The Pinnacle: A Jacob Cahill Novel: Book Five

By John Gess

The Pinnacle is the conclusion to the five-book series on the child prodigy, Jacob Cahill, who was raised in China by Buddhist monks, but forced to return to the U.S. as a teenager. Using his prodigious intellectual and athletic skills, he excels in school before deciding to join the Army to fight in Vietnam where heavy combat leaves him scarred for life despite a box full of metals earned during two tours in the country. After leaving the Army, he attends Stanford University where he earns a doctorate in physics before proceeding to start a software company which he leads to great success. Yet he is frustrated with the poor governance and incompetent politicians he must deal with which prompts him to decide to run for the highest office in the country, President of the United States. Against all odds he wins and book five tells the story of his massive campaign to turn the country around after the disappointing eight years of Barack Obama. His controversial policy prescriptions face heated opposition, yet he perseveres through his own frustrations and those of his family, friends, and colleagues. Read the exciting conclusion to the Jacob Cahill saga as he struggles mightily to right the ship of state.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 23, 2023
• ISBN: 9798369411223

John Gess

John Gess is the author of A Simple Soldier, Deficient, and the Jacob Cahill series. He lives in Woodinville, WA.

Book preview

PROLOGUE

Jacob Cahill was born on March 1, 1949 in Seattle, Washington, to Paul and Rachel Cahill who were Christian missionaries assigned to a small village in Sichuan Province in China. Arriving back in China soon after the birth, Rachel continued her work as the resident health care worker in the village. Jacob grew quickly and to the surprise of all was a shockingly intelligent and strong toddler, a sheer delight to his Chinese godmother, Mu Ju, and the other Chinese people in the village. Yet it was in the early days of Mao’s reign in China and Mao was on a campaign to turn China into a socialist’s paradise, a society where everyone was equal, and the state was the overseer. When the Chinese Communists marched into Jacob’s village, it soon became clear that his parents and his godmother were not looked upon with favor by Bi Fu, the leader of the local Communist cadre. It wasn’t long before Jacob’s parents were killed and Mu Ju fled with Jacob deep into the mountains of northwestern China to find her son, a former Buddhist monk who himself had fled from the wrath of the Communists. There, Jacob grew up in primitive and dangerous circumstances, protected by a small group of former monks and taught all the skills these monks could teach him. It soon became apparent to these men though that Jacob was no ordinary child. The monks could hardly fathom the intelligence displayed by this child as he grew and, as the years passed, they realized that the child truly had a brilliant mind. But the years that followed also included intense physical and martial arts training under the tutelage of these Buddhist monks and Jacob developed extraordinary physical gifts which nearly matched his phenomenal intellect.

Yet when Jacob turned fifteen, the monks decided it was too dangerous for the boy to remain in China and sought to return him to the United States. They began a long journey to Hong Kong, hoping to book passage for him on a ship to America. It was during this harrowing journey that the Chinese Army killed all but one of Jacob’s monk protectors. Miraculously, Jacob managed to escape under extreme duress and was able to flee to America where he went to live with his maternal grandparents, Maggie and Harry Dunlap, in Seattle. There he entered American society and did his best to fit in. Instead, he did nothing but stand out, excelling in academics and school sports. At the suggestion of a teacher at his high school, he became acquainted with a University of Washington physics professor and began work on a research project which led, after several years, to the inclusion of his work in a prestigious academic journal. He then promptly enlisted in the Army to the dismay of everyone he knew and was soon in Vietnam fighting for his life, using his exceptional skills to torment the enemy. But after two years, a mangled back, six bullet wounds, and a box full of medals, Jacob flew home disappointed and disillusioned. A year later, he was out of the Army and was attending Stanford University at the encouragement of his mentor, Professor Adamson. He continued his physics work, eventually earning his Ph.D. in physics with a proposition that purported to resolve the dilemma that had perplexed physicists for decades, the incompatibility between quantum mechanics and the theory of relativity. Yet by the time he received his doctorate, he had already moved on to start a business which focused on developing software to manage a myriad of activities in business and science. The business grew until it became one of the largest and most profitable businesses ever, making Jacob a very wealthy man. Yet he chafed at the horrendous governance that he saw at both the state and national levels in the U.S. He yearned to improve it and solve the many issues that faced the country. He decided to run for president in 2016 at the encouragement of his best friend and, after a bruising campaign, he won in a landslide, besting the establishment candidate, Hillary Clinton. Now the real problems for Jacob Cahill would begin.

