On the same day as February 12, the Thanksgiving holiday season opened, another major event happened in the United States.
The Lewinsky affair, which extended from the Paula Jones case and lasted for 13 months, has finally come to an end.
On Friday morning, East Coast time, the U.S. Senate formally voted on the two impeachment charges of "obstruction of justice" and "perjury" involving Clinton in the Monica Lewinsky incident. In the end, the votes were 50 to 50 and 45 to 55 respectively. All votes failed to pass, because the relevant impeachment requires the approval of an absolute majority of two-thirds, which is at least 67 votes, to be established.
Although there is no danger, the negative impact caused by this political crisis is destined to be irreversible in the short term. After all, in last year's mid-term elections, the people have already expressed their disapproval of the two parties, especially the Republican Party, by voting. I only know the disgust of digging up people's secrets, chasing them down and beating them up.
Baja California Sur, Mexico.
On Saturday afternoon, the day after the impeachment case ended, Simon was receiving guests on a yacht off the coast of San Lucas Estate.
On the top deck where the breeze was blowing, another old man who had been carefully disguised sat next to Simon. He was carefully flipping through a document under the umbrella, about the Weijia political team's prediction in advance of the Republican Party's victory in last year's midterm election based on online data. Report of failure.
More than ten minutes later, the old man finally closed the document, but instinctively continued to hold it in his hand as if reluctant to let go. He looked at Simon: "This is really... surprising."
Simon put down the moist white porcelain teacup in his hand, slowly refilled himself with some green tea, picked it up again, looked at the opposite side and said: "George, you have been in charge of the CIA, so you can definitely distinguish the authenticity of this report, as well as other The value of the data analysis technology involved, right?”
George, who had been in charge of the CIA, was naturally the elder Bush.
This meeting is related to the development of the Westeros system for many years to come, so Simon will not talk to any agent of the Bush family. Of course, he must find the right owner, and he must be the one who can make the final decision.
Bush noticed the calmness of the young man opposite him, and let go of the report without leaving a trace. He picked up the cold green tea in front of him and took a sip. He wanted to interrupt the compliment with a few words, but in the end he couldn't help but get to the point: "Simon, of course I can see it, but even though I have these data, I'm still curious, how does it work?"
"For example," Simon said: "The first thing is online. For example, an ordinary working-class voter who originally prefers the Democratic Party, during the election campaign, after a hard day's work, comes home, turns on the computer and surfs the Internet. If you can see how many job opportunities the Democratic Party's globalization policy has caused the American public to lose, how much additional expenses the Democratic Party's tax increase policy has brought to the hard-working working class, and how many rogue and lazy people have gained something for nothing through the Democratic Party's welfare policy, then, you Say, will his attitude gradually change?"
Bush nodded and pointed out the problem accurately: "But, Simon, even if you have Yigrit, I don't think you will and can't do this. Yigrit has always been more neutral or leaning towards the Democratic Party. You don't have it." Is it the plan to turn this into a Republican media outlet?”
"Of course not," Simon said: "But what I just said is not an obviously biased operation like Fox TV station with only one face. In the information age, the advantage of big data is that as long as we want, we can use people to Their online behaviors, such as the websites they like to browse, their speeches on social networks, their consumption tendencies on shopping platforms, etc., accurately locate each person’s political leanings. You know, this is actually very simple. In response to the need for precise online advertising, platforms such as Yigrit have corresponding data analysis teams and huge user behavior databases. These are mainly for commercial needs at the moment, but they may turn into political needs at any time. Let’s talk about elections. In operation, what we have to do is to accurately target some people who can change the outcome of the election, such as the Cuban immigrants in Florida who tend to be Democratic, and then carry out precise surgical information delivery to ultimately change their political leanings."
Bush listened to what Simon said. Although he remained calm on the surface, he unknowingly sat up straight again, imitating the posture of the young man opposite him who was leaning on the back of the chair. After thinking about it for a while, he did not immediately discuss more details of the operation, but asked more questions. Said: "Simon, you just said first, what about second?"
