Mike Pence finds himself in a pickle

| 6:00 pm EDT April 23, 2021
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It’s not an easy time being Mike Pence. After having to publicly admit his own electoral defeat in Congress following the Capitol insurrection that delayed Congress’ final roll call of the votes, he’s been couch surfing in Indiana while trying to stay relevant, despite a large number of Trump fans who turned against him since he failed to do what they somehow thought he had the authority to do. When he has popped up in the news, it’s mostly for the wrong reasons – political commentary no one asked for, or to tease a 2024 presidential run, despite his overall lack of popularity and charisma that was the object of ridicule even before he became vice president.

Things seemed to be looking up when he used his specter of running for president to sign a seven figure book deal with the prestigious Simon & Schuster, a decision that the publisher’s president has defended as hearing from a position they may not necessarily agree with. The staff at S&S had other ideas, however. Now they’re circulating an open letter within the company protesting the book deal and refusing to have anything to do with the book – quite a bit of irony that it should happen to the guy who rose to political fame over his weak defense of Indiana’s religious freedom bill as governor.

In their letter, the staff reminded their president, Jonathan Karp, that Simon & Schuster turned away a similar book deal last year with the police officer who shot and killed Breonna Taylor, and warned the company against giving a platform to a man who’s spent his life advocating bigotry and homophobia. The book is due to be released in 2023, but it’s doubtful who will read it – and the staff is already calling for the publisher to refuse future offers for former members of the Trump administration.