Disclaimer: Terry chemistry and American Politics inspired this story.
'It is harder to maintain the balance of freedom, than it is to endure the weight of tyranny' – Simon Bolivar, Venezuelan leader who liberated Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Panama from the Spanish Monarchy.
Lost in thought, Olivia made her way towards the stairs, nearly bumping into Fitz, seated on the second last step.
"Hi."
"Hi," she gusted a soft sigh.
Fitz patted the space beside him. "I heard you talking to Rowan, I didn't want to disturb you."
"You should have. Dad was telling me all the reasons he wants me to be a terrible President."
"He wants you to be a terrible President?" Fitz raised a brow.
Olivia made a face, as she snuggled into his side, briefing him on the conversation with her father.
"Dad's right." Fitz smiled. "We do need a 'terrible' president. One who's not a crook, liar, murderer or thief."
Olivia scrunched her nose. "I helped rig an election."
"I killed Verna."
She tightened her grip on his arm. "You didn't kill Verna. You tried, and you did that to protect me. From Defiance."
"You rigged an election so I could shake off my father's ghost." Fitz kissed her nose, then leaned back with a soft look in his eyes. "Power corrupts, Livvie. We need people who've been inoculated against it."
"Do you think I've been immunized enough?"
His gaze became solemn. "If you could turn back time, would you rig an election?"
Olivia shook her head, asking after a brief pause, "Would you have tried to kill Verna?"
"I wouldn't have to; you wouldn't have agreed to Defiance."
Olivia narrowed her gaze. "That's a cop out."
"But true." Fitz tried to kiss her, but she held him back.
"We're having a serious conversation."
"All I want is a kiss."
"No."
"Why?"
"You know why."
He gave her innocent look, but Olivia said repressively, "Where's Gracie?"
"With Huck. He said he might as well baby-sit, as he wasn't getting any sleep with all the interruptions tonight."
Olivia smiled, laying her cheek against his arm.
"Do you remember the night we talked about Darius Taylor?" Fitz murmured into her hair. "You told me how representation matters, but not representation that would corrupt the memory of Dr King's Dream."
"Mmm…"
"In 1979, when the Iranian students took 63 Americans hostage at the Embassy in Tehran, I remember Big Jerry raging about the fact they released the blacks and women first."
Olivia raised her head. "Did Big Jerry used the word 'blacks'?"
"No."
"Didn't think so."
"What I'm trying to say, Liv, is when the world talks about the Ugly American, they are referring to an Ugly White American. Or they were, until Colin Powell went to the United Nations Security Council to talk about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction."
"People still blame him for the Iraq war. They've forgotten that Madeleine Albright wanted to invade Iraq in 1998."
"People trusted Colin Powell. They trusted him more than they trusted Albright, who justified sanctions, which starved half a million Iraqis, on national television."
"Sanctions, followed by a war that's killed millions, when Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction."
Fitz sighed, his breath feathering her cheek. "There's no mystery about the wars they've got planned for Edison to carry out."
"It's been more than a decade since Wesley Clark told the world the US planned to take out seven countries in five years - Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran. The end goal is potentially a nuclear war with Russia."
"A war with Russia would justify the trillion-dollar spend that's on the Pentagon's wish list to upgrade our ageing nuclear arsenal."
"Edison will excel at delivering the wants and needs of the establishment. More wars in the Middle East, a nuclear war with Russia; he'll consider those options responsibly and effectively. He'll prove he's twice as good, if not better, than all the Presidents before him."
"You mean twice as bad. Putting a black face on white imperialism could have implications far greater than we realise, beyond what Edison could do to either of us, or our family."
A baby's cry broke the silence that descended between them. In an instant, both were on their feet, hurrying towards their bedroom just as Huck opened the door, with a bawling baby in his arms, to announce grimly, "Gracie's hungry."
Breaking News on Entertainment Roundup...
