The Land of the Free: American Political Roleplay (IC II)

[The World Capitalist Confederation]

Bernard stepped out of the car, sweating heavily from the heat.

"Didn't know you liked the limelight..." Porter noted, assessing the man's personality. "I like Jacksonville. I just can't stand the heat. You know, back in Iraq, it was 150 degrees in the summer, yet it never felt half as hot...It's probably the damned humidity. Iraq is a boiling hell in the summer, a freezing hell in the winter. Imagine living in a place where it's 150 degrees in the summer and 0 degrees in the winter..."

"Well when you win 7 championships, the limelight will definitely follow you. And the heat, don't worry won't be too bad." Kevin said as he let Porter out.

"Flor-" Fans and papparazi would surround the men. Secret service would hold back fans and cameras from completely swarming them. Kevin would take a bit of time to sign whatever they wanted; autographs, die-cast car models, crew suits, whatever it was. Apparently the celebrity spotlight that he was put under during his career in NASCAR still travels to him this day.

Simultaneously, there would be fans surprised; "Oh my god, it's Porter!" As soon as the former Secretary of Defense and war hero stepped out, the flash photography intensified insanely. People would extend their hands in an attempt to get a handshake with them, get some of their stuff autographed or to have a conversation with them. Press would begin throwing questions at both men from different angles. Kevin simply ignored the press and, slowly making their way in, he'd autograph.

Porter smiled along, but didn't interact too much with the crowd. After the crowd was out of earshot, he continued talking to Kevin.

"I just came out of a rally, so just don't mind them."

[Puertollano]

"No, but I could use your input on the debates. I wanted to restrict the number of candidates, stream-line the primary. Thoughts?"

"I suppose it would depend on the candidates you'd be trying to take out of the race." She said more curious than anything else even though it sounded like a terrible idea right off the bat.

"The stragglers, mostly. But I don't plan on implementing it yet. Give them a bit of a chance first."

[New Cobastheia]

"He's certainly seemed more like himself the last few days if that's what your asking Senator."

Senator Colbert: “OK, just wanted to make sure that we are going by facts.”

"Ok Senator, anything else you cared to call me about?" She asked in a rather peaceful way.

[New Cobastheia]

"I suppose it would depend on the candidates you'd be trying to take out of the race." She said more curious than anything else even though it sounded like a terrible idea right off the bat.

"The stragglers, mostly. But I don't plan on implementing it yet. Give them a bit of a chance first."

"Ah, I wouldn't say it should start this early on either, the last thing we need is accusations about fixing the primary, we're better than the Democrats after all."

[Puertollano]

"The stragglers, mostly. But I don't plan on implementing it yet. Give them a bit of a chance first."

"Ah, I wouldn't say it should start this early on either, the last thing we need is accusations about fixing the primary, we're better than the Democrats after all."

"Yes, I guess."

[New Cobastheia]

"Ah, I wouldn't say it should start this early on either, the last thing we need is accusations about fixing the primary, we're better than the Democrats after all."

"Yes, I guess."

"Anything else or do you need to get back to work?"

[Puertollano]

"Yes, I guess."

"Anything else or do you need to get back to work?"

"No, I've got nothing else. It was great catching up with you."

[New Cobastheia]

"Anything else or do you need to get back to work?"

"No, I've got nothing else. It was great catching up with you."

"It was great catching up with you too," She said as she got up to give her step-daughter a hug before heading out and back onto the streets on Washington, DC with her security detail.

[Greater Arab State]

The Oval Office, Washington, D.C.

The recent developments within the Middle East had seen Secretary Urquhart being more active than even his usual schedule, however, his mind had thought that the statement that the State Department had issued would allow the situation to settle. However, his arrival at the White House, prior to being led through saw him take a brief look through Twitter, seeing the President recent tweets unnerved the Secretary, admittedly, he had served in the Administration since the beginning, however, it was nevertheless concerning that the President twas issuing tweets of such a nature, particularly given the concerns surrounding his health since the start of the year.

Urquhart was quickly led through the White House and into the Oval Office, where he saw it was just him and the President.

"Ah, Mr President, I assume you summoned me to here to discuss recent developments in the Middle East?" The Secretary asked, stretching his hand out for the President to shake.

The president rose and shook the other man’s hand. “Hello Secretary. We have a plan in place, I want you to hear about it.” A staffer emerged and handed the Secretary another dossier like the one which had been given to Berentsen. Then the President took a seat. “What are your thoughts, Arthur? Isn’t it great? It’s great. Everyone is saying it’s great! It’s something we should’ve been doing since before Baharia was in office. It’s great!”

"I'd definitely say what we're doing at the moment is on the right course, Mr President. We've been needing to get tough on Iran for years and I think what we're seeing in the Middle East is simply showing that we're moving on the right course, rather than appeasing the Iranian regime." The Secretary replied.

