Chapter 25

Chapter 25—The second meeting

6:07 p.m., Tuesday, December 20

Allison announced, “We’re all here, and on time,” again immediately taking charge of the meeting. “I hope all of you gave this matter some serious thought.” She paused for a moment, then said, “Jerry, first of all, thank you letting us use your cottage. And for the refreshments. That was very kind of you.”
Jerry did not say a word. He smiled broadly and nodded. He knew Allison had an agenda, and was not looking for him to verbalize.
“Okay, Jerry, let’s start with you. In as few words a possible, and to the point, what are the three biggest problems that you see?”
Jerry was prepared. Even so, for effect, he sat silently for a few moments, as though organizing his thoughts. “First, the President’s unpopularity. He is at a near historic low, and we are only a year out. We lost the House, and the Senate is weakened. That cannot bode well for the immediate future. It is unsettling, to say the least. The resentment of this President is running high, very high.”
Jerry looked over at Allison, then continued. “Second, the economy is free-falling. Real unemployment is in double digits—over twenty percent, if you factor in those who are no longer looking for jobs. Inflation is at fifteen percent, and climbing. We are not going to see serious relief before the election.
“The Republicans are suggesting that if he’s not the Manchurian Candidate, he will fit the bill until the real one gets here.”
Jerry stopped, and looked around at each of his friends as though he were finished.
Finally Allison jumped in. “That’s two. What’s your third thought?”
“Well, I don’t quite know how to put this,” Jerry continued. “But haven’t we all wondered about just how he intends to pay for all he is spending? I mean, without a miracle or three, there will be no new jobs. No new money. I’m seriously wondering where he is going with this. He isn’t a stupid man. And his advisors are not stupid either. But I don’t see how he intends to pull this off. I would like to think he has something fairly traditional up his sleeve, but for the life of me I can’t imagine what it could be.”
Allison recognized that Jerry had just dropped a bomb on the group. She looked down, as though waiting for Jerry to pick up and continue. Finally, realizing Jerry did not want to add anything, she looked up and said, “James, what’s your take?”
James was ready, but not rehearsed. “We’ve got problems. And not just a few. All of what Jerry said is right on. I could not agree more. But it doesn’t stop there. We’ve wrestled with gridlock for the past year. And it’s only going to get worse. In November, we lose the Senate too. And not only that, I think he could very well lose.
“With the Republicans winning the trifecta, that means we will be able to shovel all these problems back onto them, and that might be good for the next midterm. But that’s too far down the road. What if we have another war. We could easily get stuck out of power for eight years, maybe longer.
“Losing all those governors doesn’t help. That will severely affect party leadership in those states for the general, and for years to come. How many did we lose last November? Fourteen? I don’t know, but it was a bunch. It’s unprecedented. All of us could be old and senile by the time we see a friendly face in the White House.
“Now, consider that we could see two or more new Supremes retire. We have a serious problem. … Is that three? I could keep going.”
“That’ll do, James,” Allison said. “Okay, Reg, what have you got for us?”
“I think Jerry and James have pretty accurately stated the obvious.” Reginald had a unique way of relating what was on his mind. Everyone at the meeting knew him to be very blunt, often to the point of insult. He did not intend to demean. He simply said what he thought in as few words as was possible. “And I don’t mean that to trivialize their comments. All of what they said, had to be said. And they stated their points well. We have serious problems in all those areas. But one of the areas that they did not cover has to do with the way this guy has rendered impotent most, if not all, of the traditional solutions. Now I know we are not into solutions yet. And I am not going to go there—not yet. But the way the battlefield is being set here, the severity of the problems, and the overall ineffectiveness of this administration, all considered in front of a backdrop of the possibly rabid inflation, we will have a real problem implementing any of the standard attack mechanisms. What I mean to say is this, it isn’t going to matter to voters if we accuse the opposition candidates of raping children, beating wives, or pissing in public—none of that is going to matter. If these guys have a capital “R” after their name, the levers are coming down for them. Traditional dirty tricks are not going to work. This guy has created a political, economic and social milieu that makes life very difficult for guys like me.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Reg,” Allison said in jest, but not smiling. “Steve, what do you think?”
Steve did not hesitate. “Reg might see a problem setting up the opposition. Well, I see an even bigger problem making our guys look good, much less electable. And I don’t see any sunshine on the horizon.”
Allison looked down and stayed silent, giving Steve a little time to jump back in. She knew him to weigh his words carefully.
After a moment, he continued. “We used to control the traditional mainstream media. I guess you could say we still do. But we don’t control the social media, the bloggers, or the radio talk show hosts. The reality is that social media is the new ‘mainstream media.’ And we don’t have a good way to counter it. People really don’t trust the traditional outlets. And that’s where we live, with the old mainstream. We have to find a new dynamic, something very new.”
“We’ve all seen Wag the Dog. Is that what you’re getting at?” Jerry asked.
“Not exactly, but you’re not far off ...”
“That brings us to solutions,” Allison interrupted. “Let’s take them in reverse order, Steve going first. And each of you suggest and explain one possible solution at a time. During this round, any one of you should feel free to jump in and comment. Interrupt if you wish. Steve, you’re up.”
 Steve stopped to think for another moment, and then he said, “When I was younger I used to take my nephews to this pizza place for their birthdays. The pizza was okay, but the games were the attraction. There was this one. You still see it around. There was this rubber mallet. And when you played the game, you had to hit this ground hog when poked his head up out of a hole. There were about a dozen holes, and you didn’t know which one he would use next. He would stick up his head, and you would try to hit it. But he was up and down so fast, it was hard to react quickly enough.