'...Looks like our Republican Veep candidate may have got himself into some hot water last night. He was caught with his pants down at a private party in Malibu last night. Literally with his pants down. I kid you not. From the pictures it looks like things were getting really hot and heavy in the tropics with a mystery guy. That's right, folks, you heard right - our Mr Lorenz likes to play on both sides of the net. Meanwhile, Mrs Lorenz, the wife of Mr-Happily-Married-with-Three-Kids, said her husband was busy, busy, busy drumming up votes on the campaign trail. My guess is that she hasn't seen the photo evidence of the Other Guy yet...'
[Friends of Mr Lorenz and family appear on print, social media, television, radio to Let The Nation Know that Mike Lorenz is A) a stand-up guy B) those photographs were clearly doctored C)He IS a happily Married Man...]
[A private investigator appears on the afternoon segment. 'I smelled a rat from the beginning. I'm telling you a man isn't going to put his head in a noose with everyone watching. Not this close to the election...so I did some snooping. You know just to myself right. And I did...The Other Guy in the picture was paid to be there. He put a roofie in Mike Lorenz's drink and Lorenz was off with the fairies. Bet the guy didn't know if his pants were on or off...]
'...Just when we thought we had a storm in a teacup with the Lorenz Pants Down Saga. Out pops a rumour of Michael Lorenz's long-term partner, a guy he's been with, even before he was married. We have the Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowls affair with a twist. We're still waiting for an official response from Mrs Sally Langston - the Presidential candidate who tried to turn her Gay husband straight with medication - or Mr Mike Lorenz, the current star of this show...'
Olivia woke as a sunbeam streaked through a gap in the curtains and fell on her face. She tried to block the light with an arm across her face but the utter silence in the room slowly seeped in, prompting her to open her eyes and sit up.
She was alone. The cot was empty.
Pushing aside the covers, she pulled on a robe and hurried out just as Jerry and Karen raced past, saying they'd make brunch. Staring over the balustrade, Olivia saw Rowan and Felicia usher the dogs inside to flop on the carpet, couch, or wherever their legs could carry them after their usual morning run.
Then she felt Fitz circle his arm around her waist. "You look like you need more sleep."
"Where's Gracie?"
"Demanding that Huck walk the deck with her. Hope he doesn't trip over Teddy. He's out there with them riding his trike."
Olivia smiled, laying her head on his chest, and closing her eyes. "Gracie should be ready for her feed soon."
Fitz stroked his hand over her hair, pressing his lips to the top of her head. "Sally called."
"Sally who?"
He chuckled. "You know who. The media has outed Sally's Vice-Presidential candidate."
That stopped Olivia mid-yawn and she tilted her head back to look at him. "Zeke?"
"No."
"Oh." Then asked, "What did Sally say?"
"She said she believed she had an offer you'd do darn well to accept."
Olivia smiled. "Never shy, our Sally."
"Liv," Fitz cupped her face. "I would rather help you rig an election before you agree to put your name on Sally's ticket."
Olivia stared at him. "I thought you wanted me to be a terrible president."
"I do."
"She saved Gracie's life."
"Only because they hatched the plan at her cabin. She would have expected one of them to snitch on her first."
"Reston."
"Yes. In a 'He said, she said', the media pundits would have believed him. The Democrats own the liberal press." Fitz paused. "There's another reason I don't want you to join her ticket. If she does get enough votes to win from the Tea Party crowd, the Bible belt and your average racist, then she'll spend the rest of her time in office trying to keep you from taking her job. I'm concerned about how that paranoia will manifest – Sally Langston will be the Commander-in-Chief, she'll have the resources of the 17 shadow agencies at her beck and call, including the FBI which has a history of entrapment, and the CIA which is a law unto itself."
"If you want me in the White House, this is the only way I'll get there."
"I know you don't believe that."
Olivia smiled. "Let me see what Sally's offer is."
A couple of hours later, Olivia left the den to find Fitz leaning against the wall.
"What did you say?"
Olivia drew near, leaning into him, slipping her arms around his waist. "I'm shocked; you didn't listen at the door?"
