Lethal Politics Read online

  One would have thought with full control of the government, the second two years of his term would have progressed even more smoothly than the first. It wasn't developing that way, despite how productive the last year had been, from the President's perspective. Recent polls for the coming election warned that the electorate was turning against him. That was why he was meeting with Joe Taylor, his chief of staff, this early in the morning. They needed another term to really put things in place the way he had hoped.

  "Good Morning, Joe," Mark greeted the younger man when he stepped into the oval office less then ten minutes after the President had arrived himself. The President was dressed in his usual light gray suit with an off-white shirt and pinkish tie. He would have preferred jeans and a polo shirt, but he was expected to dress for the job, and he had a whole lineup of meetings scheduled after this one. His broad chest and dark hair belied his age, and many had noted since he'd moved into the White House that he looked a bit like a middle-aged James Garner.

  Arms laden with the ever-present stacks of printouts, Joe always arrived with, Mark assessed his Chief of Staff. A New Yorker, and therefore somewhat of an oddity being such a key part of a very conservative Administration, Taylor was an extremely well connected player in D.C. with close friendships with individuals in both parties. With friends, spies, and informants in virtually ever corner of the city and the government in particular, Joe was very much in tune with the attitude prevalent in Washington.

  His brown suit was a bit wrinkled as usual making Joe look every bit the harried executive he was. Thin, and shorter than the President's six-foot-two inch frame, his dirty blond hair cut stylishly long, he came across as a package of barely contained energy. Some thought he must use drugs to boost his ever-present energy levels, but the President knew him well enough to know it was just his personality and his enthusiasm for what Joe saw as the greatest game in the world.

  "Mr. President," Joe replied formally, taking a seat across from the small table without needing to be directed to do so. He set his burden down and arranged the materials into a couple of stacks. His gray eyes scanned the table to ensure everything he brought had made it successfully, then opened the brown bag of fresh donuts and set one on a napkin he pulled from the bag. The President didn't eat breakfast so the donuts were all for Joe, but there was a fresh pot of strong coffee across from them, and the President made a point of pouring them both a large mug and bringing it over to the table.

  "Thanks," Joe said through a mouthful of pastry. The President took a welcome sip from his mug then settled in to see where things stood.

  "We are falling further behind," Joe said, without being prompted, sensing the President was anxious to hear what he had been able to put together. "But these are very early polls, and we all know how wrong polls have been the past few elections."

  "I know you are looking at more than just polls," the President said gravely. "The polls the past month or so have simply mirrored what you have been warning based on your private sources. How bad is it?"

  Joe pushed aside the donuts and looked directly at his boss. "The Democratic National Convention is still a number of months away, so they have a number of contenders. Ignoring the small group of non-starters, there are four candidates that are considered viable candidates. A couple of them are repeat candidates from the 2020 elections, and two are new to the race. Of the four, you are about even or just a couple of points behind three of them. Those aren't what worry us. But the fourth one, Nancy Craig, a former judge, is who concerns me. Not only is she black, smart, and a woman; she has paid attention to the last elections, and is bucking the party leadership on policy and is aligned more with the rank and file. A moderate, with only carefully selected leftward leanings, she has her eye focused clearly on the prize. She saw what happened in the last election, and doesn't plan on it happening to her."

  Joe hesitated, knowing the President was waiting for the bottom line, but he was hesitant to actually speak the numbers aloud. Finally he relented.

  "An average of the better polls show you twenty-two percentage points behind her," Joe said softly. "And my private sources agree that is a reasonable report."

  "Shit!" the President muttered. "Last month it was in the teens."

  "We have a very real problem," Joe agreed.

  "Why?" the President asked. "We have delivered most of what we promised, and are making headway on the rest."

  Joe nodded. "But people forget, or change their priorities. Not to mention the Democrats have been working toward this election since we kicked their butts in the midterms. They have been fundraising since the day after, and have a coordinated spiel challenging what you have accomplished."

  "Immigration is almost under control, the economy is doing great, and the medical program is now launched with promising initial reviews and the people know it will improve even yet as we add features and work out the birthing quirks."

  Joe nodded, but interrupted.

  "Okay. The deficit is one that is getting a lot of attention. The democrats are really hammering us on this issue. We always accuse them of tax and spend, but they are making the point once we have the ball, we love to spend. Since we are a bit hesitant to tax, that means we borrow the money, hence a growing deficit. Do you realize that in the three plus years you have been president the deficit has grown over five trillion dollars?"

  "That's because so much had been neglected for so long. The military was reaching the point it was becoming ineffective. The infrastructure in this country was so far behind the rest of the world it was ridiculous. We tried to get as much as we could by cutting back on what we were giving the rest of the world. It was time to take care of number one."