[Greater Arab State]

The president rose and shook the other man’s hand. “Hello Secretary. We have a plan in place, I want you to hear about it.” A staffer emerged and handed the Secretary another dossier like the one which had been given to Berentsen. Then the President took a seat. “What are your thoughts, Arthur? Isn’t it great? It’s great. Everyone is saying it’s great! It’s something we should’ve been doing since before Baharia was in office. It’s great!”

"I'd definitely say what we're doing at the moment is on the right course, Mr President. We've been needing to get tough on Iran for years and I think what we're seeing in the Middle East is simply showing that we're moving on the right course, rather than appeasing the Iranian regime." The Secretary replied.

Urquhart then began to give the dossier another read through before responding.

"Although I must admit, Mr President, undertaking such an action at this point may be unwise, I would advise that we merely strengthen sanctions against Iran at this stage in order to try and force them to acquiesce."

[The World Capitalist Confederation]

"Well, we ought to be finished now, I think. It'd be rather suspicious if we were here for too long."

Felix nodded and pulled himself out of the water. He pushed his hair out of his eyes. He waited for the older man to get out, and stood at the side of the pool.

Theo himself got out, sitting next to Felix.

"Alright...That was fun, wasn't it?" He said, staring at Felix's wet hair.

[Kargintina the Third]

“A war with Iran would be exponentially more disastrous than Venezuela, with Iran having one of the world’s top fifteen strongest military. Venezuela is less than 2000 miles from Florida. Putin has already shown he has no regards for our sanctions against the country, how long until we have a Second Cuban Missile Crisis in our hands?”

"Well, this time, let's try not to attack Soviet nuclear ships. Kennedy got off good with that one...We need someone good with foreign policy to get something passed to our UN ambassador. Although I'd certainly say that Venezuela will be much harder. Iran will be a second Iraq but larger. Venezuela will be a second Vietnam. Iran is responding much better to sanctions though...I think what's happening is that we sanction Venezuela, the Venezuelan government spreads propaganda, blames the suffering on us, and therefore can whitewash all their political and economic failures. We need to look into supporting rebel groups rather than sanctions, I think. They are a threat to the Monroe Doctrine and we need to take care of that."

“I would love to see Maduro overthrown by pro-capitalist revolutionaries but there’s little guarantee that it will work. We’ve already tried to overthrow Assad with the Syrian Opposition and they went crazy and sided with Turkey.”

[The World Capitalist Confederation]

"Well, this time, let's try not to attack Soviet nuclear ships. Kennedy got off good with that one...We need someone good with foreign policy to get something passed to our UN ambassador. Although I'd certainly say that Venezuela will be much harder. Iran will be a second Iraq but larger. Venezuela will be a second Vietnam. Iran is responding much better to sanctions though...I think what's happening is that we sanction Venezuela, the Venezuelan government spreads propaganda, blames the suffering on us, and therefore can whitewash all their political and economic failures. We need to look into supporting rebel groups rather than sanctions, I think. They are a threat to the Monroe Doctrine and we need to take care of that."

“I would love to see Maduro overthrown by pro-capitalist revolutionaries but there’s little guarantee that it will work. We’ve already tried to overthrow Assad with the Syrian Opposition and they went crazy and sided with Turkey.”

"Well, that's what we lose in these sorts of situations. I think we need to move from peaceful revolution to violent revolution. Train them, arm them, find a good revolutionary leader who we can cultivate and turn into a friendly governor. I'd say we need to do the same in Bolivia and Ecuador. They are just as much of a threat to the Monroe Doctrine as Venezuela, just that they're more prosperous and less despotic so we don't have as much to show the American people. Lenin Moreno and Evo Morales are just as much of a threat to our influence in South America than Nicolas Maduro is..."

[The World Capitalist Confederation]

"Of course, I'm willing to endorse you. This is a great deal: we need to work on getting more people with us. Who do you think are our next targets? Perhaps Trahan and Sulllivan? I can handle the Blue Dogs and the more conservative New Democrats, but I don't think that'll be a majority of the caucus."

“Sullivan should be the priority. Once Sullivan is on board, it’ll be easier to go to the rest of the Caucus. The priority after her should be the other contender for leadership- Moore.”

"It'll shape up to be progressive vs moderate, and if we get Moore out through the carrot or the stick, there'll be no competent progressives left. Are you sure you can still handle Minority Leader, though? I just want to ask out of genuine concern."

[Titanne]

Felix nodded and pulled himself out of the water. He pushed his hair out of his eyes. He waited for the older man to get out, and stood at the side of the pool.

Theo himself got out, sitting next to Felix.

"Alright...That was fun, wasn't it?" He said, staring at Felix's wet hair.

Felix smiled at him.

"Yes, yes it was."