"Liv?"
She kissed his chin. "Fitz, somethings are better revealed in their own time."
"You did not say 'yes'?"
"I did not say 'yes'."
"You said, 'no'?"
"No."
Fitz gusted a sound halfway between a sigh and a laugh.
"Livvie..."
"Kiss me."
This time the laugh was stronger, as Fitz bent towards her.
Breaking News...
'...We're live at Los Angeles City Hall. The GOP leadership had a closed door meeting this morning to decide the fate of Mike Lorenz. Candidate Sally Langston is expected to announce a change in running mates on the presidential ticket...
A short while later, Sally Langston faced the cameras. With the backdrop of an American flag, Sally grasped the edges of a wooden lecturn, and read from a prepared script that had been thoroughly vetted by her campaign strategists.
"My fellow Americans, here we stand, on the cusp of a new dawn. In a matter of weeks, we will elect our next president; a woman or man, to lead this great nation, towards a future of progress in the new century. Who will you choose for that job? Who will you decide is the best fit to be the leader of the free world? A woman or a man, the people will decide. It's your vote. Your choice. In making that choice, you, as voters, need to know who we are and what we stand for, as people with the potential to lead this nation, this world, to a future that our kids will be proud to inherit.
"Today, the liberal media released information of a private and personal nature about my deputy. Michael Lorenz. We had a witch hunt, a trial by media of a man who wanted to keep his private life out of the public gaze. I want you to understand that Mike is a good man. Yes he has flaws, flaws that he didn't want to reveal to the world, out of respect for his family - his loving wife, and three beautiful children.
'What I share with you now, is with the permission of Mike and his family, Mike Lorenz is gay. Michael's flaw is not that he is gay, his flaw is that, as a man of integrity and great personal strength, he hid his sexuality from the people. Why did he see a need to do that in a nation that respects and celebrates individual freedoms in ways that other, lesser nations have set as aspirational goals? When my own husband told me he was gay, I tried to find a cure. I excused this intolerance as a woman of faith who believes in the Word of God. I focused on Christian principles of good and evil, forgetting that as God's children we who are chosen must clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ... We must forgive each other, just as Christ God forgave us.
'We are fortunate to live in a country where the freedom to speak freely, should also open our hearts and minds to the to the idea of consenting adults being in relationships of their own choosing, without undue consideration if they conform to society's comfort levels. The office of the President of the United States is made up of ordinary men and women who have a vision make this country great. We are not saints. History has already been made by a President who divorced his wife, and married his lover while in office. We have a President – unelected it is true – who is both black and gay. The world is evolving. It is time our electoral choices reflected this. We've had 44 Presidents who were white and male, though there is doubt they were all straight, but I believe it is time our politics is brought out of the closet. It is time we made diversity a deed, more than words. We the People, by the people, for the people – gay, straight, black or white. Let us be proud of who we are and choose our leaders wisely...'
"Impressive. I almost want to believe Sally is a changed woman." Fitz turned to Olivia, cuddled against his side with Gracie asleep in her arms.
Teddy was on the floor building a tower out of building blocks.
"You made Sally Langston sound Presidential, Olivia," Felicia said, as she plaited Karen's hair.
"Like Oprah did with Dubya in 2000," Rowan muttered, from behind the newspaper.
"It's okay," Jerry said, typing away on his phone. "I'm reminding everyone that's she's batshit crazy."
"Batshit," Teddy grinned, looking up a building blocks crashed on to the rug.
"You can't say she's crazy! Jer, you'll get in trouble," Karen shot a glance over her shoulder, but Felicia gently turned her head to face front.
"Yes, I can. Grandpa Pope said I can call anyone crazy as long as I say IMO, because everyone can have an opinion. And In My Opinion, Sally Langston is batshit crazy, and the other guy is worse."
"That Presidential-style speech had Olivia's sticky little fingers all over it," Cyrus sniffed.
"That's an amazing transformation for a homophobe."
