Casing the Colors © Week 13

Casing the Colors © Week 13 • • • CHAPTER 24 • • Dave Browning and Kate Gordon arrived in a Washington preparing for Vice President Jack Wilson's funeral. Washington political funerals follow a standard practices manual, perfectly arranged and acted out so that the resulting collective memory can be recycled for suitable political purposes. So, Jack Wilson had his official funeral, giving him the opportunity to become, dead, what he would never have been alive, a useful star in Washington's particularly political firmament. With Stu Wellford's support and encouragement and his doctor's liberal doses of tranquilizers, President Harper led the official party of mourners for the double funeral of Vice President Wilson and his wife, who was buried alongside him at Arlington. The President even put in a personal appearance with the families of the GOP national chairman and his aide, both of whom had been killed in the Vice President's plane accident, as it was still being described in White House press releases. After the President had performed his carefully assigned tasks, he returned to the White House and disappeared into isolated seclusion. His doctor was his only attendant except for Stu Wellford, who tried to keep him steady enough for emergency functions and prevent his condition from leaking beyond the small circle who lived in the shadow of the Oval Office. During the political down time created by the funeral activities, Stu Wellford, Bill Stevens and the Joint Chiefs worked in a secret frenzy on the answer for Carlos Miguel. They didn't brief the President until everything had been decided, knowing that too much information could immobilize him when they needed his official presence in the public eye. After consultation with Europe and Mexican President Allezar, it was agreed to tell Miguel that neither Europe nor the United States would discuss his request for ceding American or European territory, much less entering into an agreement of acquiesce. General Carlson's troops were in place and the tactical planning needed for air strikes into Mexico had been reviewed and approved by General Bennett and the Joint Chiefs. When everything was ready, one task remained, to inform the President and get his approval. His psychological condition made it a matter of considerable delicacy. Stu Wellford arranged with the President's doctor to bring him to the Oval Office at seven-thirty in the evening. Stu, along with General Gordon, Bill Stevens and Kate Gordon, were in place, their roles rehearsed. The doctor stood by outside while the group talked to the President. Bill summarized the trip to Veracruz and General Gordon described the military plan and preparedness. Then, as the others watched intently, Stu told the President that he would need to explain the situation to America and the world. The President rolled his chair away from the desk and stood up. His eyes moved randomly from one face to another, giving little indication that he fully appreciated what he had been told. Stu Wellford stiffened as he watched the symptoms he had dealt with over the past weeks assert themselves more forcefully. The President was sinking even deeper into isolation. Finally, President Harper spoke, his voice hollow. "The Vice President is dead and that means I can resign." Everyone froze in place. Stu spoke calmly and reassuringly. "If you resign, the Speaker will become President. You know that the Speaker is a carbon copy of Jack Wilson. We would have the same problems." "I will not go on," the President replied, raising his quivering voice. "Don't think I'm ignorant of what's happening. There are riots in a dozen cities. Troops are scattered all over the country trying to control terrorists. There's a mercenary army on the Mexican border. The Vice President has been murdered. I don't know what to do about any of it and I'm too exhausted to care. Find me a way out or I'll simply resign and you can sort it out yourselves." "Mr. President," General Gordon said, "we need your authorization for the Mexican offensive. Otherwise, Miguel is likely to begin skirmishes along the Texas, New Mexico, Arizona borders and move his army and weapons north across the Rio Grande. Please understand. We need presidential authorization tonight." The President stood behind his desk, motionless, his face expressionless. In a long moment of shared silent fear, the group in the Oval Office faced up to the fact that the miracle they so badly needed wasn't going to materialize. The President collapsed into his chair, his energy spent in a final repudiation of his authority. During those awful moments, Kate Gordon felt the beginning of a solution rise and fall like a wave in her mind. She forced herself to be calm, trying to concentrate on the idea that would not quite reveal itself. She knew that if any of their work, or indeed the nation itself, was to be salvaged, someone would have to provide a saving facade for President Harper's collapse. "Mr. President," she began, not knowing exactly where she would end, "we all appreciate the terrible events you have had to confront. The stress would have been too much for a lesser person. That's what you mean, isn't it? You are too ill to continue." His eyes riveted on hers, a frightened animal looking at the human who, if only it could be trusted, might be the animal's savior. "Yes, Kate," he said slowly. "I'm tired, worn out. I... I need to rest." "We'll help you," she replied. "We can get you away from all the problems. America will understand that you gave everything. Now, it's time for someone else to take up the burden." "Yes," he said, drawing the word out for several seconds as he made her suggestion his own. "Find someone else to take up the burden so I can rest." "While we're arranging for that," she added, "will you sign the executive order we need for Mexico? You won't have to appear on television. Just sign the order." "I'll sign it. Just keep them all away from me," he said, waving a hand aimlessly toward the others in the room. "Of course, Mr. President," Kate continued, her voice reassuring. "We will keep everyone away so you can rest. America understands. It wants you to rest." While she was talking, Stu Wellford pressed the