The US president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, has triggered Democrats once again. But not, as you might think, with the title of his new book, ‘Liberal Privilege,’ but over what looks to be a glaring typo on its cover.
“Joe Biden and the Democrat’s Defense of the Indefensible,” reads the subtitle of the book, an image of which the author shared online over the weekend.
Unless Trump Jr is using “Democrat” to refer solely to Biden, or the political party as a category, the apostrophe should come at the end of the word, as a possessive plural – as legions of detractors on social media were quick to point out. Whether it was a typo on an early version of the cover or a deliberate reference to Biden, the perception of a mistake has made Trump Jr the target of plenty of mockery. That should come as no surprise, however, given that one of the things his father is most often criticized for are his tweets, which rarely stick to the rules of conventional grammar and spelling.
I see you’re deliberately not showing the glaring apostrophe mistake on your book cover. Well, fact-checking has never been your strong suit. pic.twitter.com/6NDRO5xI6A
The cover’s apparent misuse of grammar has already been dragged through the mud by multiple media outlets, including the Guardian.
“You can’t do anything right,” one Twitter user replied to Trump Jr’s announcement of the imminent publication of his book.
“The apple doesn’t fall far from the stupid tree,” pundit Dr Dena Grayson added.
Seriously cannot decide what’s more embarrassing: that Fredo had to self-publish his new book, or that the goddamn cover has an apostrophe typo pic.twitter.com/FmwKZIcZsY
Journalist Garrett Graff, who was one of the first to call out Trump Jr on the alleged error, has tweeted several times about the book, and took things a step further by saying there are other mistakes on the cover, albeit ones that are rather more debatable than the use of “Democrat’s.”
Just to clarify: There are actually three typos on @DonaldJTrumpJr’s new book cover. Best-selling should be hyphenated and there should be a comma before Jr., e.g., Donald Trump, Jr. https://t.co/vswmKSbzmQ
Some have rallied to Trump Jr’s defense, however, pointing out that his use of the apostrophe in this context could very well be correct – though some responses have been from satirical accounts simply looking to push the buttons of those “outraged” over a book cover.
Um, Junior had it right. The apostrophe goes before the s always. And this is coming from a youth football coaching, not some random clown. Delete this.
Yeah, I think the Guardian trying to slam dunk on Trump Jr for his apostrophe abuse is a weird look – it’s like all those people who like to mock racists for their grammar but also, crucially, the title absolutely makes grammatical sense as it stands https://t.co/jMArCtQr2m
Trump Jr tweeted recently that he’d been working on his latest book “during the last few months of quarantine.” As if predicting the blowback before the cover was even revealed, he said “libs” are “already triggered” by it – playing on the title of his previous book.
‘Triggered’ was traditionally published and became a New York Times bestseller. For the new work, which will be released in August, Trump Jr has teamed up with Sergio Gor, the chief of staff for the Trump Victory Finance Committee. The audiobook version of ‘Liberal Privilege’ is apparently set to be narrated by Kimberly Guilfoyle, Trump Jr’s girlfriend and a former Fox News host.
Biden’s national press secretary, TJ Ducklo, has already slammed the book, saying it was “filled with disgusting lies and smears” about the former vice president and the Democrats’ presumptive 2020 presidential nominee.
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