The Outer Circle (The Counterpoint Trilogy Book 3) (4 page)

Washington, DC, USA

President Joe Maxwell and his VP Brian Tice stared grimly at the numbers that their political advisor Michael Drake projected on the screen.

“With less than five months to go, both main political parties are way behind in the polls?” asked Maxwell incredulously.

“Yes,” nodded Drake. “I guess the good news, if there is any, is that Brian is running third, ahead of the other major party candidate.”

“Please spare me this nonsense,” snapped Brian Tice. “John Dimon is ahead with 31% of the likely voters, Jeff Kron right after him with 26%, and I am way behind with 19%. Didn’t you tell me back in March that Dimon and Kron would flame out before the summer? Even if all ‘undecideds’ broke for me, if the elections were tomorrow I would still lose.”

“Well, the elections are not tomorrow. There are many ‘undecideds’ and some will change their minds,” pointed out Maxwell unenthusiastically. In fairness, he couldn’t stand his VP and would have chosen someone else back in 2016 but the contest was projected to be close and Tice was bringing key electoral votes from the South. Eight years later, he liked Tice even less but the party’s National Committee decided last year that Tice was their best chance to hold the office. “Let’s discuss our primary travel plans.”

“Michael, run us through the candidates and the issues again,” Tice ignored the president.

Drake seemed uncertain, looking from irate Maxwell to angry Tice, then decided to address Tice’s question.

“Our behavioral insights team tells me that these are truly the ‘protest’ elections. We expect that over 70% of people will vote this year, much larger numbers than we’ve seen in the past. The difference is particularly pronounced amongst the young people, whose participation is expected to double. Unfortunately, a vast majority of those voters that previously stayed home are breaking for the two new parties, the
Spirit of ‘76
and the
Reform
ones.”

“Why are we seeing such an increase in participation?” asked Tice.

“In polling, the big drivers are the ‘Schulmann file’ revelations published two years ago by David Ferguson and Margarita Sappin.”

“But these ‘revelations’ have been thoroughly discredited!” protested Tice. “Multiple versions of these so-called files have circulated, many names and accounts have been shown to be false!”

“Come on, Brian!” Maxwell slammed his hand against the table. “Do you think everyone bought into the fabricated ‘evidence’ that was used to let some of the guiltiest sons-of-bitches of this country escape jail time?”

“I am afraid the President is correct,” nodded Drake. “I think a great many people believed the original allegations, not the subsequent denials. Remember how most politicians that were named in the Schulmann file ended up being thrown out of the office via elections or recalls, even though they were not found legally guilty?”

“That was almost two years ago, people’s memories are short,” Tice shook his head.

“Evidently, not that short, at least not for some,” continued Drake. “Dimon and Kron bring to the table some powerful arguments. We had three economic crises in this still young century. The national debt has tripled, well-paying jobs are hard to find, robots are replacing people left and right, the divide between the upper echelon and the rest of the country keeps growing. And then they see that the very people they believe to be guilty and responsible walked away with billions and are flaunting their wealth. Populist politicians are feeding this anti-establishment discontent, that’s why you see this sudden rise of two new parties.”

“Can’t we do something populist?” asked Tice. “Like offer a tax rebate? Increase welfare payments? Add some new tax credits?”

“With what money, Brian?” spitted out Maxwell. “Our tax receipts are down as is, the budget deficit is over a trillion dollars, and nobody would buy any more of our Treasury bonds unless we offer usurious interest rates! The Federal Reserve can’t buy anything since their trillions in mortgage-backed bonds blew up in 2019.”

“OK, let’s go over John Dimon and Jeff Kron again, this time focusing on how to attack them,” the corners of Tice’s mouth pulled down.

“Of course. Part of the problem is, they – and the platforms of their parties – are very different,” complained Drake. “Hard to go after them on the same grounds.”

He stopped, poured himself a glass of water and noisily gulped it down.

“OK, let’s start with John Dimon. Former mainstream politician, congressman from Colorado from 2014 to 2020. Following the crisis of 2019, quit the mainstream party and joined a fledgling new
Spirit of ‘76
movement. Transformed the movement into an organized party that is fielding candidates in most of the states. Young, very charismatic, strong speaker. His ‘America First’ platform calls for acting aggressively to punish China and Russia for their ‘financial attack on our country’ – his words, not mine. He is for high tariffs on imported goods, cancellation of most of the trade agreements, effective prohibition of outsourcing jobs out of the country, draconian penalties for corporate crime...”

“He is going to drive the country into a war, a real one, not economic!” Maxwell shook his head.

“Dimon is feeding off popular discontent; populist slogans work. People want to punish the unfairness and looking for some way to channel their outrage. And he keeps promising to increase, not reduce, various forms of state assistance and welfare.”

“There were some rumors that Dimon profited from the 2019 crisis,” half-asked, half-stated Tice. “There is some shadiness to the man.”

“There were rumors about practically everyone. The fact is that Dimon is a good speaker and has received a tremendous amount of online coverage, partly thanks to Robert Treadwell and his social media empire. He has mastered the art of the slogan, the sound-bite, developed a very high name recognition and is now leading in all the polls.”

“He refused the Secret Service protection and is using the private FreedomShield forces. These mercenaries are expensive. Where does he get so much money?” wondered Maxwell.

“Dimon is very active in soliciting campaign contributions and signed up some deep-pocketed backers. His use of FreedomShield has been somewhat controversial, especially in light of accusations of intimidation leveled against this company. So far, it hasn’t caused problems for Dimon.”

Drake paused to drink water again.

“And what about Jeff Kron?” prodded him Maxwell.

