Why the Tucker Carlson Biography Sales Are So Pathetic
The Daily Beast editor Andrew Kirell gives an inside look at one of the right’s biggest grifts, conservative bulk book sales, and why the Carlson bio didn’t benefit from it.
Photo Illustration by Erin O’Flynn/The Daily Beast/Scott Olson/Getty Images
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A friendly biography about former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Tucker by Chadwick Moore, isn’t selling too many books. How come?
The Daily Beast senior editor Andrew Kirell joins this episode of The New Abnormal politics podcast to share some possible reasons, including that the book didn’t benefit from the conservative book machine—a “grift” that involves coordinated right-wing media pushes along with political organizations and institutions bulk-buying the book to rocket it up the best seller charts (often then complaining about a grand conspiracy against conservatives when The New York Times list denotes how a right-wing book benefited from bulk sales.)
“This is a key part of the right-wing book grift, getting on The New York Times bestseller list by having these massive bulk purchases,” he explains.
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According to Kirell, Tucker just didn’t have the backing to get there.
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“The apparatus that helps boost conservative book sales wasn’t behind it because Tucker’s not on Fox anymore. Moore is not a known conservative entity and he’s not an on-air celebrity and he is not somebody who does the speaking circuit of all the conservative organizations,” he tells TNA co-host Andy Levy. “There’s just a lot working against it.”
Kirell shares insights on why conservative media books are often given the dreaded “dagger” symbol when they appear on the Times Best Seller list. And why it benefits conservative writers even though they whine about it.
Also on the show: Hosts Andy and Danielle Moodie react to Republican clips, and this week that includes the Republican reaction to Hillary Clinton going on MSNBC to talk Trump indictments, Marjorie Taylor Greene saying that Georgia’s Fani Willis should go after rapists instead of Trump (anyone want to tell her?), and Matt Gaetz getting his ass handed to him by MSNBC’s Ari Melber.
Listen to this full episode of The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon and Stitcher.
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