Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan's 'Regime Change' Surpasses 500,000 Sales Despite Trump's Attacks
Key Takeaways
- •Regime Change has exceeded 500,000 sales in hardcover, audiobook, and e-book formats during its first month of publication.
- •The book was written by New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, both longtime journalists covering Trump and his political circle.
- •The book includes accounts of alleged abuses of power in Trump’s second term and previously unreported details involving the Epstein files and his personal habits.
- •Publishing figures cited by Axios described the book’s performance as unusual in a difficult market for political nonfiction.
- •Trump dismissed the book on Truth Social as largely fictional and criticized Haberman, while Swan invited Trump to an on-camera interview.
A new exposé chronicling President Donald Trump's second term is on pace to become the bestselling non-fiction title of 2026, despite direct efforts by the president to discredit it.
According to an Axios report published Wednesday, Regime Change — written by New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan — has surpassed 500,000 units sold across hardcover, audiobook, and e-book formats in its first month of publication. The figure positions the book as a strong candidate for the top-selling non-fiction release of the year. Half a million units in a single month is a notable threshold in publishing, particularly for political non-fiction, a category that publishers have described as commercially soft in the years since the post-2016 "Trump bump" that once drove blockbuster sales for books about his first term.
Drawing on years of reporting and interviews with close sources, Regime Change details what the authors describe as unprecedented abuses of power following Trump's return to the White House. The book also reveals previously unreported details, including efforts by Trump's staff to act behind his back regarding the Epstein files and unflattering descriptions of his personal habits. Both authors rank among the most closely read political journalists covering Trump's orbit: Haberman has reported on Trump for more than a decade across the New York Post, Politico, CNN, and the Times, while Swan built his reputation at Axios, where his widely circulated 2020 sit-down interview with Trump drew attention for the president's difficulty answering detailed policy questions.
Matt Latimer, co-founder of Javelin, Haberman's literary agency, told Axios: "Reports of the death of the nonfiction book have been greatly exaggerated."
Keith Urbahn, the other Javelin co-founder, offered a more cautious assessment: "This doesn't necessarily mean that Trump books are back. It's still uphill sledding for political books... This book is different. Maggie and Swan pierced the veil of a White House that has been pretty locked down on scoops and scenes. 'Regime Change' is a unicorn of publishing. It goes well beyond political circles to people who are hungry for a narrative and frame to make sense of Trump 2.0. Even Trump and his team aren't disputing the facts."
The Daily Beast reported that the sales milestone represents a significant setback for Trump, who sought to discredit the book as a "Fake News" hatchet job in a post on Truth Social.
"Based on a very quick and boring briefing concerning the Magot Hagerman book about me, it is mostly made up, Fake News, largely fiction, as have been most of the things she has written about me for so many years," Trump wrote, later calling Haberman "a third rate writer and intellect."
Notably, Trump did not mention Swan in his post. Swan responded by inviting the president to participate in an on-camera interview "any time he wants."