button on the President's telephone console. The doctor reappeared. "The President isn't feeling well," Kate said, helping him to his feet. "He needs to rest." The doctor took President Harper's arm and walked with him toward the door. The others watched the scene, absorbing the immensity of their problem. "My God," Stu said, "why today? Couldn't he have held on just a few more days?" Turning toward Kate, he asked, "Do you really have an idea or were you just practicing client psychology?" "I don't have anything like a full plan," she replied, "but I have the beginning of one. We need to control everyone in the line of succession. It's the only way to move you officially into the Oval Office." "Bravo," General Gordon responded, in mock praise of what seemed to him like his daughter's lapse into complete nonsense, "and just how do you expect to make that happen?" "The Speaker can be neutralized, along with most of the other politicians in the succession. After all, they're either elected Republicans or cabinet members. My friends and I can handle them. The Chief Justice, that's Stu's problem," she answered. "How do you get from where we are to me in the line of succession?" Stu asked, warming to the legal game Kate was playing. "Maybe we appoint you to a job in the line of succession, as part of the national emergency measures" she said, thinking aloud. Stu suddenly jumped to his feet, looking at Kate as if she had just revealed the secret of turning water into wine. "Sweetie, you are a genius," he shouted, swinging her around in his arms. "That's exactly it. If you can cut a deal with the Republicans, I'll convince the Chief Justice to support us. The President appoints me, then he resigns for health reasons and I become President. It would be at least pro forma valid." "If we don't try something," Kate said, "we're looking at almost two years of massive civil disturbances before the presidential election in 2024, that is, in the unlikely event that we can hold onto the President until then." "There may not be enough country left to fight over by November 2024," General Gordon said, his brain still digesting the conversation between Kate and Stu. "Two years of trouble and no guarantee of any support from the President. Carlos Miguel isn't likely to withdraw his ultimatum and we need to get out ahead of him fast. Let's get the Mexico order drafted and signed tonight while the President is manageable. Then we can talk about what to do for the future." "I'll call George Morrison," Stu said, pushing the console buzzer. Bill Stevens got up to leave. "I need to call Chelenko to set up the meeting for tonight. It's 8:15 now. Will a couple of hours give us enough time?" "It'll have to," Stu said. "Ask Chelenko to be here at 10:30 p.m." Kate put out her hand to stop Bill's exit. "Who's going to tell the country?" she asked. "Tell it what?" he demanded, startled by her question. "Well, America needs to know that we've delivered to the President of Mexico an ultimatum which he has been forced to reject because of Mexico's domestic problems, and that civilians on both sides of the Rio Grande could be caught in the resulting crossfire." "We attack before we tell anybody anything," General Gordon said firmly, leaving no room for argument. "Okay," Kate answered, "but when it's time to speak, who tells America? If it's Stu, we'll have to explain the President's absence. If the White House press secretary makes the announcement, the media will ask when the President will be available. What do we do?" "Tough it out," Stu answered. "Let the press secretary manage the field for a few hours. Maybe by tomorrow night, we'll have the President on his feet sufficiently for a short address to the nation." "We're set to go at dawn minus one hour," General Gordon reminded them. "That means tomorrow morning at 06:45 EST. Get yourselves organized for 05:00 to allow for gremlin time." "I'll advise US embassies and major allied leaders when the press secretary starts his briefing, and I'll phone President Allezar personally to let him know what's coming," Bill Stevens said. In those few minutes in February 2023, the first deliberate steps were taken to use the United States Constitution to move the country away from constitutional government. There was little calculation on anyone's part. They were Washington insiders responding to the huge political problem of a pshcholigically collapsing President and a disintegrating domestic situation. They would have said they were saving America from its worst nightmare, the breakdown of unifying presidential authority at a time when it was desperately needed to hold the country together while terrorists and inner city conspirators were being eliminated. General Gordon, still focused on his immediate military needs, outlined for Stu Wellford and his daughter what he wanted in the executive order. While they were talking, George Morrison came into the office, tossing his coat onto a chair near the door without bothering to say hello to anyone. "What's wrong?" he asked. When Stu finished a quick review of events, the Attorney General faced him squarely. "We'll need to inform Congress and ask for interim presidential powers for the Speaker." "George," Stu blurted, "that is exactly what we do not need to do. Use your political sense and not a federal administrative manual, for God's sake. It's bad enough to have to deal with the Speaker instead of the Vice President, but let's not offer him the presidency on a silver platter." "Damn it, Stu, we can't just go on ignoring the fact that the President is non-functional. You may be the perfect choice as his successor, and you may even win the election, but you are not yet President of the United States," the Attorney General snapped. General Gordon, listening to the conversation, tried to bolster himself to step up to the issues facing them, to intervene and use the military's powerful position to stop the non-constitutional use of the presidency. But if his military discipline impelled him toward intervening, his military common sense prevented him. He understood the massive shock that Raqqa and Miguel could deliver, not only in the United States but even more so in Europe, already traumatized by the past decade of terrorist