Chapter 494 - 230: Split 3
Leo interrupted him.
"Senator Murphy has a document for you. Please, take a look."
Murphy did as instructed, pushing the thick document titled *Strategic Planning* across the table to Stern.
Stern nonchalantly flipped open the cover.
His eyes lingered on the first page for two seconds.
Then the second.
The third.
"What is this?" Stern’s voice grew heavy.
"It’s the future."
Leo said from the other end of the line.
"We are in the process of preparing to register a new political party in the three key Swing States: Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan."
"It’s called the Workers and Justice Party."
"Our campaign platform is simple: oppose big capital, oppose the bureaucrats in Washington, and protect the workers’ livelihoods."
"The leader of our party is the man sitting across from you right now, Senator John Murphy."
Stern snapped the document shut and stared daggers at Murphy.
"John, are you insane? You’re leaving the party?"
"No, he’s not leaving the party. He’s just joining a new one."
Leo answered for Murphy.
"In the Rust Belt, the approval ratings for the Democratic and Republican Parties are neck and neck. The gap is often just a few percentage points."
"We don’t need to win."
"We just need to take five percent of the vote."
"As long as we run, as long as Murphy’s name is on the ballot, that five percent of the workers’ vote will flow to us."
"If that happens, Pennsylvania will flip red, Ohio will flip red, and Michigan will flip red."
Leo’s voice was cold and ruthless.
"The Republican Party will win."
"And you... will lose the White House."
Stern let out a cold laugh.
"Mr. Wallace, you’re playing with fire. You think we’ll compromise for five percent of the vote? You think we don’t have ways to deal with a fledgling third party?"
"We can use the Federal Election Commission to audit your funding sources. We can use the National Taxation Bureau to go through your books. We can even stop your names from being printed on the ballots."
Stern’s voice was filled with menace.
"The power of the state apparatus is beyond the imagination of a petty Mayor of Pittsburgh like you."
"We’ve spent a full three months working on the details of this plan."
Leo’s voice came through the phone’s speaker.
"District division, mobilization lists, even the crowdfunding channels for campaign funds—every single step has already been tested."
"Mr. Stern, if you think you can stop us through administrative means, you’re welcome to try."
Stern’s expression darkened.
"This is blackmail."
Stern stared hard at Murphy.
"John, you know what this means. If you dare take this step, if you dare split the vote, you’ll be a traitor to the entire Democratic Party. You’ll lose everything—your seat, your reputation."
"You’ll be pilloried."
Murphy’s hands trembled slightly beneath the table, but he didn’t back down.
He straightened his back, a posture honed by countless street-side speeches.
"David, when you were passing that bill, did you ever consider us?"
Murphy looked at the chief of staff who was ordering him around with such arrogance.
"You knew what Luigi meant to us."
"That being the case, why should I care if you win or lose?"
"If you won’t let me live, then we’ll all go down together."
The office fell into silence.
Stern didn’t speak.
He was calculating, weighing his options.
Five percent of the vote. It didn’t sound like much.
But in those critical Swing States, it was the difference between life and death.
If Leo and Murphy actually went through with this, the Democratic Party’s election chances would be toast.
But he didn’t believe it.
He didn’t believe these two small-time local figures truly had the guts and the ability to upend the country’s entire political landscape.
"You can’t do it."
Stern sneered and closed the document.
"You don’t have that kind of power."
"You think you can get millions of workers to follow you with just a few slogans? You think founding a political party is child’s play?"
"This is just a farcical bluff."
On the other end of the line, Leo sighed softly.
’Mr. President,’ Leo called out in his mind, ’they don’t believe it.’
’Of course they don’t,’ Roosevelt’s voice rang out. ’To this bunch, who are used to calling the shots in Washington, a local rebellion is nothing more than a tempest in a teapot.’
’They think they control everything.’
’But they’ve forgotten how this country was built in the first place.’
In Leo’s mind, Roosevelt unfurled a massive map of the United States.
’Leo, do you think the United States of America is a single country?’
’Wrong.’
’It’s one of the greatest political lies in human history.’
’The United States has never been a single, unified nation.’
’It is a Federation, precariously patched together from fifty semi-sovereign political entities.’
Roosevelt’s finger swept across the map.
’Look here.’
He pointed to New York and New England in the northeast.
’Here, if you dare to show a gun on the street, the police will slam you to the ground like a terrorist.’
His finger instantly shifted to Texas in the southwest.
’But over there, if you leave home without a gun, people will think you’re a coward incapable of self-defense. Even the governor encourages you to carry a weapon in church.’
’And look here.’
Roosevelt pointed to the deep-red heart of the Southern States.