Dr. Jill Biden attends Jill Biden in Conversation With Whoopi Goldberg: View From The East Wing at 92NY on June 2, 2026, in New York City. (Jamie McCarthy / Getty Images)
By Joe Saunders June 30, 2026 at 12:43pm
If only the memories of Joe Biden’s presidency could fade as fast.
Former First Lady Jill Biden’s memoir “View from the East Wing” has drawn its share of much-deserved mockery since its June 2 release, but nothing describes its failure better than the speed that it disappeared from the New York Times Best Sellers list after debuting at No. 1 a few short weeks ago.
It’s enough to make an American wonder if maybe there was something fishy about it in the first place.
Well, turns out there was — and for a change, The New York Times itself provided the clues.
It debuted at #1 on the NYT due to astroturfed bulk orders (not my opinion it got the infamous † indicating this) and is now *completely* off the list 2 weeks later. Very rare for a “#1” to fall that fast. Virtually no one except political reporters are actually reading it. https://t.co/dUU8kswlDN
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) June 27, 2026
As the New York Post reported Monday, the memoir’s debut at No. 1 on the New York Times Best Sellers list included a dagger symbol — (†) — that denotes the sales were in bulk purchases.
(Take a moment to enjoy the oddity of The New York Times actually blowing the whistle itself — the same “newspaper of record” that concealed Joe Biden’s disintegration as long as it could.)
Bulk purchases are a staple of big-name authors embarking on book tours — just the kind of book tour “Dr. Jill” announced on Facebook in April.
“It’s almost impossible to not have bulk orders” when celebrities are involved, publicist Lauren Cobello, founder of Leverage with Media PR, told the newspaper.
Bookstores that host author events will buy hundreds of copies in advance.
Right, then. So, Jill Biden’s book was a “best seller” among the same folks who are paid to sell the book.
And once that market was filled?
The book tanked. In its second week on the list, it had dropped to No. 3, the New York Post reported. On the latest list — technically dated for July 5 — it’s dropped off entirely.
It is very rare for a book that debuts at number one on the New York Times bestseller list to fall off the list completely the following week.
But Dr. Jill’s did! | @jimgeraghtyhttps://t.co/IzrpbMw1SU
— National Review (@NRO) June 30, 2026
That’s a pretty good sign that Americans aren’t exactly clamoring for a fresh view of the Biden years — a four-year disaster by any objective standard.
One of the few to have actually read the book was Vahaken Mouradian, literary editor of the National Review. Judging by his review, about the only thing newsworthy about Jill’s view has already made the news in spades — how she wrote that she thought her husband was suffering a stroke during his catastrophic debate with Donald Trump on June 27, 2024.
The idea that a woman could seriously think her husband of decades was suffering a stroke on national television and do nothing about it — then take him out for more campaigning afterward — said more about Jill Biden’s heartlessness than it did about the Biden administration.
JILL BIDEN: “The doctors told me [Joe Biden] was fine. I’m not a doctor! I mean, I am a doctor…HAHAHA.”
No shame. pic.twitter.com/UJzdY2mA7o
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 2, 2026
But juicing up book sales with bulk purchases is just the kind of behavior Americans should expect from a Biden — no matter what the first name is.
Hunter Biden made a global reputation as a grifter on the family name, but he’s far from the only Biden who’s benefited from Joe’s political career.
So, as usual, nothing is above board with the Bidens, including the first lady’s book “sales.” However many of the wretched things were actually printed, there are likely to be plenty left over for the recycling bins.
If only it were that easy to get rid of her husband’s legacy.
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Joe has spent more than 30 years as a reporter, copy editor and metro desk editor in newsrooms in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Florida. He’s been with Liftable Media since 2015.
Joe has spent more than 30 years as a reporter, copy editor and metro editor in newsrooms in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Florida. He’s been with Liftable Media since 2015. Largely a product of Catholic schools, who discovered Ayn Rand in college, Joe is a lifelong newspaperman who learned enough about the trade to be skeptical of every word ever written. He was also lucky enough to have a job that didn’t need a printing press to do it.
Birthplace
Philadelphia
Nationality
American
