MAGA Comes for... My Upcoming Surf Memoir?

The Washington Examiner says I should revise my book to reflect Trump's new "golden age of common sense." This may surprise you, but I disagree.

For the last few weeks, I’ve been trying to figure out the right time to ask you, a reader of this newsletter, to pre-order It’s Only Drowning, my new book about learning to surf with my Joe-Rogan-superfan brother-in-law.

Then, over the weekend, something weird happened.

A little context: for those lucky enough to be unfamiliar with The Washington Examiner, it’s a small but influential part of D.C.’s right-wing media scene. They publish a mix of news with a conservative spin, shameless propaganda, and occasional blatant falsehoods.

And also, apparently, ambush reviews of books that aren’t even coming out for another three months.

Like all writers of comic memoir, I share the belief that my fun little stories deserve attention. Even so, I was surprised when on Saturday — after a week in which Trump tanked the economy, Senate Democrats caved on the budget, a measles outbreak spread through Texas, and the president of the United States turned the White House into a set of a car commercial — the main story on the Washington Examiner’s opinion page was a snarky review of my book. Which, I remind you, won’t even hit shelves until June 24th.

Priorities!

The Examiner was not a fan of It’s Only Drowning, or of me personally. (They call me a leftist elitist. Go figure.) But the reviewer, Mark Judge, focused less on telling people not to read the book, and more on telling me to rewrite it. In light of Trump’s election, he wrote, “Litt would do well to go back and reevaluate his words before the June publication date.”

A few things about that.

First: what an odd and vaguely threatening way to write about a memoir that’s largely about the number of ways an aging millennial can fall off a surfboard.

Second: I’m flattered! Seriously. Getting any media outlet to review your book is hard enough. Getting them to publish an entirely new genre of review (in this case, “suggestions for a regime-friendly rewrite”) is pretty much unheard of.

Third: I’m a little scared. Advance copies of books are embargoed. With a very few exceptions, reviewers aren’t allowed to cover them or quote extensively from them, because the text isn’t final. While ambush reviews aren’t the biggest threat to the rule of law these days, they’re not something a reputable outlet would publish.

And there’s a reason The Washington Examiner published this one. The goal of a piece like this is to shape coverage of a book before people can read it for themselves - and ideally, to tank it before it has time to find an audience.

Which brings me to my big ask:

I’m hoping you’ll pre-order a hardcover copy of It’s Only Drowning from Bookshop.org or Barnes & Noble? Or Amazon, if that’s your preference. Pre-ordering is the best way to support my writing in general - and that’s especially true today.

I’ll do a follow-up post in a week or two about why pre-orders, and hardcover pre-orders in particular, are so important for authors. But the biggest reason pre-ordering would be particularly helpful right now is that when right-wing media does underhanded things, and it backfires, they’re less likely to do underhanded things in the future.

In part so we can quantify the amount of backfiring, and in part because I already wanted to do something exclusive to Word Salad readers, I’m launching a special pre-order giveaway. From now until March 30th, if you pre-order a hardcover copy of It’s Only Drowning and write “pre-ordered!” in the comments, I’ll put you in a drawing to win one of three speech-coaching sessions. We can talk about your upcoming wedding toast, presentation to investors, email to the boss, book idea, fiery tirade outside a Tesla dealership, or anything else writing-related that’s on your mind.

(For those who have already pre-ordered It’s Only Drowning, thank you! If you comment on any of post between now and the end of March, you’ll be included in the drawing. Also, to keep things classy and literary over here, if anyone would rather comment with a favorite opening line of a book rather than “pre-ordered!” that will count too.)

Last but not least, I recognize that out of all the causes to support these days, “memoir about Obama speechwriter surfing with his Joe-Rogan-fan brother-in-law” may not make your list. So I just want to say that, in addition to the fact that I would deeply appreciate you supporting my work, I also think you should buy It’s Only Drowning because you’ll enjoy reading it. I’m really proud of how it turned out - as an easy, fun summer read that still touches on some serious themes - and I’m confident you’ll like it a lot.

