Citing "high demand and extraordinary interest," Simon & Schuster this week announced it is pushing up the publication date for Mary L. Trump's tell-all Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man. The book will now be published on July 14, two weeks earlier than its planned July 28 publication date. To meet the growing demand, S&S had gone back to press for a sixth printing which will bring total copies in print to 600,000.
The news comes as a pitched legal battle over the book's publication rages on, with a July 10 appearance date set before New York State Supreme Court judge Hal B. Greenwald set for Friday, July 10. On June 26, Robert S. Trump filed suit on behalf of the Trump family, including President Donald J. Trump, seeking to stop publication of the book based on a sweeping confidentiality clause agreed to in 2001, when the estate of the president’s father, Fred Trump Sr., was settled.
On June 30, Greenwald issued an Order to Show Cause and a Temporary Restraining Order blocking the author and her publisher, Simon & Schuster, from publishing the book, pending a July 10 decision. A day later, however, an appeals court vacated the Temporary Restraining Order against Simon & Schuster, holding that since the publisher is not a party to any confidentiality agreement with the Trump family, they could not be enjoined without more fact-finding.
In addition to the First Amendment arguments against an order restraining publication, S&S attorneys on June 30 insisted that such an order would be futile, as the publisher has already printed and shipped tens of thousands of copies to booksellers across the nation. Lawyers for Mary L. Trump echoed that argument in a July 2 brief. “Ms. Trump has delivered the manuscript of the book; under the agreement with Simon & Schuster, she no longer has the power to stop its publication,” Mary L. Trump's lawyers argued. "Injunctive relief thus would be ineffectual. That means not only that the injunction should not issue, but also that Plaintiff lacks standing to seek it.”
An S&S press release describes the book as a firsthand account that reveals "a nightmare of traumas, destructive relationships, and a tragic combination of neglect and abuse" that helps to explain "how specific events and general family patterns created the damaged man who currently occupies the Oval Office." Mary L. Trump holds a Ph.D. from the Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies, and taught graduate courses in trauma, psychopathology, and developmental psychology.
Meanwhile, in a brief statement released on July 6, Mary L. Trump's camp broke their silence on the book and the legal action pending against her.
“The act by a sitting president to muzzle a private citizen is just the latest in a series of disturbing behaviors which have already destabilized a fractured nation in the face of a global pandemic," reps for the author said. "If Mary cannot comment, one can only help but wonder: what is Donald Trump so afraid of?”
Clarification: this story has been edited to reflect that while the parties have requested oral argument, no appearance is required on the July 10 appearance date. The court will rule on the briefs submitted.
