I have strange feelings about Mike Pence. Well, maybe that came out the wrong way. Look, Mike Pence is horrible. He’s a conservative in every way possible, and hates gay people, people of color, and anyone who doesn’t fit in the white, heterosexual, church-attending model that he thinks America should look like.

That said, January 6th. On January 6th, 2021 he had a job to do. And he did it. And it probably wasn’t easy. For 5 years he kissed Donald Trump’s ass to such a degree people made jokes about it. I mean, who can ever forget this video:

But on January 6th, Pence did the right thing. He did his job. No, he shouldn’t be commended for doing his job…of course not. But in this situation, where he was dealing with unbelievable and PUBLIC pressure from Trump and others in Trump’s orbit, it was a tough move to do. Pence even refused to leave the Capitol because he didn’t want to seem weak. So yeah, Pence sucks. But he did one good thing and I do think it’s important that that one moment in time is remembered and appreciated.

Now, on to the book.

Pence’s autobiography, So Help Me God, was near the top of The New York Times Best Sellers List in November, but it appears he might have gamed the system to score so highly and beat other books that normally Pence wouldn’t have had a chance against.

Donald Trump Jr. tried to buy his way onto the list in 2019 and was widely ridiculed when it was revealed that bulk purchases by the Republican Party, his dad, and conservative groups were what had pushed the book’s sales. Now it appears that Pence used the same trick.

According to financial reports from the Federal Elections Committee, Pence spent $91,000 at an online bookstore shortly before his book hit stores, helping it to shoot up to second place on the list. Pence’s report identified the purchase as “collateral materials.”

Books are typically marked with a dagger (†) on The New York Times Best Sellers List if bulk purchases are suspected, but Pence’s book is not flagged.

“Institutional, special interest, group or bulk purchases, if and when they are included, are at the discretion of The New York Times Best-Seller List Desk editors based on standards for inclusion that encompass proprietary vetting and audit protocols, corroborative reporting and other statistical determinations,” according to the outlet’s outline of their standards.

So, the dagger is at the discretion of the NYT editors and who knows what happened there. But $91,000 is a lot of money, and it buys a lot of books.

Michelle Obama’s book, The Light We Carry, debuted on the list the same week. While Pence ended up in second place, Obama was number one.

Her book was not flagged, obviously.

Twitter had a field day:

Appears the single-most pricey expenditure by @Mike_Pence’s political action cmte during Q4 2022 was $91,000 on 11/9 at a book store, per a new @FEC filing.

Perhaps not-so-coincidentally, Pence’s new book, “So Help Me God,” became a @nytimes best-seller upon release in November. pic.twitter.com/IAdRbJ4G7c

— Dave Levinthal (@davelevinthal) January 8, 2023

“Mike Pence spends $91,000 buying copies of his own book to put it on the Best Seller list…”

Hey Mike,
Your awful book does have one thing you don’t:

A spine.📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚

— Michael (@MichaelBense) January 9, 2023

so what’s mikey gonna do with a garage full of his own boring books that no one wants to read?

— SciComm journalist at Forbes  (@GrrlScientist) January 8, 2023

This is exactly how books like this end up on the NYT Best Seller's list. No one buys them, so they scramble to make it look like they were popular. So sad for Mayonnaise Mike.

— Matt S (@12_to_6_Curve) January 8, 2023

And Pence gets a percentage of that $91k to put in his pocket.

Tell me this isn’t a grift.

— Ducking Wilder (@DuckingWilder) January 8, 2023

Perhaps they wanted to make sure they had plenty on hand in case there was another toilet paper shortage…? 🤣

— Michael (@GuardianOfLight) January 9, 2023

In the fourth quarter of 2022, Pence spent a whopping $91,000 at Books On Call, LLC, the largest expenditure in his Federal Elections Commission report. The book then suddenly, or perhaps coincidently, scored a spot on the New York Times' Bestseller's List.

How pathetic… pic.twitter.com/kn0xJfUqOE

— Dave Stewart (@daveystew20) January 9, 2023