Chapter 691 - 323: I Want to Be Vice President
Stern walked to the screen and enlarged the photo of Leo.
"Do you think Leo took that bullet for nothing? Is Pennsylvania the only state in the country with workers?"
Stern let out a self-deprecating laugh.
"To be honest, even I don’t get it. I can’t figure out how he managed to whip up this level of populist fervor in such a short amount of time."
Stern looked at the President.
"His influence has completely spilled out of Pennsylvania. If he sides with the Republican Party, or even if he just declares neutrality, the anger he’s ignited will immediately turn on us."
"We’ll lose the entire Midwest for the next decade."
"With the momentum he has now, if he were truly ambitious, he wouldn’t be coming to us for a vice presidential nomination. He’d just announce his own run for president. If that were the case, we’d probably be discussing how to pack our bags and get out of this office right now."
The President put down his pen.
"David."
The President’s voice betrayed no emotion.
"Is this data accurate?"
"I can’t say it’s one hundred percent, but it’s at least eighty percent accurate," Stern replied. "Leo Wallace is a god in the Rust Belt right now. If he says we’ve abandoned the working class, then we’re truly finished."
The President took a deep breath.
He looked over at Richard Halt, the White House Counsel, who was sitting in the corner.
"Richard."
The President began.
"Is it possible..."
Halt froze for a second. "What?"
"Theoretically, I mean." The President’s eyes darted. "Is there any way to get around the constitutional age requirement?"
Halt wiped the sweat from his forehead in horror.
"Mr. President, you must be joking. That’s the Constitution! Article Two, Section One is crystal clear: one must be at least thirty-five years old! It’s an absolute threshold, with no room for interpretation!"
"Is there really no way?"
the President pressed.
"We have so many brilliant lawyers, so many law professors. Can’t they find a single loophole? A precedent? Or some kind of exemption under a state of emergency?"
Halt looked into the President’s eager eyes.
He suddenly realized that this commander-in-chief, the man who had sworn an oath to defend the Constitution, was now seriously considering how to circumvent it.
"That... that would cause a constitutional crisis," Halt stammered. "The Republican Party would impeach you, the Supreme Court would intervene..."
"If I lose the election, what do I care about a constitutional crisis?"
The President tapped the table lightly.
"Richard, you’re my legal counsel. Your job isn’t to tell me what I can’t do. It’s to tell me how to make the impossible possible!"
"Look into it."
The President ordered.
"Find me a loophole, an excuse, any clause we can exploit."
"Just get him on the ballot. We’ll deal with the rest later."
"I want a feasibility report."
"By tonight."
Halt looked at the powerful figures filling the room.
These were the people who controlled the nuclear launch codes, commanded the most powerful military in the world, and held the reins of an economy worth tens of trillions of US dollars.
But now, because of a threat from some young man in Pittsburgh, they were forced to sit here, figuring out how to exploit a legal loophole.
’This was so absurd.’
"One more thing,"
Stern added.
"This must be kept confidential."
He looked at Halt, his eyes filled with warning.
"Richard, find a few of your most trusted people. Do your research in that records room in the White House basement, the one with no cell signal."
"I don’t want a single word of this getting out before you have a conclusion. The situation in Pennsylvania is chaotic enough as it is. We don’t need any more complications."
「That night.」
A top-secret memorandum was delivered to the President’s desk.
The most powerful people in All of America had truly begun to research how, for the sake of a mayor barely in his thirties, to challenge the very foundation of the nation.
It was a physical law of power.
When the gravity is great enough, even the Constitution itself can be bent.