Donald Trump Blasts CNN For Using Unflattering Photo for Election Book Cover
Posted on January 2, 2017
CNN will release a new book about the election called Unprecedented, which will hit bookstores on January 20, 2017, Inauguration Day. The book is packed with analysis of the 2016 presidential election and -- presumably -- attempts to make sense of all the bizarre things that happened last year.
The book explains how Donald J. Trump overcame impossible odds to become the next president of the United States. President-Elect Trump is hoping that the book will be a bestseller, but he's not completely happy with the tome. In fact, he's downright grumpy about the portrait of him on the cover. He tweeted, "@CNN just released a book called Unprecedented which explores the 2016 race & victory. Hope it does well but used worst cover photo of me!"
Politico reports that the cover shot was taken by veteran presidential photographer David Hume Kennerly. The night of the election, Trump didn't allow any official photographers into the room with him and his family as they watched the returns come in. So there is no formal photo from the night he won. So CNN had to set up a photoshoot for several weeks later. The photo was taken on November 21st, just after the infamous meeting at Trump Tower in which he lambasted CNN president Jeff Zucker, among other media executives.
He was clearly not feeling very happy, and the portrait reflects that. Trump has complained vigorously when the press uses unflattering portraits of him. It's quite clear that no airbrushing was used to make the photo more flattering. We're not sure what the president elect was expecting, but this wasn't a Vogue covershoot. We'd be quite surprised if CNN, MSBNC or Fox agreed to airbrush a photo of a politician to make him or her look better. That's just now how journalists roll.
It's possible that the president elect is actually referring to the original book cover, which had an action shot of him. The updated version of the book has a new, formal portrait on the cover.
In any event, the updated version of the book will be out just in time for Valentine's Day shopping.
@CNN just released a book called "Unprecedented" which explores the 2016 race & victory. Hope it does well but used worst cover photo of me!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2017