  Joe held up a hand.

  "Okay. Let's look at that. Take NATO for example."

  "I knew you would go there," the President said defensively. He was used to criticism in this area.

  "It's falling apart," Joe said, stating what they both knew, "and people feel it is due to the recent actions of the United States."

  "The members were warned that they needed to pick up their responsibility, or the United States would start backing away. For far too long we have suffered the burden for all of them, while they used the money they should have contributed to defense, their defense, to build up their economies and infrastructure. Meanwhile, our own efforts have suffered. Those countries didn't stand up to their promises, even to the new reduced and delayed commitments. What should I have done? We put that money to good use."

  "I think you are right, but many see only that the US has acted to cut spending in the organization, and NATO is suffering for it. In many minds, that makes it our fault. One result is a marked increase in terrorism."

  "Again, something that should be a shared responsibility, but too many want to make it an issue the US has to resolve, and then many criticize what actions we do take."

  "A fair point, but with the money that has being going into our military, others see us in a position to do more than we do. This is our own people I'm talking about, not just those around the world. Many people don't agree with the amount of money going into the military, while at the same time aren't happy we have held off from using our forces. I'm not saying I agree with them, but that appears to be the perception."

  "We have enough on our hands with the increase in domestic terrorism of late," the President argued. "What do they want, another war somewhere? We've finally managed to pull back from those places that people have complained about."

  "The number of mass shootings in the US has been increasing every year," Joe noted, "and that is despite the fact every gun sale is restricted to someone on the approved database. That simply isn't working."

  "As everyone with any sense knew it wouldn't," the President exclaimed. "The problem is far more complicated than people want to admit."

  "Nonetheless, the matter of removing the guns, at least certain types, from the general public is gaining traction and we appear to be on the losing si
de of the issue at the moment."

  "Won't solve the problem either," the President objected.

  "Maybe not, but our party is seen as resisting what is a growing perception, and that is pushing people away from us."

  "Anything else?" the President asked.

  "There are any number of issues, some real, and some simply manufactured by the other party, but a big one remains immigration. As you indicated, the flood of Illegals has been nearly contained, but a large portion of the country believes our cutting off so many is immoral, and this believe is being used by the competition. Also, it is believed, by many of our own party, that we haven't done enough in the area of legal immigration. The shortage of new immigrants is being felt in the economy."

  "More Americans have jobs now, don't they?" the President argued.

  "I'm telling you perception," Joe said, avoiding the argument. Yes, and while people accept, or pretend to accept the idea of going after illegal immigrants, you have taken it further. You have made it a cornerstone of your program to prosecute the businessmen who have been knowingly hiring these people. That hasn't gone over as well, especially since you have actually put several firms out of business with the fines your people have levied against them. That has cost people jobs, and built some ill will."

  "Then there is the religious sector of the country. You are not at all religious. You never go to church or address that aspect of our society. Even worse, at least from the perspective of this group, you are openly living in sin with someone you are not married to. They are starting to refer to the White House as the House of Sin."

  "That's just stupid," Mark scoffed. "People need to grow up and get a life."

  "These are all issues we need to find a way to address. The polls indicate what is going to happen in November unless we act soon."

  "So, how do we turn this around?"

  Joe handed across several sheets of paper. "Here is a more comprehensive list of key issues that I see affecting the polls, along with possible approaches to be considered. We have only touched on the more visible items. It is imperative we get the right people together soon, and hammer out a policy that addresses these matters in a way that doesn't drive away our base, and looks attractive to those who are starting to turn against us. You have to appear receptive to some of the growing demands, even if you don't really intend to follow through after you are re-elected. You wouldn't be the first to resort to that approach."

  "I'll look at this tonight," the President replied, "but I don't like the "lying through your teeth" approach to campaigning. Can we meet the same time in the morning to address this? I might invite a few others to join us in the morning."

  "Of course, Mr. President. If we do nothing, I think it is fairly certain November will be a disaster. Even if we don't agree with some of the solutions, it is important to consider certain actions. If we don't, the other side will be implementing the actions we denied come next term."

  Once Joe had departed, the President considered the disastrous polling data his Chief of Staff had left behind. Nancy Craig was the problem. The others he could maneuver around, and he only needed to gain a bit to be in a reasonably secure position. He knew that there were many voters out there, the silent ones, who were for him, people that the polls would never pick up. But there were not enough to make up the gap between himself and Mrs. Craig with her moderate position and intriguing proposals for some of the problems at hand. Possible solutions that were dragging some of his party to her side.

