andersen, who said: “It is extreme, and with a guy like Donald Trump, to be effective it needs to be extreme.”Mr. Baldwin’s blustering portrayal of Mr. Trump on “Saturday Night Live,” starting last fall, impresses Mr. Andersen, who said: “It is extreme, and with a guy like Donald Trump, to be effective it needs to be extreme.”
Mr. Andersen suggested the book would be an attempt to capture more of President Trump than just Mr. Baldwin’s version of him. “I think we’ll be channeling and amplifying the real Trump,” Mr. Andersen said. “Writing for a five- or 10-minute sketch is different than writing a book, which has to be a narrative.”Mr. Andersen suggested the book would be an attempt to capture more of President Trump than just Mr. Baldwin’s version of him. “I think we’ll be channeling and amplifying the real Trump,” Mr. Andersen said. “Writing for a five- or 10-minute sketch is different than writing a book, which has to be a narrative.”
“I think it’s fair to say that Kurt will do most of the writing,” Mr. Baldwin said in an email interview. “We have that arrangement whereby he doesn’t put on the wig, I don’t open up a Word document.”“I think it’s fair to say that Kurt will do most of the writing,” Mr. Baldwin said in an email interview. “We have that arrangement whereby he doesn’t put on the wig, I don’t open up a Word document.”
Asked how the book would balance broad lampooning with cutting political commentary, Mr. Andersen said: “It’ll be sharp. I’m going to start talking like Trump: It’ll be great! It’ll be fantastic! But it will be sharp. It won’t just be fun-loving.”Asked how the book would balance broad lampooning with cutting political commentary, Mr. Andersen said: “It’ll be sharp. I’m going to start talking like Trump: It’ll be great! It’ll be fantastic! But it will be sharp. It won’t just be fun-loving.”
Two Booker Prize winners have also been influenced by the 45th president’s election. Howard Jacobson’s novella “Pussy,” to be published in Britain in April, is a fairy tale about an egoist from a golden city who falls into a leadership position.Two Booker Prize winners have also been influenced by the 45th president’s election. Howard Jacobson’s novella “Pussy,” to be published in Britain in April, is a fairy tale about an egoist from a golden city who falls into a leadership position.
In January, Mr. Jacobson told The Guardian that he wrote the book in a “fury of disbelief,” and that he hoped it would offer readers the “consolation of savage satire.”In January, Mr. Jacobson told The Guardian that he wrote the book in a “fury of disbelief,” and that he hoped it would offer readers the “consolation of savage satire.”
And Salman Rushdie’s “The Golden House,” to be published in September, reportedly includes a character resembling Mr. Trump.And Salman Rushdie’s “The Golden House,” to be published in September, reportedly includes a character resembling Mr. Trump.
Parodists have been going at the president since the campaign trail. Andrew Shaffer’s “The Day of the Donald,” published last summer, envisioned the first two years under a Trump administration. (From that book’s flap copy: “While Trump’s detractors may call him a tyrant, the American people love bullies when the victim is Congress: Every time they impeach the president, his approval rating skyrockets.”)Parodists have been going at the president since the campaign trail. Andrew Shaffer’s “The Day of the Donald,” published last summer, envisioned the first two years under a Trump administration. (From that book’s flap copy: “While Trump’s detractors may call him a tyrant, the American people love bullies when the victim is Congress: Every time they impeach the president, his approval rating skyrockets.”)
In 2016, the comedian and author Michael Ian Black and the illustrator Marc Rosenthal published “A Child’s First Book of Trump,” a picture book with shades of Dr. Seuss that attempted to explain the then-candidate. In 2016, the comedian and author Michael Ian Black and the illustrator Marc Rosenthal published “A Child’s First Book of Trump,” a picture book with shades of Dr. Seuss that attempted to explain Mr. Trump, a candidate at the time.
“There will be a moment when this will be over,” Mr. Baldwin said. “When Trump will fade into ignominy and take with him his ability to outstrip satire.”“There will be a moment when this will be over,” Mr. Baldwin said. “When Trump will fade into ignominy and take with him his ability to outstrip satire.”
Of course, a republic cannot live on satire alone, and several books are in the works that take a more straightforward look at Trump’s election and presidency. Publishers are betting that the new administration will be a boon for sales, much like the Clinton and Obama years drove conservative titles up the best-seller lists.
Agents, editors and publishers have been snapping up everything from campaign trail memoirs to coffee-table books with images from the women’s march to titles that sound suspiciously like self-help books (Gene Stone’s “The Trump Survival Guide: Everything You Need to Know About Living Through What You Hoped Would Never Happen”).
Allan J. Lichtman, a history professor at American University in Washington has already written “The Case for Impeachment,” which will be published in April.
Reporters who were on the Trump beat in 2016 will also offer inside looks at the campaign. In “My Year Covering Trump,” the Washington Post reporter David Fahrenthold will detail his eventful time writing about the candidate. Mr. Fahrenthold conducted a very public investigation of Mr. Trump’s charitable giving, enlisting the help of people on Twitter to find out whether donations had been made. He also exposed the video in which Mr. Trump made vulgar comments about women off camera with the “Access Hollywood” host Billy Bush.
The NBC News reporter Katy Tur has sold the rights to a memoir called “Unbelievable.” Mr. Trump referred to Ms. Tur several times in front of crowds, singling her out for criticism while he discussed the media’s treatment of him.
If history is any guide, Mr. Trump will get to have his own say about his presidency in a book someday. For now, the previous president is one step closer to that reality — earlier this week, Penguin Random House won a highly competitive auction to publish future books by both Barack and Michelle Obama.