This Moment Caused A Surprising Bestseller

Most of the time, books on the bestseller list are new releases, but over the weekend, a slender little volume from the eighteenth century topped the rankings. A pocket version of the U.S. Constitution was among the bestselling books on Amazon on Saturday after Khizr Khan, the father of slain U.S. soldier Humayun Khan, offered to lend it to Donald Trump. And while Donald Trump may or may not pick up a copy, it seems plenty of other Americans are.

The version of the Constitution that made it into Amazon's Top 10 on Saturday is a 52-page pamphlet put out by the National Center for Constitutional Studies and sells for one dollar. Khan, a Muslim-American lawyer, held up a copy during his speech at the Democratic National Convention (though his appears to be a different edition — still, the text is the same).

Donald Trump, who has in the past shown an embarrassing lack of familiarity with the Constitution, later attacked the Khan family, suggesting that Khizr Khan's wife didn't speak because, as a Muslim woman, she wasn't allowed. (Ghazala Khan has in fact spoken publicly about her son). Trump also said that Khizr Khan had "no right" to say he has never read the Constitution — a right that is, ironically enough, afforded to Khan by the Constitution.

The controversy of Trump's remarks raged throughout the weekend. Related hashtags trended on Twitter, politicians on both sides of the aisle denounced Trump's comments, and the U.S. Constitution became one of the bestselling books in America. The National Center for Constitutional Studies pamphlet first climbed into Amazon's Top 10 on Saturday and stayed there through Sunday morning, reaching as high as the number two spot.

So even though it's still unclear how familiar Donald Trump might be with the Constitution, it seems the American people will soon be getting more acquainted with our founding document. And as someone who still has a pocket Constitution handed out by the ACLU on campus in college, I think that's pretty cool.

Image: Giphy