“The kids would wear themselves out trying to thump the ground hog on the head. Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang. He just kept coming up. Then the game would be over. their scores reflected points for every time they hit the ground hog.
“Well, that’s what we’re up against now. First the economy rears its ugly head, then this war, or that war, then jobs, or the lack of them, then the deficit, then inflation. Maybe double-dipping recession. Or deflation. We’ve just got too many problems, too many big problems.
“We need a single major issue to focus in on. Something the public can wrap its head around, and something we can handle. Unless we are able to focus in, we are in big trouble. At least that’s how I see it from a public relations perspective. I need one issue, not a ten-headed leviathan. That’s what I think.”
“Reg,” Allison said, looking over at him.
“If we had a single enemy, a single target, I could create the weapon to destroy it, figuratively speaking, of course. Steve is right on with this one. He would like to be able to sell one major issue, I would like to limit the scope of my attack. Death by a thousand scratches is a good tactic, but it only works if those wounds are administrated to the same victim. Give me a single enemy, and I can be effective. Hell, I can be a lot more than effective, I can deliver a strategic blow, and they won’t know what hit them.
“But there is just too much going on with this administration. It almost makes me wish I was on the other side. I could have a field day over there.”
“Do you have anything else to add?” Allison asked.
Reginald scrunched up the corner of his mouth in a manner that bespoke virtual hopelessness. “Nope, not right now.”
 “James.”
“I think Reg might have hit on something. Let’s view this from the other guy’s perspective. All of these things we see as problems, the other side sees as gifts.  Day after day we keep giving the Republicans gifts. Weapons. Ammunition to attack and destroy us. It’s like we’re playing dodge ball with them, except we chuck marshmallows at them, while they’re lobbing an endless supply of grenades at us—and most of them are hitting something important. When they run out, our guy loads up another dump truck, backs it up to their tent, smiles, bows politely, and asks them where they would like him to dump it.
“I don’t think this guy knows how or when to stop. I don’t think he ever will stop. I don’t think he has a clue. It’s as though he views this country like a college campus, and he’s head of the debate team. He doesn’t understand or appreciate consequences.
“I don’t think he understands that the problems we have in this country are real ones. Not just here, but in Europe, the Middle East, Eastern Europe. You close your eyes, and pick a spot on the map. And the next thing you know, it’s a problem area.
“I hate to say it, but I see only one solution.”
With that James suddenly stopped talking, and just stared down at his hands, which were folded on the table in front of him. He then looked up at Allison, unfolded his hands, and slowly turned his palms upward.
“What are you suggesting, James?”
Jerry did not give his friend time to respond. “Did you feel that breeze?” Jerry asked.
“What breeze?” Allison asked. “I don’t think James is finished.”
“Oh, yes, James is finished. At least for now,” Jerry continued. “The breeze we felt was that door opening. And you know who walked in? I’ll tell you who came in. That damn proverbial 800 pound gorilla came in. And he sat his ass down right over there,” he said pointing to an empty leather recliner just a few feet from the table where the group was sitting.
“And we all well know what that gorilla is doing here. None of us wants to talk about it. We are all terrified to talk about it. But we all know. We are all headed in the same direction with this.”
“Jerry,” Allison said, “you need to be more specific.”
“The hell I do ...”
With that, James jumped back into the conversation, interrupting his friend. “What Jerry is stating is the obvious. He’s right. We’re all right. The only solution is to eliminate the source of our problem. That would open up a whole plethora of potential defenses and modes of attack. But with our guy where he is, we are faced with an impossible situation.”
James took a deliberate moment to make eye contact with all the other members at the table, and then continued. “Has this angle played into the strategies that any of the rest of you contemplated since the last meeting? That is, have any of you considered this approach?”
“And what do you mean by ‘this approach’?” Reginald asked.
“I guess I mean, have any of you pictured a scenario where the President was no longer the President?”
No one offered a comment. Finally Jerry stood to his feet, and said, “Al, we have to be very careful here. We have to exercise a lot of caution as to just where we go with this. Please consider this possibility. What if you adjourn this meeting, right now. It’s not important what we’ve thought about, only what we are willing to state on record, at this table. Obviously, we are all a little reticent to verbalize what this might entail—as well we should be.”
Allison immediately stood to her feet, and said, “I think you’re right, Jerry. I think we end this meeting right now. I want all of you to consider carefully all that we have discussed today, and all that we haven’t discussed.” She paused for a moment, and then joined Jerry standing. That, to all the others, signaled the end of the meeting. But Allison was not yet finished. “We could be venturing into some very tenuous territory here, please be careful.”
Everyone knew the meeting was over, and that they should no longer be talking about anything related to the topics just discussed at the table.
“We’ll meet again next Tuesday. I’ll provide the details later. Have a safe drive home.”
Allison stopped and stood motionless for a few seconds. “This can’t wait that long. We’ll meet on Thursday, the day after tomorrow.”
Three of the men looked at Allison as she gave that last instruction, but said nothing. Reginald, who had also stood to leave, simply stared at the table, not acknowledging what she had just said. He then turned toward the door. Allison did not say another word to any of them, as she slipped silently out of the door behind Reginald.
Jerry spoke to his two remaining friends. “See you guys Thursday. I’ll close up, after I let the gorilla out. Those stinky fellows can make a terrible mess. … By the way, James, thanks for cleaning this barn up.”
James looked in Jerry’s direction, and smiled. But still did not responded verbally.