"The second is offline," Simon continued: "Although the current Internet penetration rate in the Federation is close to 70%, there are still many people who do not have access to the Internet. This is one of them. In addition, as you just said, it is impossible for me to To turn platforms such as Yigrit into complete Republican media, therefore, the intensity of online operations must not be too great. This requires you to use the data we provide to conduct offline campaign operations. George, you know very well , each elector’s campaign funds and team resources are limited. After precise positioning through our data, you can maximize the efficiency of putting campaign resources into key positions that can reverse the election results, such as the swing of a swing state. Swing cities in counties, well, in many cases, in these swing areas, the voting gap between the two parties is only a few thousand or even a few hundred votes, but as long as they win, it means dozens of electoral votes that can determine the electoral battle."
Bush nodded slightly, leaned back on the back of the white wicker chair, pondered for a moment, and finally looked to the opposite side and asked: "Simon, I never understand why you chose us and directly bet on Gore." Is it easy?"
"Of course it is out of consideration for the interests of my personal family," Simon also got straight to the point and said: "With the size of the Westeros system, my family is closely related to the future of the Federation, and for the Democratic Party, I agree with their global liberalization policy, because this is the future of the world, but at the same time I disagree with many of the views of the Democratic Party, such as high tax rates, overly relaxed immigration policies, and their excessive laissez-faire on political correctness. Frankly speaking, in some aspects, I A conservative. In short, George, you know, I like Chinese culture very much, and a core of Chinese culture is balance. Therefore, Bill's eight years are enough. I don't want the Democratic Party to continue for another eight years. The next step is You guys."
Bush listened quietly. Although Simon bluntly emphasized that it was for his own interests, he still keenly felt that there were reservations in it.
There is also some discomfort.
Since it is a capitalist country, Bush Sr. certainly knows the status of capitalists in this country, and the young man across the round table is undoubtedly one of the most powerful capitalists in this country and even this society. However, as a powerful political family, Bush instinctively disliked the feeling of being manipulated behind the scenes.
However, reality still has to be faced.
Putting aside these uncomfortable emotions, Bush nodded and asked: "So, Simon, what about support beyond the online level, I mean, like campaign funds?"
After the mid-term elections in 1994, which fundamentally touched the rules of American elections, the biggest change in the recent elections has been the rapid increase in campaign costs. Even though they understand that this is just to quench their thirst, both parties continue to relax restrictions on raising campaign funds.
Since the man in front of him is the richest capitalist in the world, of course he has to talk about money.
Simon also considered this issue and said: "In terms of funding, George, I can't give you much help on the surface. You know, after that time in 1994, Washington kept a close eye on me, not to mention my current situation." My position is still on the side of the Democratic Party. Therefore, in next year’s general election, all I can promise is to reduce investment in Gore and increase assistance to you through corporate political action committees affiliated with the Westeros system, but it will definitely be limited. However, On a private level, I will definitely not keep as much investment as I can, but it is impossible to give you an account book for this kind of investment, so you can only trust me."
Bush Sr. was a little disappointed, but he also understood that what Simon said was the truth.
Simon is indeed the richest man in the world, but among the support that the other party can give to their family, the least important thing is probably money. The soft power that the Westeros system has in all aspects of this country is the key.
Simon did not wait for Bush Sr's response this time and continued: "In addition, I can also promise you a bargaining chip today. Regarding Ygritte, you know, this is the company with the highest market value in the federal stock market and the most conspicuous one. On your side, you can choose your own time. You can use Igret as a target, launch an antitrust investigation, and demand that this company be broken up. If used properly, I believe it can win a lot of public support for George next year. After all, The public always likes to see high things destroyed."
Regarding the split of Ygritte, Simon had already decided on it very early.
I have thought about how to start this before.
