Learning Bad Habits
You’d think that Mike Pence would have learned a thing or two from TFG and apparently he did, just not anything helpful.
You’d think Mike Pence, having watched first hand TFG implode in a colorless rainbow of insanity, would have known not to repeat some of the same mistakes.
Well, you would have thought wrong.
Former Vice President Mike Pence’s Simon and Schuster autobiography “So Help Me God” was released Nov. 15, 2022, but on Nov. 9, Pence spent a hefty sum at an online bookstore, according to financial reports from the Federal Elections Commission.
In the fourth quarter of 2022, Pence showed that he spent a whopping $91,000 at Books On Call, LLC, the largest expenditure in his full financial report. The book then suddenly, or perhaps coincidently, scored a spot on the New York Times’ Bestseller’s List.
So, just like TFG and TFG, Jr, Pence got himself on the Best Seller List. The trick to this little scheme is that they use campaign funds to buy the books, but then get nice personal checks to themselves as their profit from the sale. So, they make the Best Seller List and laundry money at the same time.
Cute trick.
A little more background on the practice:
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/474662-the-myth-of-the-conservative-bestseller/
1The Republicans have honed best selling books to a fine art.
2He’s a Rethug. You expected him to not act like one?
3And don’t forget, they have the satisfaction of cutting down forests to print the “books.” Even raising the CO2 level if liberals burn their “books.”
4The former Vice Poodle and so many of TFG’s associates need to fade away. The ***breaking news*** is that Allen Weisselberg was sentenced to 5 months. Meh. If only all of TFG’s crew would receive 50 months for in exchange for their promise(s) to remain forevuh silent on both TV and social media.
5Pence apparently isn’t that smart, or at least sophisticated. The usual method is to have a PAC buy the books for you. That way you don’t have to report anything, and you get the same results. Buying them with your campaign funds is not at all sophisticated, but maybe he didn’t have a PAC to rely on. Sometimes a man has to do what a man has to do. Even a boy who calls his wife Mother.
6The old misc expense. I’m sure the FEC will connect the dots and take appropriate action. No they won’t, which is why there are no rules to grift and self profit in R politics. At least I’m sure he’ll claim the income- NOT. No wonder Santos feels so comfortable in the repugnantican party because lying and cheating is not only OK, it’s encouraged.
7My local public library has a book sale room run by volunteers. It takes discontinued or contributed books and sells them for 50 cents (paperback) or $1 (hardback) with proceeds going to the library. Everytime one of these conservative “bestsellers” appears, within a few weeks the book sale rooms will be flooded with unopened boxes of them, donated by local Republican party offices. They will put two on the shelves just for grins, but those are never bought.
Best of all, every few months they will have a “gotta get rid of all these books” weekend, with prices dropping until on Monday anyone can cart off all they want for free. And if you go there Monday evening, the place is empty except for those political grift tomes, and empty coffee cups. It’s off to the paper recycling center after that.
This is one sign of the gulf between liberals and conservatives. Ls buy, read, and share books. Cs treat them as something to have on a shelf behind them(*) during video calls, for money laundering, or as tokens in some game that no one will play with them.
(*) Lately La Boebert et al seem to feel it’s more important to have rifles and handguns prominently displayed instead. Not even the brochure showing how to break down and clean the weapon sullies those pristine pastures of ignorance.
8I buy boxes of books from dead people, usually a dollar a box. If there’s one book I want, it’s a bargain.
Since I live in a Democrat-less county, there are almost always lots of rightwing books. People do buy them (the bookstore in my town sells them), but they do not get read. Very rarely does one show signs it was ever opened.
9Harry, another feature I left off that you might profit from. The first day of the weekend sales, there’s some young-ins scanning the ISBNs with phones. They get an instant lookup and current price for the book, and buy the ones that can be resold for a profit. Especially being in a college town, books pop up that go for $20 or more from professors dying and having their books donated.
So if you’ve got a smart phone … maybe you can do the same. Even without one, I’ve grabbed six books worth more than $45 each. Then gave them to students at the university that could use them.
10His 2024 campaign takes the books and Mike signs them and they give them away with donations to the campaign. Pure grift.
11Seriously. One of our family books passed down from my great great grandfather is an original copy of Mein Kempf actually signed by the freaky fascist. We do not care about some E-Bay value. The entire family is agreed that when that volume passes onto Jane and I, we’ll donate it gratis to an appropriate library. If the Library of Congress had been interested, it would already be there. We’re not into book burning but maybe this ‘rare’ edition deserves burial in the barnyard deep under the cow piles. Fortunately, my parents and grandparents are healthy, so Jane and I have time to consider options.
Seriously. Good friends of the WMDBS, what would you suggest?
12Jane & PKM @12 Although it makes me nauseous to write this, the signed book is of historical significance. And also obviously weighted with great controversy. Finding a home for it won’t be easy. Maybe try the WWII museum in New Orleans. Look on their website for donations or acquisitions, then the email address for a curator and/or the acquisitions registrar. If you can’t find an email address, call the museum and ask to speak with either a curator or the acquisitions registrar. You probably will end up leaving a voicemail, please be sure to leave your contact information. If you can get through to an actual person at the switchboard they should be able to give you email addresses.
Have you already contacted the history department or archives at the state universities in Nevada or elsewhere in the country? If you can determine that there are WWII history scholars/academics or archives there, there might be interest in keeping the book for vetted scholarly research only.
I’m sure you’ve already rejected this but be prepared to have people (not any of the shop customers of course!) suggest contacting the various Holocaust memorial museums and centers. (Yes, this really happens, many of these institutions get offered donations of Nazi material on a regular basis.) Just politely remind them how inappropriate this is to an institution whose mission it is to tell the stories of the victims, survivors, and their descendants.
When reaching out to various institutions, stress that you do not want the book to be on public exhibit (imagine the Neo-Nazi fanboys who would show up to worship, shudder), that you are offering it only for scholarly research and archives. Let them know that you will not be selling it publicly or privately and that you will not be taking a tax deduction for the donation. This reassures them that you are a sincere donor of this problematic artifact. Have digital images ready that you can send via email.
13I offer these suggestions from my decades of employment in the museum collections field. If you would like further suggestions, let me know and we can figure out a way to get in personal contact.
Mikey, scamming the system .
14yet another @ 13 When I was a pawnbroker, we occasionally got Nazi material, usually (but not always) souvenirs brought back by GIs. Since I was the goy and the owner was Jewish, I had the task of finding homes for the stuff. Veterans’ memorials,which you would think would be the first choice, were somewhat reluctant; too much of the stuff, I guess.
15And it’s called “So Help Me God,” which is what you say when swearing to be truthful. Irony is dead.
16yet another baby boomer @13, we thank you sharing your professional advice. We’ll follow it; all of it. Offensive inflammatory material demands caution as you highlighted.
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