You might think the liberal snobs who dominate the audience of National “Public” Radio would look down on the romance novel. But NPR can’t resist hyping a romance novel…when it’s written by heroes of the #Resistance.
On Friday night’s All Things Considered, NPR reported Donald Trump’s bitter niece Mary Trump is writing a romance novel and posting it in chapters on Substack. This story dominated the ATC web page on Friday:
Openly gay Mary Trump claimed she's never read a romance novel, and now she's writing one. The plot of The Italian Lesson sounds very typical; "An American woman goes to a hill town in Tuscany, opens a café, meets this hunk."
She’s getting by with a little help from her friends….who are also renowned for being “hypercritical” of Trump.
CHLOE VELTMAN: Trump says her decision to pen a romance grew out of a conversation among friends she met through an online knitting group she joined in 2021. That group not only includes E. Jean Carroll, but also renowned legal scholar and nonfiction book author Jennifer Taub, who eventually signed on as Trump's editor for the project.
JENNIFER TAUB: Mary is an incredible world-builder, but the kind of things that she might leave out is - on the first date, she doesn't describe what the heroine is wearing.
CHLOE VELTMAN: Trump, Carroll and Taub have all been under the spotlight in recent years for their strong words and actions, especially concerning Donald Trump. Carroll, of course, is known for having recently won a civil lawsuit against the former president for sexual abuse and defamation. And both Mary Trump's family memoir, Too Much And Never Enough, and Taub's book about white-collar crime, Big Dirty Money, are hypercritical of Donald Trump.
As such, the fledgling romance novelist says she and her collaborators are relieved to have a project that is about pure escapism.
The web page also had a silly real-life picture of Mary Trump, Carroll, and Taub being party pals:
Veltman then turned for expertise to Sarah Wendell, co-founder of trashybooks.com. She says this is hardly the first time famous names have concocted a romance novel:
SARAH WENDELL: Is the fact that they're famous a selling point? Well, it gets attention, and that is the whole point of marketing a book.
CHLOE VELTMAN: But the romance maven questions the notion that this book could ever be non-political.
SARAH WENDELL: Everything about this concept is political. From the names on the cover to the fact that it's a romance - because romance is political. Who gets to have a happy ending? Whose marriage is legally recognized? Who can be themselves safely?
The story ends with Mary Trump blowing off anyone who thinks this will detract from her image as a serious political figure. Only the leftist NPR types think she's a serious political figure.