The original idea was to wait for Washington to take the initiative to launch an investigation, and the two sides to resist "firmly". The two sides would go back and forth, let the public have enough, and then pretend to be defeated and start the split. At that time, the politicians will get their political achievements, the public will get the melon, the goal will be achieved, and the conflicts with all parties will be alleviated, killing three birds with one stone.
However, there were also hesitations during this period.
Human beings are always greedy, and the public is absolutely happy to hear about being the first to succeed, so it can bring rich political capital to politicians. However, if politicians are allowed to taste the sweetness of this and go further and take action against other companies in Westeros, the gains will outweigh the losses.
Now, this is a trade-off.
Simon took the initiative to bring this matter up and gave away the chips first, letting some people understand that it was not because you initiated the investigation that I was forced to split up, but I gave you the opportunity to act together and get what you need. In this way, politicians gain "political achievements" and understand how their political achievements come from, and they have to weigh them carefully if they want to make further progress.
Bush was really surprised this time: "Simon, are you sure you're not kidding?"
Simon shook his head: "George, I have been considering taking the initiative to split Yigrit. Perhaps Yigrit's current market value of more than 600 billion US dollars is shocking to you, but considering the future potential of the information industry, Even if Yigrit is divided into three according to my plan, I believe that each of the three companies in the future will have a market capitalization potential of trillions of dollars. In this case, let you bring it up first and send some Political capital, we each get what we need.”
Bush stared at Simon for a moment and finally nodded.
However, what shocked me more was what Simon said. Even if Igret is divided into three parts, each company will still have the potential to have a market capitalization of trillions of dollars in the future.
That’s 3 trillion US dollars!
Except for the United States and Japan, the GDP of any other country in the world is less than US$3 trillion.
What's more, this is just Igrit. By analogy, the Westeros system is currently growing with Daenerys, Tinkerber, Cisco, AOL, Nokia, etc., and their market value will be higher in the future. how many? How powerful and terrifying will be the wealth represented by these market values and the power behind this wealth
Thinking of this, although Bush Sr. was unwilling to give in, he still felt that perhaps it would be the best thing for his family to make friends with the young people on the opposite side as much as possible.
Simon noticed Bush Sr's shock and leisurely picked up the white porcelain tea cup in front of him again and took a few sips of tea before asking: "So, George, do you have any questions?"
Bush came back to his senses, shook his head, and then said: "In that case, Simon, what do you want?"
"What I want, as the general direction has just said, I hope this country can maintain a state of balance, neither too left nor too right." After Simon said this, he took a sip of tea and continued: " As for the specific needs, there is only one for the time being, Secretary of State, and I hope Kenneth Starr will be the Secretary of State for the next president.”
Bush shook his head subconsciously: "Simon, this position is too important, and Starr is not suitable. Although he has given us the president a lot of trouble in the past few years, Starr is not popular with the public. In addition, He also seems to have no experience in presiding over foreign affairs."
"Yes," Simon said, "Starr participated in many foreign policy formulations during his time in the government, and also led the negotiations for control of the Panama Canal. Moreover, the Secretary of State is responsible for foreign affairs and does not need to appeal to the public. I like it. By the way, during the years when you were in power, he was the Republican whip in the House of Representatives, so you should be quite familiar with him."
Bush hesitated and said, "Simon, I want to think about this."
"Another important point is that Starr has no background. Like Bill, he climbed up from the bottom. This kind of person will not have many ties and can serve us very loyally." Simon ignored Bush and thought about it. "George, I just promised so much. But when it's your turn, you hesitate to make my first small request, which makes me very disappointed."
"Simon, this is not a 'small request,'" Bush Sr. retorted with a wry smile, but he also understood that he had to show enough sincerity and nodded quickly and decisively: "Okay, Simon, I promise you. "
The solemn expression on Simon's face quickly melted into a smile, and he raised the tea cup in his hand towards Bush Sr.: "Then, I wish us a happy cooperation."
Bush then picked up the white porcelain teacup on the table: "It's a pleasure to cooperate."