(waits, watches. pauses, grimaces, then slowly tries to reel everyone in)
The German use of publishing to influence US politicians and public opinion is under-reported. When was the 'explosion' of political (all anti-Trump) publishing first get reported?
The day Trump took office.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/mar/11/stratospheric-political-book-sales-almost-double-in-two-years
Lit out all the US states, agencies, politicians and spouses who had publishing contracts with or were published by subsidiaries of Bertelsmann and you get a sense of this company's projected influence in the US.
It is nearly completely controlled by the extended Mohn Family via stock and a foundation (the foundation controls 85%).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertelsmann
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penguin_Random_House_Tower
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penguin_Random_House
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penguin_Books
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Random_House
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearson_plc
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking_Press
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_A._Knopf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doubleday_(publisher)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertelsmann_Printing_Group
also see see Bertelsmann Education Group
Obama's election book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreams_from_My_Father
1995 publisher: Times Books / Henry Holt-MacMillan / Holtzbrinck Publishing Group - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holtzbrinck_Publishing_Group
2004 publisher: Three River Press / Crown Publishing / Random House - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertelsmann
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_and_Fury
publisher: Henry Holt-MacMillan / Holtzbrinck Publishing Group - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holtzbrinck_Publishing_Group