[The World Capitalist Confederation]

Theo himself got out, sitting next to Felix.

"Alright...That was fun, wasn't it?" He said, staring at Felix's wet hair.

Felix smiled at him.

"Yes, yes it was."

Theo stayed silent, instead looking Felix in the eye.

[Titanne]

Felix smiled at him.

"Yes, yes it was."

Theo stayed silent, instead looking Felix in the eye.

He continued to smile, meeting his gaze.

[Kargintina the Third]

“I would love to see Maduro overthrown by pro-capitalist revolutionaries but there’s little guarantee that it will work. We’ve already tried to overthrow Assad with the Syrian Opposition and they went crazy and sided with Turkey.”

"Well, that's what we lose in these sorts of situations. I think we need to move from peaceful revolution to violent revolution. Train them, arm them, find a good revolutionary leader who we can cultivate and turn into a friendly governor. I'd say we need to do the same in Bolivia and Ecuador. They are just as much of a threat to the Monroe Doctrine as Venezuela, just that they're more prosperous and less despotic so we don't have as much to show the American people. Lenin Moreno and Evo Morales are just as much of a threat to our influence in South America than Nicolas Maduro is..."

“Bolivia has an election coming up this year. We can accuse him and his socialist of voter fraud if the margin of error is off enough, giving more US-friendly rightist elements of the Bolivian military a casus belli to launch a coup. Ecuador however doesn’t have nearly enough support for any government that could assist. The Ecuadorian opposition is fractured and made up of too many different parties. Maduro is the easiest one to remove since he openly has protests against his rule and human rights violations we can display to the world to hurt his legitimacy.”

[The World Capitalist Confederation]

"Well, that's what we lose in these sorts of situations. I think we need to move from peaceful revolution to violent revolution. Train them, arm them, find a good revolutionary leader who we can cultivate and turn into a friendly governor. I'd say we need to do the same in Bolivia and Ecuador. They are just as much of a threat to the Monroe Doctrine as Venezuela, just that they're more prosperous and less despotic so we don't have as much to show the American people. Lenin Moreno and Evo Morales are just as much of a threat to our influence in South America than Nicolas Maduro is..."

“Bolivia has an election coming up this year. We can accuse him and his socialist of voter fraud if the margin of error is off enough, giving more US-friendly rightist elements of the Bolivian military a casus belli to launch a coup. Ecuador however doesn’t have nearly enough support for any government that could assist. The Ecuadorian opposition is fractured and made up of too many different parties. Maduro is the easiest one to remove since he openly has protests against his rule and human rights violations we can display to the world to hurt his legitimacy.”

"I mean, CREO and PSC are pretty strong, but it seems that these elections, at least from my point of view, are legitimate. I think we can have Moreno deposed in 2021, when they have an election next. We need to ensure the CREO wins the second round of the presidential elections or that there is enough dispute amongst both sides to allow regime change. I think Bolsonaro can help us manage the red menace in the region, nip it in the bud. Speaking of Brazil, we need to dispose of Lula before he tries contesting the next election against Bolsonaro...He's much more popular than Rousseff, and despite the prison term, he is still widely adored. And that's not to mention AMLO or the Sandinistas. We really need some big foreign policy package to rid ourselves of this pink tide."

[The World Capitalist Confederation]

Theo stayed silent, instead looking Felix in the eye.

He continued to smile, meeting his gaze.

"Nice day, isn't it?"

[Titanne]

He continued to smile, meeting his gaze.

"Nice day, isn't it?"

Felix nodded.

“It’s been beautiful recently.”

[The World Capitalist Confederation]

"Nice day, isn't it?"

Felix nodded.

“It’s been beautiful recently.”

Theo rubbed his legs, starting from the ankles and going up and back down again, stretching from the swimming.

"Yes, it has. Have you enjoyed my house so far?"

[Titanne]

Felix nodded.

“It’s been beautiful recently.”

Theo rubbed his legs, starting from the ankles and going up and back down again, stretching from the swimming.

"Yes, it has. Have you enjoyed my house so far?"

Felix watched him as he stretched, and smiled shyly.

"Of course! I can't even imagine living like this."

[The World Capitalist Confederation]

Theo rubbed his legs, starting from the ankles and going up and back down again, stretching from the swimming.

"Yes, it has. Have you enjoyed my house so far?"

Felix watched him as he stretched, and smiled shyly.

"Of course! I can't even imagine living like this."

"Ahh...well, I think it is time that you leave. We've been running quite long, haven't we?"

[Titanne]

Felix watched him as he stretched, and smiled shyly.

"Of course! I can't even imagine living like this."

"Ahh...well, I think it is time that you leave. We've been running quite long, haven't we?"

Felix was a little sad to go, but he agreed that it was best. He hoped it didn't show on his face.

"Yeah, I believe you're right."