“A very different bird, this Kron,” Drake pursed his lips. “Same age as Dimon – 42 – but, oh so different. Tragedy in his youth when his father killed himself, ruined during a recession. Twenty years ago he was sent to jail for a murder of the man he held responsible. Released after less than three years because the real murderer confessed.”

“Was it his future wife that helped to get him released?” asked Maxwell.

“Not quite. It was an interesting story,” Drake’s cheeks reddened with excitement. “In one of the interviews, Kron stated that he thought his wife’s father and grandfather were instrumental in proving his innocence. I checked and both committed suicide in 2006, a few months before Kron’s release. Fascinating, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, yeah,” waived Tice dismissively. “He is a God damn commie with a Russian wife!”

“Jennifer Kron, maiden name Jennifer Rostin, is half-Russian on her father’s side,” Drake calmed down. “On her mother’s side, her grandfather is Sam Baker, a long-time US congressman.”

“So perhaps trying to attack Kron via his wife is not such a great idea,” snickered Maxwell. Tice turned crimson and stuck out his jaw; it was well known that his political rise had been financed from his wife’s side with the money only one generation removed from organized crime.

“After his release in 2007,” hurried Drake, “Kron finished his college studies, got married, and had a daughter. Over time, he developed this Gandhi-like philosophy – I hesitate to call it a ‘platform’ – about non-violent resistance to an unfair system. He also used the California initiative system to put a number of measures on the ballot. His writings and propositions developed a bit of a following, but it was the 2019 crisis that attracted to Kron a critical mass of supporters. As California was teetering on the edge of separation in 2022, Kron was thrust into the limelight. Without any campaigning, he became one of the most popular politicians in California.”

Drake paused. “Mind you, he did not position himself as a politician, did not act like one. Did not run a campaign. People just gravitated to him. It was kind of a melding of a political and spiritual movement.”

“But he now has a party! They put their people on ballots in multiple states!” exclaimed Tice.

“Yes, they call it a ‘Reform’ party, but they don’t have the organization of a mainstream party. Or the one that Dimon put together. Theirs is almost a loose organization of people that believe in common goals, united by Kron’s writings.”

“And what is their platform?” asked Maxwell.

“The central tenet is a more equitable distribution of wealth and income...”

“I keep telling you, he’s a commie!” Tice pounded his fist against the table.

“Kron claims he is specifically against communism as a system,” shook his head Drake. “He says he supports capitalism, but believes that extreme concentration of wealth undermines democracy and give a small group of people too much power. Kron’s ‘platform’ is a set of reforms intended to create more direct democracy and to reduce the inequality he sees around him.”

“OK, Michael,” interrupted Tice. “We’ve been running against both Dimon and Kron on a ‘Stay the course – things are getting better!’ message. We have the mainstream media on our side, we show the numbers that the economy is indeed getting better, but here I am, a distant third in the polls!”

“Well, Mr. Vice President,” demurred Drake, “the mainstream media just does not have the same clout any longer, losing ground to diversified social media platforms like Treadwell’s. And people don’t trust the numbers because they don’t see improvements in their situation. With the middle class now making up less than a third of the population, we have a minority of the population doing well while the majority is struggling. Both Dimon and Kron are dipping into a deep well of anger, they are just channeling it differently: Dimon is blaming the external enemies while Kron is pointing inward.”

“So what should we do?”

“I think it’s time to move to negative campaigning,” Drake cut the air with the palm of his hand. “Start aggressively portraying both Dimon and Kron as dangerous, bound to make the situation worse, not better. This may dissuade some of their supporters, perhaps get them to stay home on the Election Day.”

Maxwell grimaced at the mention of negative campaigning, and stood up:

“Gentlemen, I am afraid I have to go. I have an audience with an ambassador of Philippines. Speaking of dangerous situations, they are worried about increasingly threatening rhetoric coming from China.”

After the meeting broke up, Tice went to his office. He looked out the window for a few minutes, then picked up the phone:

“Roger, give me the FBI director.”

A minute later, Director Miller was on the line:

“Hello, Brian.”

“Hi, Ryan. I hope I’m not interrupting.”

“Well, when the Vice President calls, I step out of my meetings.”

“Thank you. Ryan, I have a favor to ask. I presume you are keeping an eye on John Dimon and Jeff Kron, right?”

“Of course. For their safety.”

“Naturally. Ryan, I’d like for you to follow them a bit more closely and report to me when you see something interesting.”

“You mean like comprehensive surveillance? Phone, internet, conversations, video recording, drone tracking, agents?”

“Well, perhaps not agents. I don’t want to hear about this on TV.”

“Brian, this is not right. You are looking for dirt on other candidates and you want me to spy on them for you?”

“Ryan, I think it’s entirely appropriate. We, candidates of major parties, get vetted through many years of public service, living our lives in the open. They came out of nowhere. Who knows what skeletons are hiding in their closets, what allegiances they carry? Don’t you worry about the background of people that have a chance to occupy the Oval Office?”

“As you know, we did quite thorough background checks on them and found nothing of concern.”

“Ryan, it depends on what you search for. Everyone is guilty of something, just have to look long enough.”

“And we’ll need warrants for comprehensive surveillance,” Miller’s tone was admitting defeat.

“Well, Ryan, think about it this way. I know you have political ambitions. Either one of these guys, if they are to come to power, will kick you out of your office. If you refuse to help me and I win, I will also kick you out of the office. Your only chance of staying in Washington and perhaps one day being on a ticket is to help me win. As for warrants, don’t you have some discretion in these matters? Plenty of people have been followed electronically without warrants.”

Miller breathed heavily, deliberating.
You want to get along, you go along. You let the powers-to-be define the objectives.