On Wednesday, The Washington Post reported that a number of former Trump administration staffers — including Elaine Chao, former Secretary of Transportation and also wife to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell — are having trouble getting new jobs. The stink from the former president, made all the more rancid from the events of Jan. 6, is so pungent that the public sector wants nothing to do with them. But the same doesn’t apply to Trump’s number two. On the very same day as the Post‘s report, Mike Pence signed a seven-figure deal for not one but two books.
The first, scheduled to hit shelves in 2023, is, of course, a memoir. What will he leave in? What will leave out? What could he say about his former partner-in-crime, who three months ago left him at the mercy of his violent supporters, some of who wished to lynch him? Whatever he dishes, he’s receiving somewhere between $3 million and $4 million for the efforts.
It’s all but inevitable that everyone involved with the previous administration — not the least being Trump himself — will eventually sign some lucrative book deal. But seeing as the dust has still not settled from the chaotic final months of the last presidency, many on social media felt it was, for one thing, too soon.
Some wondered if Pence will deal with his many failures as a public servant, both as veep and as governor of Indiana.
Mike Pence was in charge of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, during a period in which 400,000-odd Americans died from the coronavirus. I hope that gets a chapter or two in the new books. https://t.co/Tt7rOFM9eT
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) April 7, 2021
Pence is partly responsible for the preventable deaths of 400,000 Americans. I’m sure he’ll apologize for that in his book. https://t.co/pUYmeX7p7K
— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) April 7, 2021
I hope Mike Pence’s story of “his faith and public service” includes how his inhumane policies as IN governor drove one of the largest HIV epidemics in decades and fueled opioid deaths. And that was *before* he became VP and backed the Muslim ban and child separation…. https://t.co/etxilf4wga
— Garrett M. Graff (@vermontgmg) April 7, 2021
Mike Pence was the most spineless, cowardly Vice Presidents in history. He should have invoked the 25th. He should have raised the alarm on COVID.
He was invisible.
He should remain so.
His book will be garbage.— BrooklynDad_Defiant! (@mmpadellan) April 8, 2021
Others wondered who, exactly, a book by Mike Pence — hated by Trump loyalists, loathed by Trump critics — is for.
Who is the audience for a Mike Pence book? The MAGA people hate him. Anyone with an ounce of intelligence know it would read like watching paint dry.
I hope Simon & Shuster chokes on their advance.
— Amy Siskind
(@Amy_Siskind) April 8, 2021
Who — seriously, *who* — does Simon & Schuster imagine’s going to read a Mike Pence memoir? This really feels like a case of out-of-touch publishing unaware of the fact that Pence has almost zero base or love among conservatives.
— Jeff Sharlet (@JeffSharlet) April 7, 2021
Lol aint nobody reading no book written by Mike Pence.
— Covie (@covie_93) April 8, 2021
Some suggested he do something more productive, like testify against the man who almost got him killed.
Since @Mike_Pence is feeling so chatty, maybe he’d like to testify in front of Congress about his efforts over-seeing the WH’s Coronavirus Task Force … https://t.co/YXFmrHcmvT
— Kurt Bardella (@kurtbardella) April 7, 2021
But others speculated it’s just a cynical cash grab.
Mike Pence doesn’t have a chance in hell in 2024, and he knows it. But his book sales will make him millions of dollars. And as long as he keeps hinting that he’ll run in 2024, the media will keep giving attention to his book, which means even more millions for him. It’s a sham.
— Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) April 7, 2021
And some had savage jokes for a man who did nothing, even after his life nearly ended.
To be a true autobiography of Mike Pence this will be the first book to be completely spineless. https://t.co/DbVG6dR7aS
— Albert W Dubreuil (@AWDubreuil) April 7, 2021
(Via CNN)