Former Vice President Mike Pence has signed a lucrative book deal with publisher Simon & Schuster, which is reportedly between $3–4million for two books to make up his political memoirs.
The Guardian has reported that this makes Pence the “first of former president Donald Trump’s inner circle to announce such a lucrative arrangement,” and that the first installment is scheduled to be released in 2023. Apparently, former White House adviser Kellyanne Conway and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are working on their own books.
“I am grateful to have the opportunity to tell the story of my life in public service to the American people, from serving in Congress, to the Indiana governor’s office and as vice president of the United States,” Pence said in a statement. “I look forward to working with the outstanding team at Simon & Schuster to invite readers on a journey from a small town in Indiana to Washington DC.”
Simon & Schuster’s vice president, Dana Canedy, dropped hints that Pence’s book would be revealing, but about what exactly we can’t be sure.
“Vice President Pence’s life and work, his journey as a Christian, the challenges and triumphs he has faced, and the lessons he has learned, tells an American story of extraordinary public service during a time of unrivaled public interest in our government and politics,” Canedy said. “His revelatory autobiography will be the definitive book on one of the most consequential presidencies in American history.”
It does not shock me at all that Pence or other members of the Trump inner circle will capitalize off their infection on the world. I mean, this is capitalism at its finest. Even those who hate the Trump administration will be curious if Pence will drop any information or insight. It is frustrating, but nothing new.
One of the things that have come out of the Trump administration is this whitewashing of past presidents and their own toxic administrations. There is no American president without a stain on his record, when it comes down to it.
If there is anything to be realized after these past few years, it should be a better way to engage with our concept of the presidency politically. We have put so much political focus on who we allow in the White House and the symbolic victories of representation that we have given all of this power to people who can exploit their positions in lucrative book deals—to give “their side” when the reality is that the president’s side of the story or the vice president’s side means nothing next to their politics, policy, and the lived reality of the citizens they govern.
Mike Pence has gotten his payout for bringing a sense of pro-life, conservative clout to Trump. Who’s next?
(via The Guardian, image: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
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