  The remaining three he didn't really worry about. They were simply hoping this time might present an opening for them, but he very much doubted their older baggage would be so easily discarded. The Senator who he soundly defeated last time out, wasn't running, dismayed by the lack of reception for her liberal ideas that she'd believed would propel her to the Oval Office. A Senator named Frank Hamilton had taken up the liberal position, perhaps hoping that the liberal base had continued to grow and this might be the year for them

  It was unfortunate that something couldn't happen to take Mrs. Craig out of the race. That's what had happened to the Republicans the previous election when President Trump had died in the middle of the election cycle. If Mrs. Craig could meet with a similar fate, the Democrats would have to scramble to recover, and he could see that none of their other prospects would be up to the task. Maybe it wouldn't have to be so drastic. Perhaps something temporarily disabling that would make her continuation in the election campaign impossible.

  Of course it wasn't proper to wish such things on another, even if it was a Democrat likely to steal his presidency away from him. As his mind turned over the problem, he quickly realized that fate wasn't going to provide the solution, but an arranged accident might. Of course, something like this would have to be handled with care beyond anything he could imagine. Should something untoward happen to the candidate, the death would be examined for foul play unlike any normal such situation. He had doubts that it could be pulled off.

  He was somewhat surprised to find himself thinking along such lines. He thought such methods were behind him. It had been decades since he'd had to solve a little problem by eliminating the competition, and of course, that time he'd handled it personally so no one else never knew what he'd done. Unfortunately, this situation couldn't be approached that way. No one ever suspected that their President had something like that lurking in his background.

  Clearly, there was no one in Washington that he could bring into something like he was contemplating; no one on his staff, nor within the party structure itself. There were many organizations available with experts in personnel removal, but obviously those weren't a possible solution. A secret like that would leak out. He might as well post his thoughts to Twitter. He could think of a couple of individuals from outside of Washington, but the logistics of communication and planning would raise eyebrows and garner attention that wouldn't be advisable. There was also the unanswered question of how to eliminate the woman without generating suspicion her death was other than an unfortunate accident. It was a thorny problem, and one that didn't appear to be workable, and yet...

  He'd have to think about it.

  Chapter 2

  "Wow, they really don't think you can win again!" Cindy exclaimed when Mark turned off the three television monitors in the main living room of the White House quarters that had been displaying events from various so-called news organizations.

  "They are in agreement with Joe," Mark said dourly, recalling the conversation earlier that morning. He glanced across the room at Cindy, who hadn't moved from the comfortable couch when he'd gotten up to turn off the monitors.

  She was dressed in a casual T-shirt with the logo, 'Of course your opinion matters, Just not to me,' blazoned across the front, over a pair of short shorts. They had been spending a casual evening eating in as usual. With all the required security it was too much trouble to try and go out somewhere, with watching the latest round of Democratic debates and the news coverage that followed. It was the kind of casual evening Mark preferred, all but the TV, but after Joe's assessment, he'd felt compelled to watch the competition during their debates.

  Their dinner had been one of his standards whipped up by his personal chef. The White House had an Executive Chef, but Mark had brought along his own cook from his ranch in Texas when he'd relocated to Washington. Arturo, a middle-aged Mexican, knew exactly how he preferred his meals. The truth was, he absolutely hated the formal, fancy dinners that looked more like a work of art than a meal that people seemed to think were really something special. He liked his food simple, with a minimum of augmentation with fancy spices. He always ate something before the special dinners the White House hosted, appearing busy in conversation during the actual meal, where in truth, he mostly detested and avoided the overly exotic preparations that were offered to the visiting dignitaries. It was only one of the ways he worked around the rules and restrictions that being President seemed to place on him.

  "What are you going to
do?" Cindy asked, concern apparent in her voice. "Even those on your side think your re-election is at risk. What has happened? You won so easily last time out?"

  "Joe gave me a list of issues earlier today. There are a lot of things there to address. In part, the voters have had a chance to get to know me better. The last election, I was sort of an only hope candidate, but now the parties have recovered from the shocks of that election. On some issues my base doesn't see me as conservative enough. I cross the lines a bit into areas they don't want to give on. That makes them less inclined to support me."

  "Inflexible," Cindy said, nodding her head.

  "Then there is the matter of my being in office. The candidates can make their speeches and promise to do many things. Whether there is any real possibility of those issues actually becoming law they can gloss over at this point. I'm in power, so in the minds of most I should be completing those things I promised to do a couple of years ago, and truthfully in many areas I am making progress. But the progress is slower than people want, and the system allows the opposition to slow me down. Now especially, with the election coming and the Democrats smelling blood, they have even more reason to resist compromise, even when they might agree with me, simply because that weakens my position and makes me appear ineffective."