Chapter 693 - 324: Earthquake in Washington
Now, even the most preeminent legal scholars were seriously discussing its feasibility.
This, in turn, created a public delusion: that this could actually happen.
The online revelry spiraled completely out of control.
The top trending topic on X was: #LeoForVP.
The younger voters couldn’t care less about constitutional amendments. They only cared about the thrill of breaking the rules.
Meme after meme went viral online.
One was a photo of a bleeding Leo with the caption: "He bled, and you’re still talking about age?"
Another was a picture of the United States Constitution, photoshopped with an "obsolete" stamp and captioned: "If the rules are in Leo’s way, then change the rules!"
On TikTok, countless young people posted videos mimicking Leo’s speech gestures, set to the tune of rousing rock music.
They shouted, "We want Leo! We want the future!"
On this day, the name Leo Wallace completely transcended the narrow definition of Mayor of Pittsburgh.
He had become a symbol.
A symbol of defiance against the establishment, against the rules, and even against the Constitution.
Amid the morning’s frenzy, a special feature published on the independent, in-depth journalism platform Substack cut through the noisy facade.
The article’s author was the renowned political commentator, Julian Sorel.
The title was simple: *Why Him? The Political Alchemy of Leo Wallace*.
Within a single hour, the article was shared hundreds of thousands of times and was even hailed as a must-read guide by West Coast elites and Wall Street analysts who had previously known nothing about Leo.
The article began:
This morning, half of the United States is asking the same question: Who is Leo Wallace?
Why has a 34-year-old Mayor of Pittsburgh suddenly become a key figure capable of influencing the presidential election? Why is the White House looking into ways to circumvent the Constitution for him?
If you only watch CNN or Fox, you’d think this was a coincidence.
You’d think it was just because some unlucky gunman fired a shot, creating a tragic hero.
If you think that, you are wrong.
That bullet was merely a spark.
And Leo Wallace had long since piled up a mountain of gunpowder in Pennsylvania.
The article then began to meticulously detail everything Leo had done over the past year.
Details that the mainstream media had never focused on, or had deliberately ignored, were laid out one by one on the table by Sorel.
Let’s look at what he did in Pittsburgh.
He established an organization called the Industrial Revival Alliance.
It is a behemoth with its own financial, logistical, and even healthcare systems.
He issued something called "Alliance Notes," establishing a self-sufficient economic cycle.
Furthermore, based on information pieced together from multiple anonymous sources within Harrisburg’s inner circles, Pennsylvania may have already evolved into some kind of extremely dangerous and uncontrollable personal proving ground.
Although Pennsylvania ostensibly maintains the administrative structure of a State Government, the actual logic of how power operates has undergone a fundamental transformation.
We have reason to believe that Leo Wallace is using an unprecedented method to consolidate the state’s entire economic lifeline, industrial contracts, and even legislative power under the control of the Mayor’s Office in Pittsburgh.
His moves in the energy sector have shown a chilling level of foresight.
Multiple insiders revealed that the oil and electricity magnates, who were once so arrogant in Washington, have shown an inexplicable compliance when faced with Leo’s proposed Computing Power Special Zone.
There is speculation that these major donors to the Republican Party, in order to secure their long-term interests in Pennsylvania, betrayed their party’s stance at a critical moment and instead provided cover for the radical mayor.
The most disturbing news comes from the legislative center in Harrisburg.
The procedural blitz that led to the sudden resignation of the Senate President has been described as a silent coup orchestrated by Leo from behind the scenes.
Moreover, sources claim that the current Governor, William Saint Cloud—a playboy from a prominent family with zero political acumen—might just be a perfect puppet Leo personally installed to circumvent constitutional risks.
If these speculations are true, then Leo Wallace has, in effect, completed a soft takeover of Pennsylvania.
It is precisely because of this established local dominance that the White House is currently mired in an unprecedented state of anxiety.
They realize that without this young man’s cooperation, the Democratic Party will completely lose control of this critical Swing State in the election.
Any one of these actions would have been enough to politically shatter an ordinary politician.
But not only did he do it, he did it flawlessly.
The article’s focus then shifted, raising a new question.
So the question is, why is it only today, only after the gunshot, that we are truly seeing him?
The answer is simple: arrogance.
The media elites in Washington are used to watching the White House press briefings and the cocktail parties on K Street.
They don’t see the struggles of the Rust Belt, and they look down on local political innovation.
In their eyes, Pittsburgh is just a dead industrial specimen, not worth the column space.
Some, in fact, were deliberately hiding it.
The Democratic Party’s Establishment Faction didn’t want people to see that a disobedient, radical mayor could be more effective at solving the workers’ livelihood problems than they were.
They feared the spread of this model, feared that this independent kingdom would shake the foundations of their rule within the party.
So they chose to ignore it.
They kept Leo Wallace shrouded in the mists of Pennsylvania.
It was a political cold shoulder.
The general public is apathetic toward politics. As long as there’s no personal pain, no dramatic conflict, no one cares what kind of Mutual Aid Alliance the mayor of a distant city is building.
Until that bullet was fired.
Sorel wrote in his article:
That was the dramatic climax, the explosive moment that no one could ignore.
People started to get curious, to search.
And then they were shocked to discover that this bleeding young man had already built a castle upon the ruins.
The reason his influence could spill over overnight wasn’t because he was lucky, but because his foundation was so unshakably solid.
That bullet merely knocked over the first domino. What was revealed in its wake was the vast empire he had meticulously constructed.
The reason the White House is panicking now, the reason they are testing him with the vice presidency, is precisely because they are afraid.
Leo Wallace no longer needs Washington’s approval.
On the contrary, it is now Washington that needs his acknowledgment.
The article concluded:
Whether he becomes Vice President or not is no longer important.
What’s important is that he has proven that another way to play the game is possible outside of this rigid system.
He is a bull in a china shop.
And now, the shopkeepers are deliberating whether to just give him the shop, or wait for him to smash it to pieces.