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About the Process

How the sacred chronicle was written

The Form

The Book of Don takes the form of an ancient biblical chronicle — complete with numbered verses, interludes, beatitudes, commandments, and a world-weary scribe who serves as narrator. The choice was deliberate: the Trump era has been mythologized so thoroughly by both sides that the only honest way to tell it might be as myth.

The structure mirrors the Bible's own: Genesis (the origin), Exodus (the journey), Kings (the reign), Lamentations (the fall), and Revelation (the return). Twelve books cover the arc from Queens to the second presidency, with interludes, codex fragments, and satirical "sacred texts" woven throughout.

Every chapter, every verse, every aside follows the cadences of sacred text while describing cable news cycles, real estate deals, Twitter posts, and congressional hearings. The juxtaposition is the point — and the comedy.

The Research

The chronicle draws on public events, public statements, and matters of public record. The dates are real. The events happened. The quotes are drawn from the documented record. What changes is the lens: compression, stylization, and comic exaggeration transform the news cycle into something that reads like it was inscribed on parchment by a scribe who has been watching all of this unfold and is deeply, professionally tired.

Many events have been compressed, stylized, or rendered through comic exaggeration for effect. This is satire, not journalism. The scribe takes liberties. The liberties are the point. But beneath the liberties, the bones of the chronicle are built on documented fact.

Where It Started

Early work from @theapotheosisoftrump on Instagram — bible-style memes that evolved into the concept for the book.

Trump in the Garden of Eden — Genesis 3:5 — bible-style meme from @theapotheosisoftrump Instagram

Genesis 3:5 — "For God knows..."

Trump and the great fish — Jonah 1:17 — bible-style meme from @theapotheosisoftrump Instagram

Jonah 1:17 — "And Trump appointed a great fish..."

Trump building the ark — Genesis 7:11-18 — bible-style meme from @theapotheosisoftrump Instagram

Genesis 7:11-18 — "The rain came down..."

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In the Author's Own Words

This project began in 2025, watching the public record of the Trump era unfold and wrestling with what it meant — not just politically, but mythologically. I didn't want a partisan hack-job. That's been done, exhaustively, by people far more politically committed and with considerably less humor. I focused instead on the myth-making — the gap between the man and the monument. I thought of The Apotheosis of Washington in the Capitol rotunda. How do we build legends and then actually come to believe them?

It started on Instagram as bible-style memes under @theapotheosisoftrump—Trump in place of biblical figures, real scripture as captions. Over time, invented scenes replaced the originals, and the concept for the book arrived: Trump's story told as mythical chronicle, as though it were an ancient text to be discovered.

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AI-assisted tools were used for organization and tone checks. The rest — every chapter, every verse, every choice of cadence — is human. The manuscript was then worked over by a professional editor, who used no AI-assisted tools. The cover was designed by Cover Kitchen.

In the Grand Tradition

The Book of Don joins a long tradition of satirical works that use formal, elevated literary structures to examine political power. From Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal to Mark Twain's political writings, from the mock-heroic poetry of Alexander Pope to the political allegories of George Orwell — satire has always been one of literature's most enduring tools for examining power and the myths around it.

What makes this work distinctive is its chosen form: the biblical chronicle. By casting the Trump era in the language and structure of sacred text, the author reveals something about the era that straight journalism and conventional political commentary cannot quite capture — the mythological quality of this particular moment in American life, the way the facts themselves feel scriptural in their improbability.

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"The republic endures. The scribe writes this as the most recent available observation, not as prophecy."

— Epilogue, Verse 18

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★ eBook Available Now • Hardcover & Paperback Release 14 June 2026 ★