attacks and a mounting surge of uninvited immigrants from non-western cultures. And because of his close association with the Rangers and other American para-military groups, Gordon knew what their uncontrolled and independent reaction would be if they felt the United States, or more precisely their way of life, was seriously threatened. It was clear to him that in such circumstances, only the US military could prevent a second American civil war, and with it the collapse of the western alliance. He was by training, experience and instinct prepared to shoulder both the burden and the consequences emanating from his analysis. General Gordon felt himself mentally wheel into a mode he had always reserved for war. He silently outlined the likely consequences of any failure on his part to control the coming events, which he could catalogue as easily as most people could outline the progression of a normal day. He ticked off the responses needed to prevent each failure of control and assured himself of his preparedness to make each response. In the name of national survival, General Gordon had crossed the line from government based on legitimate presidential authority to military rule. "George," Kate urged, "we need the order for Mexico tonight. Can we save the debate about the President until after we talk to Chelenko?" "George, can't you focus on the legal problem. You're our lawyer. Tell us how to make the plan pass constitutional muster," Stu implored. "You are both lawyers," George Morrison responded coldly. "You know damn well that we can wrap what you're proposing in all the legal form we can find. At the end, its substance will violate the Constitution and it is not the kind of thing we can hide in thousands of pages of public hearing testimony and congressional reports. We'll be on the front page of every paper in the world. Think about the headlines." "What's the alternative?" Kate demanded. "Let the Speaker and his incompetent cronies take over? Give up and go home to wait for race riots and islamic terrorists to destroy us? These aren't normal times, George, and we won't be able to ride out the storm, clean up afterward and go on. There will be no America left to clean up, because Raqqa and Miguel will be sitting in this office." "Okay," George said wearily. "I'll draft the order, but don't ask me to bless it, either publicly or privately." "George, don't judge the case before you read the record. Maybe you'll surprise yourself and find that we're not so wrong. The presidential line of succession includes cabinet members and the Chief Justice and none of them is elected. We need your legal objectivity, not your personal opinion. And I need you, George," Stu added, in a transparent appeal to his friend's loyalty. "You know I'll be here, Stu. You don't need to ask, but I simply can't, as Attorney General, condone such unconstitutional maneuvering. It's my job to protect the Constitution." "I won't back off, George," Stu replied. "We have to win. America must survive." "What is the essence of the American constitutional process, Stu?" George demanded emphatically. "You used to write opinions about it. If the country has the political will to save itself, it will deserve to survive. Free choice and majority rights. That is the Constitution's promise, not manipulation to save the status quo." "That's all well and good when the problem is air pollution," Stu answered, "but Raqqa doesn't respect free choice or majority rights. He'd laugh in your face if you tried to explain that his ghetto recruits have a right to choose their government. I will not let him pervert our constitutional principles to destroy us." George applauded cynically as he headed for the door. "If you need me, I'll be in the Cabinet Room writing your order. Promise me you won't declare yourself emperor while I'm working," he said, tossing the taunt over his shoulder as he exited. The executive order was drafted and signed in half an hour. It gave the US military authority to enter Mexico for the purpose of eliminating Miguel's army and its potential threat to the United States. It expanded upon earlier orders that had already given the military access to America's civilian infrastructure and the right to impose military law in US territory in the event of a breakdown of civilian order. • • At 10:30 p.m., Chelenko was waiting in the Cabinet Room. Secretary of State William Stevens and Assistant Secretary of State Kate Gordon met him, their conduct diplomatic but their position unyielding. "I understand," the Russian diplomat said as the Secretary finished the prepared position statement. "But, have you fully considered the consequences for the United States?" "That," said the Secretary, "is our problem, not yours." Chelenko shrugged his shoulders. "I hope you have a plan, because Miguel will not be pleased when he receives your message." "The United States government is fully prepared to deal with Carlos Miguel," the Secretary responded, "and we expect your country to remain neutral." Chelenko laughed. "You cannot imagine what Miguel and Raqqa are like. Take my advice. Talk with Miguel. Don't dismiss him so abruptly." "You have our position. Please deliver it," Bill Stevens said, in a tone which ended the possibility of further conversation. "Miss Gordon," Chelenko said deliberately turning away from Secretary Stevens, "I believe Miguel told you to contact me if you want to talk to him. Here is a phone number. You can always reach me with it." "Thank you," Kate said, taking the card Chelenko held out to her. "As for you, Mr. Secretary, and the rest of the American government, you will be hearing from Miguel, unfortunately." Connected to the Pentagon and State Department by secure communications links, General Gordon and Secretary Stevens stayed at the White House all night, briefing the press secretary for the dawn announcement of the Mexican incursion and coordinating their diplomatic and military postures. Kate Gordon and Stu Wellford occupied the Oval Office, interrupted by George Morrison's intermittent attempts to convince them to reconsider before events overtook their ability to stop them. Ultimately, each of them was alone, trying to find their individual paths through a black and unknowable night.