We saw it after Watergate. The parties involved with almost every aspect of the cover-up cut some sort of book deal. Woodward and Bernstein wrote All the President’s Men which amplified their involvement as members of the media. G. Gordon Liddy wrote Will where he accepted responsibility for his actions. John Dean penned Blind Ambition to paint himself in a favorable light. Most got hefty advances from publishers for their tomes, and a few got movie deals. After Watergate there were cries to prevent this kind of profiteering, but nothing was done.
Now, with Biden’s mental collapse, we see the grifters emerge once more. Jake Tapper’s book came out with a clear agenda, attempting to deflect his role as a member of the media in the cover-up. Karine Jean-Pierre has announced her book deal too. The person who dropped the false “cheap fakes” phrase in an attempt to protect Biden now is going to release a book, no doubt attempting to salvage whatever remains of her reputation. She will not be the last to jump on this bandwagon driving over Biden’s infirmity in order to cash in.
The truth is often irrelevant in these literary works… and I use the word, “literary” loosely. This is about cashing in. As an author for almost four decades, I can assure you that publishers use these books as a means of laundering money to their authors and ghost writers. Big advances are shelled out for books that often don’t ever sell enough to recoup that money in terms of sales via Amazon or bookstores.
So why is this a grift? This model almost certainly creates financial incentives for people to be deceitful, knowing that when they drop their tell-all books, they will be on a glitzy book tour (if there is such a thing), getting to recast history so that it is favorable for them. Look at Jake Tapper. We all saw the countless images and videos of Joe Biden’s mental collapse, but where was he, as a journalist, in probing that, digging into the story? The reality was Tapper knew it was to his benefit to play along with the Biden Administration and cash in on the book after the dust settled.
Democratic representative Eugene Vindman, who allegedly used $30,972.97 and $7,809.55 campaign fund dollars for “fundraising expense[s]” at a bookstore in Florida where he purchased his brother Alexander’s book. These kinds of purchases are simply the means of filtering money into the author’s pockets.
There’s more. When you write a political book, PACs will often purchase a few hundred (or more) of them to hand out. This is a means of channeling money into the author’s pocket indirectly. I know of one author who sold more books through those channels than he ever did elsewhere.
Ironically, within a year, you will see all these kinds of books in the bargain bin at Dollar General as the publisher attempts to squeeze out that last bit of hopeful profit. They will saturate the market, each one offering salacious new peeks behind the Biden curtain, but none will be breakaway bestsellers beyond a few weeks.
While I’m all about sinking a few more shots into the Biden legacy, questions do arise. Is this legal? Yes. Is it ethical? Hell no! Laws need to be put in place to curtail cash advances to former politicos for books. There needs to be full transparency from publishers as to where former public officials’ books are sold and to whom. Will Congress do it? Doubtful. Remember, this is a cash cow they profit from. That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t demand it.
Blaine Pardoe is a New York Times Bestselling and award-winning author canceled by one of his publishers in 2022. His conservative political thriller series, Blue Dawn, is the story of the violent overthrow of the government by radical progressives. His new series, Tenure, is about a Punisher-like hero that goes after the woke. He also authors the bestselling military science fiction series, Land&Sea.
Image: Paul Sableman
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