"Simon, I'm surprised. Haven't you been increasing investment in China in recent years? Why are you suddenly interested in Southeast Asia again?"
Washington.
In the new week after Easter, Simon flew to the east coast capital, mainly to communicate in person about Clinton's visit to Vietnam in August. After finishing the business during the day, it was another private dinner at the White House in the evening.
The question was not asked by the president and his wife, but by Al Gore, who was fully committed to the presidential election.
Because the strong candidates of both parties in the United States are popular, unlike the subsequent entanglement with each other until June and July to determine the presidential candidates, as early as March 14, the new presidents of the Democratic and Republican parties in the United States The candidates were decided, Al Gore on the Democratic side and George W. Bush on the Republican side.
In addition, among the many independent candidates, it is worth mentioning that there is a third party quietly supported by the Westeros system, the Green Party candidate Ralph Nader.
Simon is not interested in this far-left independent candidate nicknamed the "Nader Fighter" and supports him privately. There is only one reason. He is copying the routine of the 1992 election, letting Nader come forward to share Al Gore's votes, and disguised as a villain. Bush campaign.
In the family dining room on the second floor of the White House.
The Clintons and Gores were both in pairs, and Simon was not alone this time. Instead, he brought Grace Krepp with him. It is the privilege of a big shot that even if he brings his lover to the banquet, the other two couples will respond with enthusiasm no matter what they think in their hearts.
Privately, he spared no effort to hold Gore back. At the moment, even when faced with Gore's obviously attentive inquiry, Simon did not feel any guilt. He took a sip of the red wine that Grace beside him had refilled for him, and smiled. Said: "These two things are not in conflict, Al. As a businessman, of course I have to work hard to develop every potential market."
"Yes, globalization," Gore said with the same impeccable smile. He was envious of the intimacy between Westeros and the female head of the fashion industry. He looked at Clinton on the other side and continued: "If I am lucky enough to become Bill's successor, globalization will definitely become an issue that I will focus on during my term."
This short sentence shows Gore's emotional intelligence.
There is no doubt that Gore wants to be the next president. However, if he directly says 'if I become the president', it will inevitably make the current president who is still sitting in the restaurant feel uncomfortable, so he changed it to ' Bill's successor' rhetoric.
Then there is the hint about promoting globalization, which can be regarded as a promise to Simon.
It's a pity that emotional intelligence is not very useful to everyone here. Clinton will not forget the fact that he is drifting away from his vice president and that he has chosen Joe Lieberman, the first Democratic senator to publicly criticize him, as his running mate just because of Gore's tactful remarks, and Simon will not forget it either. Because of a hint from Gore, he promised to change his strategy of supporting George W. Bush.
Simon still clearly remembers that at the same White House dinner last year, the Clintons did not invite the Gores, but Simon later went to a cocktail party hosted by the Gores.
Therefore, it is not difficult to guess that the Gores may have forced their way into tonight's dinner, spending the last of their friendship with Clinton over the past eight years, just to meet with Simon and gain more support.
The main reason is that Simon only plans to stay in Washington for one day this time and will not have time to go to Gore's house tomorrow night.
In fact, if he was keen enough, through these small details, Gore should be able to understand Simon's potential alienation from him.
You know, in a recent approval rate survey, Gore's approval rate of 56% surpassed George W. Bush's approval rate of only 39% by 17 percentage points. The advantage is so obvious that he is almost recognized by many people as the next President of the United States. .
Under normal circumstances, in this case, during Simon's day in Washington, even if he did not leave the current president and his wife alone to contact Gore, he should also take the initiative to ask the three parties to communicate together.
Simon didn't do that.
Of course, Simon has nothing to worry about. Compared with the Clintons, whose political influence can last for more than ten years, the failure of this presidential election basically means the end of Gore’s political life. Since there is not much residual value, There is nothing to pretend to be a snake.
As for the black swan event of Gore reversing George W. Bush, which was different from the original time and space, with the help of the Westeros system, that is really the case, Simon admits his failure.
However, not to mention that the chance of this is very small, even if it does happen, Gore will know Simon's true tendency in this election in the future, and he will not be able to take any big action against the Westeros system in the future.