Being Self-Righteous Vs. Being Right

Some authors can read a negative review - even a politically motivated one - without wanting to refute every single criticism. I am not one of those authors. I will try not to indulge my desire to do a point-by-point rebuttal. But I did want talk about just two things in the Washington Examiner review, because I think they relate to what’s happening in America right now.

First, as I was writing this book, I was very aware that I held the pen, and that Matt, my brother-in-law, was trusting me with our story. So I felt strongly that if anyone wound up looking like a jerk, it should be me. And I think that on this point, the Washington Examiner and I agree that I succeeded mightily!

“Litt,” writes Mr. Judge, “comes across as hectoring and self-righteous, whereas Kappler is laid back and filled with common sense.”

Matt, congratulations: your personality gets five stars!

Matt, laid back and full of common sense

Here’s the thing, though: while I don’t share Mark Judge’s view that I’m terrible, I actually don’t totally dispute his characterization of me. Especially in the opening chapters. I’m much more laid back than I was a few years ago, and probably less hectoring, too. Surfing with Matt is a big reason why. What I learned - and what I hope a lot of non-MAGA readers take away from It’s Only Drowning when it comes out - is that when we can bring ourselves to act less self-righteous, people are more likely to notice when we’re right.

I think about this when I see people gloating over Republican voters who didn’t expect Trump to do all the Project 2025 stuff he’s doing. We can feel superior because we saw it coming, or we can try to join forces and save the country from Elon and Trump. It will be very difficult to do both.

Why Trump and Musk See Friendship as a Threat

The last point I’ll make is this. While the Internet is large, and someone has to try and fill it, I still find myself wondering why someone at the Examiner decided to focus their time and attention on an advance copy of my book. Instead of, you know, on literally anything else going on in the world.

If I had to venture a guess, it’s that a comic memoir’s insignificance in the grand scheme of things of things is part of what made it an attractive target. This isn’t like taking over the Kennedy Center or appointing Mel Gibson as an ambassador to Hollywood while arming him to teeth. Going after a lighthearted book - even one by a former Obama speechwriter - sends a signal that cultural dissent, anywhere, will not be tolerated by the new D.C. establishment.

In fact, what seemed to most bother The Examiner was that I refuse to change my cultural preferences just because Trump won an election. As evidence of my leftist elitism, Judge pointed to the fact that (spoiler alert) I continue to prefer NPR to Joe Rogan, local food to frozen pizza, and doing stuff in groups to doing stuff alone. I find it weird that this upsets him, because these aren’t political principles. They’re preferences. MAGA and its fellow travelers are treating American culture in much the same way Trump is treating Canada: demanding total capitulation, then acting all huffy when they don’t get it.

I think that’s silly. Also, boring. We all have our likes and dislikes, and hopefully they don’t all fit neatly into partisan boxes. I’m not the kumbaya type. I have no interest in surfing with Stephen Miller. But most Americans, thank goodness, are not Stephen Miller. I believe we can live together with - and even become good friends with - people who see the world differently, even when we think they’re wrong about some important stuff. And we can do it without compromising our own values.

If I’m right, then that really is existentially threatening to the MAGA. Because if we stop battling each other over every minor outrage, we’ll have way more time to join together to battle the major ones: gazillionaires looting our country; our basic rights and freedoms under attack; a president who plainly doesn’t care about the well-being of his own voters, let alone the rest of us.

One Last Time

I’ll have much more to say about this when the book comes out. In the meantime, I’ll ask one just once more: if you could pre-order a hardcover copy of It’s Only Drowning today from bookshop.org, Barnes and Noble, or (even) Amazon, I’d be really grateful.

Once you’ve done that, don’t forget to comment with “Pre-ordered!” (or a favorite first line of a book) in order to be entered into the drawing for a one-on-one speech coaching session. And so I can share with you exactly how badly the Examiner miscalculated.

Thanks again, and I’ll have a more typical post - most likely about whether Democrats should embrace disarray - later this week.

David

P.S. Since my book is all about how having the confidence to disagree without demonizing each other: Mark, if someone forwards you this, and you find yourself in New Jersey this summer, let me know. Happy to paddle out together any time.