Bookshops using Donald Trump's own words to sell Fire and Fury
Trump accusing Michael Wolff's book of being "full of lies" probably wasn't meant as an endorsement.
UK bookshops are using US President Donald Trump's own scathing negative reviews to sell copies of Michael Wolff's tell-all expose Fire and Fury.
A branch of Daunt Books in London is using a printout of a Trump tweet in its front window alongside a display of the books. The tweet reads: "Michael Wolff is a total loser who made up stories in order to sell this really boring and untruthful book." Another tweet in the display criticises "Sloppy Steve" Bannon, Trump's former advisor who is believed to have been one of the primary sources for the book.
A photo of the display was shared by BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones, prompting people to share similar sassy bookshop signs they had seen.
Waterstones has also been seen "trolling Trump" at various branches. Tom Jameson spotted that the Manchester store used Trump's quote "full of lies" to sell the book, alongside another verbatim quote designed to mock the president. "Throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart..." as he tweeted earlier this month.
Another shop in Dublin used two of the same Trump quotes, plus a plethora of others including: "The single greatest Witch Hunt in American history continues." The bookshop also took the opportunity to advertise Alec Baldwin and Kurt Andersen's spoof memoir of the president's first year in office, with his own quote: "I have the best words, beautiful words, as everybody has been talking and talking about for a long time."
Twitter users were impressed by the marketing idea. One said: "That endorsement will make the books fly off the shelf!" Another commented: "Talk about mixing up old and new media. Nothing like a printed tweet to sell books!"
David Marchment, from Salford, who also shared a photo of a Waterstones front window display, said: "Fair play to Waterstones for trolling Donald Trump in their window display."
Waterstones even got cheeky on its official Twitter account, tweeting on 20 January: "Today marks the 1st anniversary of Donald Trump's presidency. How else could we mark it but by building a wall?" The tweet was accompanied by a photo of stacks of Fire and Fury piled up in a bookshop.
Fire And Fury: Inside the Trump White House has been a major success, with 500,000 e-book, audiobook and hardcover sales in just two weeks. Plans were announced last week to turn it into a TV show. A week earlier, Trump described the expose as a "Fake Book" written by a "mentally deranged author, who knowingly writes false information".