After all, election after election is followed by election, election after election is followed by election, election after election, endless, and capital lasts forever. Capital can attack spokespersons elected by capitalist countries, but if it fails once, then twice. However, spokespersons elected by capitalist countries can only make things difficult for capital for eight years at most.
That's right, one side is "initiating an attack", which can end the political life of the other party. On the other side, it can only be 'making things difficult', and its lethality is similar to a child's prank.
In the final analysis, in a capitalist country, capital is the master.
Hillary was actually resentful of the Gores who had forced their way in. She was also running for the New York State Senate this year. She wanted to discuss with the young tycoon how the two sides could work closely together. The Gores were here, and some The matter is not suitable for discussion. We can only discuss some public topics at the moment: "Simon, I don't quite understand. Singapore, Malaysia or Thailand are nothing, so why do you seem to value Vietnam more?"
There is no need to hide certain thoughts, Simon said frankly: "Compared to countries such as Singapore that have experienced a certain degree of development, in my opinion, Vietnam, with a GDP of only US$30 billion, is like a blank sheet of paper, and this The country has a population of 80 million, and a large pool of cheap labor, which is enough for us to paint as we wish."
Mrs. Gore, who was silent most of the time, opened her eyes slightly when she heard this, and finally couldn't help but interject: "Simon, to be honest, this is Vietnam, do you really think, well, you can paint as much as you like? "
Simon glanced at the second lady who had been working hard to support her husband's political career for decades but eventually failed with her husband. He smiled and said: "Mary, there is a saying in China called 'sugar-coated bullets.' do you know?"
Mary Gore was born into a wealthy family in Washington. After marrying Al Gore in 1970, she basically engaged in the kind of life that Robin White once played Mrs. Tomu in "House of Cards". Of course she knew a certain phrase. Hearing this, he nodded and said, "Of course I know."
"The Vietnam War was an eternal trauma for the Federation," Simon said. "However, in my opinion, the way the Federation tried to conquer Vietnam by war was completely wrong."
"You mean," Mary Gore said, "what we should use are 'sugar-coated bullets'?"
"That's right," Simon said: "A big reason why the Soviet Union collapsed is that their citizens found that there is a growing gap between their lives and ours in the West. People will always instinctively yearn for a better life. When The top Soviet leaders were unable to bring them this change, but instead it got worse and worse, and they would naturally abandon their own government. Similarly, for Vietnam, if we had adopted economic means, it might have been a different outcome."
After Simon finished speaking, Grace gave her a manly nod of unconditional agreement. The other three did not refute for a while, but Clinton had no scruples and said with a smile: "Simon, you think too simplistically about Vietnam. Back then, North Vietnam was a die-hard supporter of the Soviet Union. Allies are not so easy to win over through economic means."
Simon didn’t have any thoughts about Vietnam’s bad debt back then, and said: “Maybe it wasn’t possible back then, but now, it’s definitely no problem. According to the information I got, Vietnam will also determine a national policy to significantly open up its economy next year. This is our opportunity. .”
This time, everyone nodded.
Al Gore thought about it for a moment and then said: "Simon, if my guess is correct, in addition to the economic layout, you may also have the intention of containing its northern neighbor through Vietnam, right?"
Simon shook his head without thinking: "This is an issue that you politicians in Washington need to consider. I'm just doing what a businessman should do."
Clinton chuckled: "Hey, Simon, I don't think the whole world will think you are just a businessman."
Simon looked over with a smile: "So, Bill, who should I be?"
"Super capitalist," Clinton said without hesitation and with a half-truth and half-joking tone: "Now, even a few of us hope to get your help."
"That's for sure," Simon said. "As a collective, we need to help each other."
So the topic was cleverly turned by Clinton to the ongoing 2000 election.
First, Hillary stated in person some of the policies she would implement if elected as the New York State Senator. Of course, they were related to the Westeros system, such as further strengthening support for the Internet industry and liberalizing the media industry. control and the like.
Simon has read these materials in advance.
In return, Simon also made it clear what kind of support he would give to Hillary, and even went a step further, hinting that one day in the future, it is not impossible for a husband and wife president to appear in the federation.
Then came Al Gore.
