Eternal Sunshine of the Democratic Mind

[_]

A bit biased, but should be expected, I like it.

[The Other Castro]

Steve Mnunchin is probably going to be under heavy fire in 2024, huh?

Spoilers...

[The Other Castro]

Mike

August 9th, 2020

To be completely honest, Mike thought he’d be president by now. He remembered when everyone thought he was crazy to take the running mate position, and that he was giving up the Indiana governorship for a few months of embarrassment. Maybe he was crazy, but it had worked and he was elected vice president. And now here he was, attending the closing ceremony of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, and representing the country that he loved.

Sure there had been moments over the last four years where it all appeared to be crumbling down, but they always bounced back as something new came along to take the story away. The Comey firing, the Trump Jr. meeting, the Manafort indictment, the Flynn indictment, and of course the famous Jesus-gate fiasco. Trump survived, and with him Mike Pence survived. Mike wasn’t an idiot though, and he knew exactly what kind of a monster Trump was. He was the manageable kind, the kind that would stay on your good side if it thought you were friendly, and would do things that you could not to take down your enemies. He needed that monster back, because their post-RNC bump had only brought the national polls down to Harris +2. Granted, they had won last time while losing the popular vote by 2, but this was supposed to be their polling peak, and there were far too many toss-up states for Mike’s taste.

Kamala Harris/John Hickenlooper - 222 Electoral Votes
Donald Trump/Mike Pence - 216 Electoral Votes
Toss-Up - 100 Electoral Votes

They still had plenty of time, and there were many more cards they could still play. For one thing, they had revealed at the RNC a plan for a middle east peace summit. Assuming nothing catastrophic happened that made the meeting plans fall apart, they could actually announce something in time for the election. Then there were other, more dramatic tactics the campaign had discussed for defeating Kamala Harris. Mike remembered the last conversation they all had in the Oval Office, planning the next move towards victory. What Hope Hicks said about her plan near the end of the meeting is what stuck with Trump the most.

“We can win, and we can do it right now. But, you’re going to need a new Treasury Secretary.”

Then, as the closing ceremony was wrapping up, a siren blared and filled Mike’s head. He felt the arms of Secret Service agents around him, and in minutes he was in a car heading to a secure location far away from the stadium. One quick secure call later explained the situation. North Korea had fired a missile over Japan into the Pacific Ocean, with the missile passing directly over Tokyo and nearly colliding with a commercial plane. Such an action, especially with the Vice President of the United States present, would greatly exacerbate whatever diplomatic progress they had made, and Mike could only imagine what Trump was thinking at that moment.

[P. Clodius Pulcher did nothing wrong]

O m f g Trump is gonna go to war with North Korea

[_]

The next chapter better be Mattis.

[P. Clodius Pulcher did nothing wrong]

The next chapter better be Mattis.

O:

[The Other Castro]

The next chapter better be Mattis.

He may make an appearance, stay tuned.

[The Other Castro]

Keith

August 22nd, 2020

We weren’t going to blow it this time, not with him there. Since joining the DNC leadership, Keith Ellison and Tom Perez had made dramatic changes to the internal structure of the committee, especially in cybersecurity. Nobody’s potentially damaging emails would be showing up on WikiLeaks this time, especially since there was no particular favorite or enemy of the DNC in this year’s primaries. Anything they did that could blow back in their faces, they did without any way of linking back to them or the Harris campaign. One operation in particular would hopefully bear fruit very soon, though there would be outrage if anybody ever found out that members of the DNC were involved.

Though it was only late August, everyone was ready for this campaign to be over. They remembered the prolonged agony of the 2016 campaign, and didn’t want this to get any uglier than it had to. Plus, Trump's RNC bump had mostly faded and Harris was back to her usual 5-6 point leads. Nevada was back to leaning Democratic, Arizona was now a toss-up, and the numbers looked strong in many of the other toss-up states like Florida and Michigan. Of course, there was no expectation that the race would end this way without going through some major twists and turns first. Keith turned his attention to a nearby television where Trump was speaking at a rally.