"We don't have conversation therapy for megalomaniacs."
"The problem is that Liv doesn't want to touch the Presidency with a ten-foot pole. She wants to maintain her position as an unwinnable independent."
"The problem is that Fitz is dragging his heels about making Olivia see sense. There are some sacrifices that you need to make for the greater good."
There was a small silence, then James cleared his throat. "I'll check on Ella, she's been too quiet."
Meanwhile Sally on the campaign trail has a lot to answer for…
"Mrs Langston, is your support of your running mate a blatant attempt to win the Gay vote?"
"It is time we look beyond the politics and embrace the human condition of our times. The Republican party is more progressive than we are led to believe by the Left of politics who cannot see the wood for the trees."
"Are you saying your party supports your views on LGBT rights? Then you would openly condemn Georgia Rep Rick Allen's opening prayer from Romans 1:18-32 and Revelations 22:18-19 at the vote on the Energy-Water Bill, referencing homosexuals as being among those 'worthy of death'?"
"Rick was merely speaking the word of God. He did not give a recitation of his own, personal views on gay rights."
"Do you believe homosexuals are worthy of death?"
"I most certainly do not."
"Is that an intimation that you support the LGBTQ campaign for equal rights?"
"Let's not put the cart before the horse. My priority right now is to keep known criminals from winning the next election."
Breaking News...
Vice Presidential hopeful Mike Lorenz has cancelled all campaigning for today, after he was egged this morning by a group of anti-gay activists outside his home. The police were called to move the group along but their numbers have been growing outside the Lorenz campaign office...
Zeke had arrived at the Grants, a brief stop, on his way to France on an official visit...
Breaking bread at the kitchen table in his shirt sleeves, seated across from Fitz, Olivia and Gracie on Olivia's lap, Zeke said, "Langston's the new rising star. Looks like we might have a real fight on our hands."
"May the best person win," Olivia murmured, keeping an eye on Gracie as she stirred a spoon of honey into a bowl of porridge.
Zeke glanced towards Fitz, who shrugged. Zeke reached for another slice of toast. "So what do you think I should tell the President of France about the country's meltdown over fuel tax hikes?" Zeke paused, "Or that's the message on both liberal and conservative agendas."
"The message is that the yellow vests are a bunch of trouble makers." Fitz reached for the jar of honey.
"The French president needs to stop thinking like a banker approving loans for the IMF. The man who spent 500,000 euro buying a 1200-piece dinner set for the Elysee Palace, cannot turn around and complain about the 'shedloads' of money being spent on the poor who are struggling under tough austerity measures since the crash." Olivia wiped away a glob of porridge from Gracie's cheek.
This time when Zeke looked at Fitz, he grinned back at him. "So," Zeke said, as if the biplay hadn't occurred, "The guy needs to stop telling them to eat cake, when he's cutting their access to bread?"
"Wasn't one of his first acts as President to get rid of the Solidarity tax on Wealth which directly taxed those with assets of nearly 1.5 Euro?" Fitz cut into his eggs.
Olivia turned from Gracie to stare at them both.
"What?" Zeke asked.
"You didn't really stop by to ask my opinion on foreign policy? You've got advisors for that."
"Not one of them cuts to the chase like you can. You've got skills some of them don't know they need to learn. Liv, you are exactly what America needs to make this nation great again."
Olivia made a face.
Zeke grinned back. "That should be your slogan."
"What? Make America great again?" Olivia rolled her eyes. "Do you want me to get laughed out of town?"
Breaking News...
Republican Veep hopeful Mike Lorenz was called into the principal's office this afternoon after his kids were involved in a brawl during class. We have video footage of the scenes before teachers rushed in... as you can see school property was damaged - chairs were broken and used as weapons in a fight, alleged to have been started by the eldest Lorenz kid, Hunter... we understand one of the kids posted a slur against his father on social media...
Orly Airport, France...
