and paced around to the front of the couch. There was a chair with Jack’s suit jacket lazily thrown across it and an empty space next to Jack. Ethan hesitated.
Jack gestured to the couch. “Please, sit. I want to hear your thoughts.”
Swallowing hard, Ethan sat, looking anywhere but at Jack. “Sir, I’m not qualified to speak to this subject. I am not one of your Cabinet members, I’m not a foreign policy expert, I’m not—”
Jack cut him off, reaching over and laying a hand on his arm. “Ethan, relax. I don’t want a wonk or a policy expert on this. I want someone I can trust, someone I can just vent to and bounce ideas off. Someone who is…” He smiled, leaned back, and shrugged. The fire caught on his eyes as he tilted his head. “Normal,” he finished. “I need to get back in touch with normal America.”
“And you think I’m normal America?” Ethan snorted and shook his head.
“You’re far more normal than anyone in my Cabinet. You’re grounded. You have a sense of reality. Sometimes I wonder how my advisors even get into the office on their own.”
“They don’t. Everyone has Secret Service protection, which includes a driver.”
Jack chuckled, once. “I knew it. They’re completely out of touch.” He turned half-pleading eyes to Ethan. “I just keep going over my options. The wonks have their opinion. My Cabinet has their opinion. I have my opinion. Do you have a minute to chat it over? Help me think this through again? See if we missed something?”
Inhaling, Ethan shrugged, throwing his hands wide. “Just don’t listen to me if I advocate a nuclear strike.”
Jack smiled. He grabbed his beer bottle from the table, rolling it between his palms as he spoke. Ethan stared at the beer, desperately wanting to be the bottle in Jack’s hands.
“I don’t understand how the Islamic Caliphate found a foothold in Taiwan, much less Taipei. China’s secret police should have stopped that attack. Somehow they didn’t, and the devastation was enough to nudge China into invading. Taipei fell, China took over the island, and we were left out in the cold with no options. It was a bad day for America.”
Ethan nodded, following the narrative with his own memories of the former administration, and with the former president’s ferocious anger, lashing out at anything in the aftermath of Taipei’s fall. His wrath at how he’d boxed himself in had been legendary, and his fall in the approval ratings astonishing. “Are you…planning on invading Taiwan?”
Jack shook his head. “No. We still don’t have the manpower in the military. Not with everything that’s been going on around the world. Europe’s under constant alert against more terror attacks, and the Caliphate has been moving against all of our allies in the Middle East. Besides that, I don’t want an all-out war with China. I don’t want war at all. I want peace, and I want security.”
Peace through a beefed up military and an aggressive defensive posture in the world. Ethan remembered the campaign. He nodded, urging Jack on.
“Since that day, we’ve cut off official diplomatic ties with China. We don’t have direct communication with their government. We put small tariffs on their imports, but we can’t do much more, not without torpedoing the global economy. It’s not like trying to sanction Iran, who we could effectively isolate in the past decades. This is a global economic player.” Jack took a pull from his beer and set he bottle down on the rug, tucked next to the edge of the couch. He leaned toward Ethan with burning eyes. “We’ll have a backchannel to China during the G-7 Summit in Turin,” Jack said slowly. “They’ve set it up. They’re reaching out in an overture.” He paused. “So. Do we engage them? Or do we keep them on ice?”
Exhaling, Ethan’s eyes widened, growing large as Jack stared at him. He was asking for Ethan’s opinion on foreign policy? And not just trivial foreign policy, like
Jack gestured to the couch. “Please, sit. I want to hear your thoughts.”
Swallowing hard, Ethan sat, looking anywhere but at Jack. “Sir, I’m not qualified to speak to this subject. I am not one of your Cabinet members, I’m not a foreign policy expert, I’m not—”
Jack cut him off, reaching over and laying a hand on his arm. “Ethan, relax. I don’t want a wonk or a policy expert on this. I want someone I can trust, someone I can just vent to and bounce ideas off. Someone who is…” He smiled, leaned back, and shrugged. The fire caught on his eyes as he tilted his head. “Normal,” he finished. “I need to get back in touch with normal America.”
“And you think I’m normal America?” Ethan snorted and shook his head.
“You’re far more normal than anyone in my Cabinet. You’re grounded. You have a sense of reality. Sometimes I wonder how my advisors even get into the office on their own.”
“They don’t. Everyone has Secret Service protection, which includes a driver.”
Jack chuckled, once. “I knew it. They’re completely out of touch.” He turned half-pleading eyes to Ethan. “I just keep going over my options. The wonks have their opinion. My Cabinet has their opinion. I have my opinion. Do you have a minute to chat it over? Help me think this through again? See if we missed something?”
Inhaling, Ethan shrugged, throwing his hands wide. “Just don’t listen to me if I advocate a nuclear strike.”
Jack smiled. He grabbed his beer bottle from the table, rolling it between his palms as he spoke. Ethan stared at the beer, desperately wanting to be the bottle in Jack’s hands.
“I don’t understand how the Islamic Caliphate found a foothold in Taiwan, much less Taipei. China’s secret police should have stopped that attack. Somehow they didn’t, and the devastation was enough to nudge China into invading. Taipei fell, China took over the island, and we were left out in the cold with no options. It was a bad day for America.”
Ethan nodded, following the narrative with his own memories of the former administration, and with the former president’s ferocious anger, lashing out at anything in the aftermath of Taipei’s fall. His wrath at how he’d boxed himself in had been legendary, and his fall in the approval ratings astonishing. “Are you…planning on invading Taiwan?”
Jack shook his head. “No. We still don’t have the manpower in the military. Not with everything that’s been going on around the world. Europe’s under constant alert against more terror attacks, and the Caliphate has been moving against all of our allies in the Middle East. Besides that, I don’t want an all-out war with China. I don’t want war at all. I want peace, and I want security.”
Peace through a beefed up military and an aggressive defensive posture in the world. Ethan remembered the campaign. He nodded, urging Jack on.
“Since that day, we’ve cut off official diplomatic ties with China. We don’t have direct communication with their government. We put small tariffs on their imports, but we can’t do much more, not without torpedoing the global economy. It’s not like trying to sanction Iran, who we could effectively isolate in the past decades. This is a global economic player.” Jack took a pull from his beer and set he bottle down on the rug, tucked next to the edge of the couch. He leaned toward Ethan with burning eyes. “We’ll have a backchannel to China during the G-7 Summit in Turin,” Jack said slowly. “They’ve set it up. They’re reaching out in an overture.” He paused. “So. Do we engage them? Or do we keep them on ice?”
Exhaling, Ethan’s eyes widened, growing large as Jack stared at him. He was asking for Ethan’s opinion on foreign policy? And not just trivial foreign policy, like
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