“Lazy Kamala is never going to win over the hard working Americans. They love us, they’re not going anyway, we’re gonna be just fine. Believe me, the Midwest isn’t going to roll over for some California liberal who was best buddies with Wall Street. And, I hate to say this but I have to say, frankly she got where she was by breaking the law and sleeping her way into power. She is so utterly unqualified. It’s true, no it’s true, I hate it but that’s what she did. Horrible, horrible woman”

Well, their digital fundraising team was going to have a field day with that one. Keith often questioned whether Trump knew what he was doing, but that wasn’t as important as actually beating him. If they lost to Trump again, it didn’t matter how many crazy, racist, sexist things he said. Like with the pussy-grabbing or fake war hero comments, everything would fade out of the public consciousness given enough time. Hopefully, after they defeated him November, Trump himself would one day fade away from their minds as well. Even if they won, Keith knew that it would take many years before America could truly enter the post-Trump political era.

[The Other Castro]

Jim

August 31st, 2020

The adult in the room. That’s what they called him. Some days, Secretary Jim Mattis couldn’t agree more. Other Cabinet members came and went, but Jim had stayed through it all. He hadn’t exactly mourned the exits of Price, Sessions, Zinke, Chao, and Perry, though he was disappointed to see Tillerson and Kelly leave. He stayed because he had a sense of duty and an obligation to serve his country, but he did not like what the campaign was about to do.

Last night, they had suffered a major foreign policy blow as the Palestinian National Authority announced that they would refuse to participate in any peace summit with Israel and the United States. President Trump was furious, and had spent the better part of two hours yelling at his senior staff. Some questioned how their plan had fallen apart so easily, while others theorized about who was behind the collapse and claimed the Democrats may have been responsible. The ones that got the president’s attention, however, were those that suggested plans for how they hit back and prevent any polling drops against Harris due to this news. In the end, they went with Hope’s plan, much to Jim’s chagrin.

“Mr. President, we all agree that this is the best course of action,” Hope Hicks stated with conviction.

“Right now, the plan is to send out the memo next weekend, give it enough time to fully develop before the first debate,” David Urban concurred.

Nobody seemed to feel sorry for what was about to happen to Steve. It seemed like a lifetime ago since Steve had made that ridiculous offer to form a resignation suicide pact with him and Rex, which was immediately rejected of course. In Jim’s opinion, there was enough chaos in the world already without them having to make their own. For one thing, it had taken everything in Jim’s power to talk the president down from further escalating the situation in North Korea a few weeks ago. Luckily, the president listened to him, pushed for increased sanctions, and only sent out a couple of “Rocket Man” tweets. Now, he just had to get the president to stop calling him “Mad Dog”.

[P. Clodius Pulcher did nothing wrong]

Thank god for Jim Mattis………

[The Other Castro]

Daniel

September 12th, 2020

“The next Robby Mook my ass, I’m going to actually win this thing,” Daniel Lopez thought to himself. At 31 years old, he was one of the youngest presidential campaign managers ever, and had a lot of expectations to meet. Right now, however, he was on the path to winning a presidential election and putting a woman in the White House for the first time in U.S. history. Last week, they celebrated with pizza and beer as Trump’s ridiculous Middle East deal fell apart as fast as it had been announced. They were on a roll at Harris headquarters, and planned to keep the momentum going through the debates. The things Daniel hated more than anything, however, were surprises. At that moment, just as Daniel finished humming the song “Ironic” by Alanis Morissette, a news alert appeared on his iPhone Z.

“Oh you have got to be f**king kidding me. Where is the Senator? She needs to see this right now!”

[P. Clodius Pulcher did nothing wrong]

O:

[BuckeyeNut]

Honestly, this is what scares me away from Harris as an IRL contender.

[RedPrometheus]

I love this timeline I can't wait for an update!

[Gass3268]

Isn't that a violation of the Hatch Act?

[The Other Castro]

Paul

September 23rd, 2020

“You stupid, stupid piece of sh**t,” Paul Ryan silently muttered to himself. Every time he thought that Trump couldn’t get him into a bigger mess, he went ahead and surprised him with another avalanche of garbage. He was tired of defending such obvious missteps and lies by the administration, and sick of the utter amateurishness that went into every action at the White House. He maintained his outward composure and professionalism, but he was slowly dying on the inside a little more every day. Paul thought again about the clean up job that he had to do on the afternoon shows the day after that idiotic press statement was released.