President Lucas Zeke was making his way down the red carpet, almost at the end of greeting the line-up of officials, when a question was shouted out to him from the waiting press mob - "What do you think of Mrs Pope-Grant's chances of becoming President?"
Zeke paused. He turned. The security of two nations immediately went on high alert as Zeke left the red carpet and walked across the tarmac, towards the media gathering.
"It would take a miracle for Mrs Grant to be the Next President of the United States... but I am a man who believes in miracles."
"So you think Mrs Grant will be President against the odds?"
"I don't know, but I what I do know is that America needs her. We need Olivia to win. If she doesn't, America will be the biggest loser... Olivia Pope-Grant is exactly what we need to make America great again."
Across the Atlantic, Olivia shook her head half smiling as she switched off the television.
Across the country, in her campaign office, Sally Langston muted the sound but kept on staring at the screen, letting the images roll on silently.
"'Let's make America Great Again', wasn't that Ronald Reagan's campaign slogan in the 80s?" Sally's campaign manager mused as he put down the phone and looked at her.
"Yes. It was a tight race until Reagan wiped the floor with Carter in their one and only debate."
"Thanks to Debategate," The campaign manager smirked. "Reagan had access to Carter's briefing notebook before the debate."
"Oh that was just a rumour in that scurrilous book by Laurence Barrett."
"It wasn't just rumour. James Baker swore under oath that Reagan's campaign manager William Casey gave him Carter's book to help Baker, David Gergen and David Stockman prepare Reagan for the debate."
"Casey denied it."
"Reagan made Casey CIA director. Not to mention, Reagan's deputy was a former CIA director himself, George H W Bush. A lot of spooks in Reagan's camp helped him make America great again."
Sally turned away from the television screen with a determined set to her jaw. "We need to do the same."
"Wait, what? You want to resurrect Reagan's campaign slogan."
"I don't have to, Lucas Zeke has done it for us. There are people too young to remember when Reagan ran for President, but they sure are old enough to answer that most important of questions that he asked during the debate, "Are you better off than you were 4 years ago?"
"Sally, you were part of the administration that was in office 4 years ago."
Without missing a beat, Sally said, "Let's learn from our mistakes and make America Great Again..."
Two men left the cozy confines of a Men's Club, to make themselves comfortable in the back of a limousine, facing Edison Davies, as they circled the Washington Monument
"You've got nothing to worry about, Eddie. You don't mind me calling you Eddie, do you? I always like that dude, you know that comedian, Eddie what's his face."
"Eddie Murphy."
"Yeah, him."
"What we're saying is that you've got this in the bag. Our sources, and they'll be a damn sight more reliable than your average newspoll, tell us that no one's buying this Langston woman's sudden support for gays."
"Yeah, every adult of average intelligence will remember that she tried to medicate her husband out of his sexuality."
"How many adults of average intelligence will show up to vote?" Edison asked.
There was a pause, then both men burst out laughing, almost to the point of tears.
"Man, you're as good as the other guy. Look, Langston has shot herself in the foot with her support for this Lorenz guy. She never had the gay vote, but now she's hemorrhaging the lunatics who vote Republican."
"Yeah you, know who they are - the racists, homophobes, anti-semites, Islamophobes, and pro-gun rednecks. They're riled up and ready to storm the White House if Langston and Lorenz win."
"You've got nothing to worry about, boy, Langston is digging herself into a hole. And you are about to hit the jackpot."
At Langston's election headquarters, her manager stared at the latest polling figures and shook his head. "We're sinking faster than a lead balloon through cotton candy. At this rate, we'll be lucky to get a single vote on election day."
Sally smiled. "Then it is all going according to plan."
The manager stared at her for a long moment, then said slowly, "What plan would that be? Crash and burn like the freakin' meteorite that took out the dinosaurs?"
Sally smiled. "That's a surprise. I didn't think you believed in evolution."
"I'm a Republican, not an idiot."
The phone rang.
"I can't do this anymore," was how Lorenz began the conversation. "We're prisoners in our own home. The kids are going stir crazy, and my wife is packing to leave this whole mess as we speak."
