Give a writer 266 pages, and he or she will likely make many astute points. Michael J. Knowles gave himself that number and has people across the country tabbing him a sage even though he is not as loquacious as one might think given that length. Published Feb. 8, “Reasons to Vote for Democrats” has brought The Daily Wire managing editor national acclaim, as it has become an Amazon.com best seller though it contains mostly blank pages, in a move that—comedic to many, and needless to others—reveals the scribe’s distrust of the political party.
The Yale University product achieved the top spot March 10, with the literary jab, consisting of only a table of contents and a bibliography, now resting in third. The self-published satirical work has generated 2,032 customer reviews, mostly positive, and has easily outdistances its counterpart, the Nov. 30-issued “Why Trump Deserves Trust, Respect and Admiration,” in sales, surprising author David King.
“When this book sold 100 copies, it was a funny joke,” the 26-year-old King told The Washington Post. “When it sold 5,000 copies, it was a very funny joke. When it sold 50,000 copies, it made me pause and begin to think about the state of our culture.”
In releasing the chart topper, Knowles has looked to add comedic insult to injury following Democrats’ fall defeats, none more notable than Hillary Clinton’s general election loss to Donald Trump. He relayed through a Fox & Friends segment that more than a decade of research bred the brainchild, which Daily Wire editor Ben Shapiro dubbed “thorough.” As a rebuke of the political powerhouse’s stances on topics such as civil rights, economics, foreign policy and homeland security, “Reasons to Vote for Democrats” has found the author promoting what he has hailed as a political treatise sure to stand the test of time.” Its success has prompted The Daily Wire to take additional shots at figures and leaders within American’s largest party, including former Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, whom it imagines praising the text by saying, “The chapters on values really hit home.”
Continuing to critique the party, whose November setbacks also made it the opposition voice in the 115th Congress, the publication’s website pokes fun at Clinton, quoting her as being complimentary toward the book since “it was written by a millennial, and I’m hip and cool like a millennial, too.” Through his Washington Post interview, Knowles offered another swipe at Clinton, declaring that he has completed a “multivolume, Caro-esque history” of her presidency.
Much of the nation has had a hard time adjusting to Trump’s tenure in the White House, and numerous skits, articles, marches and demonstrations have chided the 45th president for his policies and actions. Knowles has struck back, it seems, with a bit of comedy as his aid. His work and King’s equally word-challenged rejection of Trump have begun to show that from a literary point of view, writers are not likely to draw a blank when it comes to finding creative ways to upset the applecart.