“But wouldn’t this be a clear violation of the Hatch Act, let alone a huge ethical problem with the President investigating his own political opponents?”

“Look, of course it is a dangerous idea to have opponents investigating each other, and I think our political parties should always restrain themselves to keep partisanship out of matters like that. The president has my full support to take the appropriate action, and if you noticed, he is not doing any of this investigating that you mentioned. And please let's be clear on the facts, nothing has been opened yet, so we can talk about that if and when Rachel Brand makes any decisions on the matter. Any criminal allegations should and must be taken seriously, and I applaud the president for once again demonstrating his contrast with the Democrats by following the law and respecting the foundations of our country.”

“Mr. Speaker, these crimes that the administration is talking about have not been backed up by any officials in California, or really anyone that would have knowledge of the Mnuchin case. Other than vague statements by the White House, there is no indication that there is any truth to what they are claiming. How can you expect anyone to take them seriously?”

“Again, and you’re making my own point on this, this is exactly what the president has been proven right on, that the media will once again jump at any chance to defend the Democrat’s nominee. Why don’t we settle this in the appropriate way, have an investigation run its course, and get to the bottom of this to find out the facts? You know, it’s interesting that the Harris campaign and the DNC are so quick to try and end this, and they have you folks in the media taking their side to put all the focus back on Robert Mueller and Russia.”

At this point in President Trump's first term, Paul Ryan was having trouble imagining how different life would have been had anyone else besides Trump been elected. Ted Cruz, or even Hillary Clinton would have made his life so much easier than this hell he was living. That dream he dreamed was long gone, and his immediate future involved either more of the same, or life under President Harris. He knew that his policy agenda would go from stalled to nonexistent, but he would be lying if he said that he didn't sometimes hope Harris would win.

[P. Clodius Pulcher did nothing wrong]

How much of the Cabinet is acting at this point?

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Tapper is such a douche. You captured him well!

[The Other Castro]

Sorry about the delay, I've just finished midterms and I will be getting back to this soon.

Tapper is such a douche. You captured him well!

Lol thanks.

How much of the Cabinet is acting at this point?

Treasury, AG, and Transportation.

[The Other Castro]

Andrea

September 30th, 2020

"I am not going to blow this," Andrea thought to herself. "I am Andrea Mitchell dammit, and so help me this is going to be a great debate." She had a lot of pressure on her tonight, but she had prepared for this and she was ready. Too relaxed and they would say she let the candidates walk all over her. Too strict and they would call her controlling and partisan.

"Good evening from Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. I'm Andrea Mitchell, and I welcome you to the first of the 2020 presidential debates between President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, and California Senator Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee.

This debate and the next three, two presidential and one vice presidential, are sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates. Thousands of people offered suggestions on segment subjects or questions, but the final selections have been made by me alone, and were not submitted for approval to the commission or the candidates.

The audience here in the hall has promised to remain silent, with no cheers, applause, boos, or hisses, so that we may all concentrate on what the candidates have to say. There is a noise exception right now, though, as we welcome President Trump and Senator Harris."

“President Trump, let us start with the most pressing news of this election. This past week, you, along with many members of your campaign, have repeatedly alleged a criminal conspiracy involving your former Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin and your opponent Senator Kamala Harris. Is your administration willing to provide any evidence to back up this claim, given the magnitude of this accusation? Furthermore, how do you respond to those that say this is all a political stunt to give your political opponent the appearance of criminal involvement?”