Since it is still a staunch Democratic Party on the surface, the Westeros system also supports Gore, the Democratic candidate, with great fanfare.
However, the related operations are very technical.
For example, in the doomed blue states, or the hardcore red states, California, New York, Texas, etc., the resources invested by the Westeros system for Gore can be said to be sparing no effort.
Because in these states, no matter how they operate, the results will not change.
The key is still the swing states with large votes such as Florida, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. This is the key to the operation of the Westeros system.
Just recently, Ralph Nader, the Green Party candidate who is quietly supported here, has been arranged for a series of campaign procedures in Florida. In short, every vote is a vote.
You know, in the 2000 election, in the key state of Florida, George W. Bush only led Gore by more than 500 votes. This time, on the basis of the past, if Ralph Nader can take away 10,000 or even thousands of votes that originally belonged to Gore in Florida because of the arrangements here, then George W. Bush’s victory will not be How much more suspense will there be.
This delicate surgical operation has, at least for now, apparently gone undetected.
Gore just sincerely hoped that Simon would give him more support at the two media levels of television and the Internet. He also made some clear requests and made some promises again. Simon pretended to think about it for a while and agreed to them one by one.
As for how much will be realized during the specific operation, no one knows.
After dinner, it was already ten o'clock in the evening.
When the car left the White House, Simon felt the woman next to him pressing softly against her, stretched out his arms and hugged her, and asked with a smile: "How does it feel to dine with the head of state?"
Grace whispered: "It's so fake."
Simon said: "Politics is just a show. Since it is a show, of course it cannot be too real."
"What I mean is..." Grace raised her head and glanced at someone narrowly: "You are much more fake than them, and you told a lot of lies."
Simon was originally very interested, but after hearing what the woman said, he immediately pretended to frown: "You actually said that to me. It seems that you need to clean it up later."
Grace was not afraid, but rather looked forward to it. Her eyes were a little more watery: "Okay."
Simon immediately felt disgusted again: "It's so uninteresting, you should pretend to be afraid."
Grace nodded her head like a little girl: "Yeah, yeah."
Still not sincere, so the hand that Simon hugged was raised decisively and gave him a gentle slap.
Grace made a small noise in cooperation, leaned closer to the man, and said, "For example, about Vietnam, you are obviously telling lies."
"Oh, do you think they saw it?"
"I don't know," Grace shook her head slightly: "But it shouldn't happen, I can tell, because you are my man."
Simon hummed.
Grace was actually very curious, and looked up again. Seeing that the man had no intention of explaining, she stopped asking. Anyway, whatever he wants to do is right for her.
So he took the initiative to change the topic, and it was still deliberately provocative: "Speaking of Southeast Asia, Jenny mentioned to me in a private chat that a few days ago, you were in Kuala Lumpur, and you had 45 women in three days. Is that so awesome?"
Simon didn't calculate at the time and subconsciously asked: "45, is that many?"
Grace raised a pair of slender hands and clasped her fingers in front of the man: "26 models from China, Japan and South Korea, and 19 Korean actresses, adding up, there are 45 in total, tsk, an average of 15 a day, if you calculate it like this A year, you can have, well, over 5,000."
Simon wanted to deny it.
Men must not be too frank when getting close to women.
But, it seems that during those three days, I was very busy during the day and not idle at all at night. Whether it was deep plowing or shallow plowing, I did... taste it all, and didn't miss any one.
Seeing that the woman next to him was still staring at him, Simon simply got angry and said, "It's indeed a bit too much. I decided to take a rest tonight."
Grace smiled and immediately begged for mercy: "No, I was wrong."
Simon raised his head slightly and turned to the side in a macho gesture: "You are not sincere at all. How can you make up for it with actions?"
Grace climbed over like a cat: "Recently, all the outstanding girls from various competition regions around the world have been selected. Can I help you get 45 more?"
"uh-huh."
"It's too little. You can't ask for 90. Can you bear it?"
"Woman, are you questioning me?"
"Okay, I was wrong again, and I apologize." Grace said to the man: "Then I will help you choose. This time, um, let's change the taste and ask for a Western girl. How about it?"
"Seeing how sensible you are, I forgive you."
"hehe."