"Every pioneer faced obstacles on his path to glory and success."
There was a silence.
"I quit," Lorenz said abruptly, before banging the phone down.
"That went well." Sally replaced the receiver carefully.
The campaign manager stared at her, then rubbed a hand over his face. "The guy just quit."
"Fortunately, we have a replacement waiting in the wings." Sally sailed out of the room with a smile on her face, leaving the campaign manager staring after her.
Sally Langston makes the Big Announcement to the media.
"It is with great sadness that I tell you tonight that Mike has decided to quit the Vice Presidential ticket. Oh I am sure you have a lot of questions about this but with respect to his family and Mike himself, let me say that he felt it would be… [pause for dramatic effective]… safer if he quit the race for the sake of life and liberty.
"[Another pause]… There was a time this party stood for all that is good in this great nation of ours. The First Republican President, Abraham Lincoln, freed all slaves in the Confederate States with Emancipation Proclamation of 1863.
"If not for the Republicans, women would not have the right to vote. Not only did a republican introduce the 19th Amendment – also known as the Susan B Anthony Amendment - in 1878 but it was not until we gained control of Congress in 1919 that the Equal Suffrage amendment passed both the House of Representatives and the Senate. And it was a Republican, Jeanette Rankin of Montana, who became the first woman to be elected to the House of Representatives in 1916.
"We are pioneers, we strive for progress, but today, sadly we have taken a backward step. Mike is a good man, a man of great achievement, he could have gone onto bigger and better things, but we will never know. It is with this sad thought in mind, that I now ask you to open your hearts and minds to the idea that it is not too late to right the wrongs of history; to shine a beacon of hope for the rest of the world to follow...
"It is with this hope that I have asked Mrs Olivia Pope-Grant to join me on the Republican Presidential ticket to win the next election..."
Republican National Committee meeting.
Senior official: "Have you lost your mind?"
Sally: "I can assure you that I have all my mental faculties."
"You asked a black woman to join the Republican ticket? You didn't think of running it by the committee first?!"
"Time was of the essence."
"Let me tell you something—!"
"I have heard all that I want to hear." Sally stood up.
"Do you want to lose this gotdamn election?!'
"No, I most assuredly do not." Sally tossed before turning on her heel and making her way out.
Fitzgerald household.
Fitz: "She's pulled a fast one."
Olivia: "Yup."
Fitz: "Maybe you should accept."
Olivia raised a brow.
Fitz walked up to her placing his hands on her shoulders, with rueful expression on his face. "I know what I said before, but maybe this could work."
"You don't trust her."
"I don't."
"But you want me to join forces."
"Let's get you over the finish line, then we can Pope the next step."
"Pope-Grant the next step."
He chuckled softly. "Yeah."
A/N : Sources for last two chapters -
Report: Aide says Nixon's war on drugs targeted blacks, hippies – Tom LoBianco (CNN)
Bill Clinton's crime bill destroyed lives, and there's no point denying it – Thomas Frank (The Guardian)
When Iraq Was Clinton's War – Chip Gibbons (Jacobin)
Key Figures In CIA-Crack Cocaine Scandal Begin To Come Forward – Ryan Grim (Huffington Post)
The War on Drugs and the New Jim Crow – Michelle Alexander (Reimagine)
How Ronald Reagan's Drug War Fueled Americans' Addiction to Racist Ideas - Ibram X. Kendi (The Influence)
Iran hostage crisis – Encyclopaedia Britannica
General Wesley Clark: Wars Were Planned - Seven Countries In Five Years (2007) – youtube
Obama says he's working towards a nuclear-free world. That's a lie – The Guardian
Obama's Russian Rationale for $1 Trillion Nuke Plan Signals New Arms Race – The Intercept
(ref: Homosexuals 'Worthy of Death' Bible Verse Read Before Key Vote – Rollcall. politics/bible-verse-homosexuals-heard-house-gop-prior-vote)