“Thank you Andrea. I need to tell you, this is perhaps one of the greatest, most vile things I have seen from a politician, and I’ve seen a lot. What Kamala has done, the Democrats would have thrown me to jail for if they had the chance. Such giant hypocrisy. She took bribes, because that’s what they’re called, bribes, she took bribes and she gave out favors. She did a quid pro quo, Andrea. Listen I greatly respect my office and I would never do anything to abuse the great power I have, but Kamala will do exactly that if she acts how she did as Attorney General in California. Based on what I’ve seen, the criminal activity is obvious, it is everywhere, and she has a long history of doing these horrible things. This is clearly a tremendous matter, and I’m sure whatever investigation will happen will happen as it needs to be, but she’s going to be bringing that corruption into Washington if she wins. We cannot let her do that, it would be the absolute worst thing that could happen for our country right now.

And look, the only political stunts are from Lazy Kamala, she can’t win, she knows she can’t win, so she has to push these ridiculous stories about me. They’re lies, but the fake news keeps pushing them anyway and you guys just let her get away with it. I’m bringing jobs back, I’m bringing wages up, I’m making things a whole lot safer believe me, but it’s just all day with her and the Democrats on Russia this Russia that. She has no plans, no ideas, and she would be a horrible person as president."

“My friends, what you have just heard is a perfect example of what is wrong with our country’s leadership right now. Every word you have just heard, everything that just came out of President Trump’s mouth, is a lie.”

“Wrong, you are so wrong”

“It’s his only move, and it’s all he can do to try and win this election. Never before have we seen a president so brazenly abuse the power which we have entrusted in him. He has disgraced his office, and more importantly he has abused the justice system in this country to further his own political motives."

“All lies folks, she cannot-”

“There’s a reason he hasn’t provided any evidence of criminal activity. It’s because there is none, he made the whole thing up because he knows his campaign is sinking-"

“So totally false”

"-that the only way he can win is if he can trick enough people with these fabrications, and distract enough people from his failed term as president. Things are not greater than ever, Mr. President. Unemployment is skyrocketing, people everywhere are losing their jobs under your watch, all while you push for more benefits and tax breaks for yourself and your billionaire friends. What we have in Washington cannot continue, and as president I will put an end to this chaos that you have created."

“It’s all lies from her folks. It’s always lies from them, you heard it with Crooked Hillary and now you hear it from Lazy Kamala. Just listen to the hate, the hatred there, it’s frankly disgusting."

“You want to talk about disgusting, Mr. President?”

“Excuse me. Excuse me. Exactly, what I was saying about her, she can’t put up any ideas so she just attacks, she has nothing else. All the Democrats have is this Russian hoax, this witch hunt, and now they’re mad because they lost and I’m still here and doing a tremendous job while they’re desperately trying to get back in power. They don’t care about you folks, and Lazy Kamala doesn’t care. They lost in a landslide in 2016, and they’ve been trying to undo the election because they thought they should have won, and they still don’t know why people hate them and they lost. It’s this Russia hoax that hurts our country that you people push, it’s hurting our international relations, it’s hurting our peace.

They've been running with this story, and the fake news has been helping them the whole time, but they've failed. I'm still president, I still won, and you still lost, and that's not going to change. You hear how they don't talk about what their plans are for the economy and for all Americans and for this country? All they talk about is me, and I'm fine with that, I can handle that, but they don't have any idea how to run the country. You cannot let them do this, we will be heading for disaster if they win."

"There's only one candidate in this race focused on the issues, and it is not you, Mr. President. Every single day of this campaign, I have proposed new plans that will get America back on track and get people working again, but you are the one that keeps injecting nonsense into this campaign. Let's talk about the issues, please, people don't want to hear your personal attacks.

Now, I could talk about the Russia investigation into you and your campaign members, but I'd rather talk about how we could be protecting and strengthening our workforce by raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. I could talk about how your former campaign manger and National Security Adviser have both been convicted of felonies, but I'd rather talk about how we can provide healthcare to every single man, woman, and child in this country. You can run the campaign that you want, but I'm going to run on providing real solutions to real problems that we need to handle today."

[America Needs R'hllor]

Very interesting PoV from the moderator. Also, you absolutely nailed Trump and how much of a terrible hypocrite he is. Loving this, go Kamala!

[P. Clodius Pulcher did nothing wrong]

Loving this!

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

That was perfect.

[RedPrometheus]

I'm really looking forward to an update

[Warren 4 Secretary of Everything]

I'm really looking forward to an update