CHAPTER ONE

Hillary Clinton didn’t wait long. Even before significant results had come in from the West Coast, she was on stage thanking her supporters for all their hard work. She said she had called Dr. Cahill and congratulated him on his victory and that it was now time to come together and move the country forward. And then she was gone. It had been an historic rebuke for Clinton but also a singularly extraordinary accomplishment on Jacob’s part. He had his mandate and he intended to wield it with authority to get his public policy initiatives passed. And as suddenly as the federal government’s attacks on him had started, they all just suddenly stopped. The FBI agents who had been scouring his records, looking in every nook and cranny of his business and life, simply no longer showed up on his business premises. Eighty percent of the IRS agents pouring over his financial records left and the Department of Justice attorneys reviewing his hiring records departed. Jacob just shook his head. He knew that if they had really had anything, they would have re-doubled their efforts to finalize their work before the inauguration, but they had nothing. It had been a fishing expedition to try to influence the election. He knew it. They knew it. And now he would need to figure out a way to eliminate these types of political investigations in the future. But he had no idea how.

Even though the polls had shown increasing support for Jacob as they got closer to the election, the mainstream media had just refused to believe it as excuse after excuse streamed out onto the airwaves stating how the polls were wrong. Now, however, as the results came in, the mainstream media was practically having a nervous breakdown. Rachel Maddow teared up on her show the day after the election and told her audience that Cahill’s election would mean the very end of life on earth itself. The darkness that had descended on America would last for four years, she said, stating that the second coming of Hitler had arrived, but, this time, in America. Almost sobbing, she claimed that societal compassion had been erased. It was all about money and wealth and big business and the little people be damned. A racist and tyrant had ascended to the presidency and now racism was ascendant in the land and democracy in America was at an end. Mike Thomas showed Jacob a column in the Washington Post by Charles Blow who stated that minorities would suffer dreadfully at the hands of these horrible white supremacists who now occupied the White House, and that Mike Thomas was nothing but an Uncle Tom. Jacob responded, saying, Well, Mike, I guess they have us pegged, don’t they? I’m a white supremacist dictator and you’re an Uncle Tom. And we’re not even in office yet! Can you imagine the tsunami once we’re in office and we try to do something?

Yeah, the screaming and gnashing of teeth will be historic, said Mike. Of course, what Blow conveniently neglects to mention in his despicable hit piece is that the exit polling shows that you got fifty-one percent of the Latino vote, an unheard-of thirty-eight percent of the black vote, and fifty-eight percent of the Asian vote. Apparently, there are a lot of minority voters out there who do not consider you a racist even though you ran as a Republican!

However, this was just the beginning of a hard media push against Jacob’s stated agenda. Liberal media pundits, Obama administration members and other Democratic politicians, and liberal thinktanks descended onto the airwaves en masse and began a concerted and apparently coordinated effort to pressure Republican lawmakers to reject Jacob’s stated policy goals saying it would do nothing less than destroy America. The wealthy would prevail and the poor would be thrown out onto the streets, they said. Jacob had to chuckle at that idea as he reflected on the many thousands of homeless people living in tents and wandering the streets of the large, Democratic strongholds of New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles, and so many other large American cities. But clearly the irony of their comments escaped them. What they were stating would be the result of Jacob’s policies was virtually exactly what their own policies had wrought already in the cities that they controlled. But even Jacob had to admit that the traditional Democratic power bases of the mainstream media, the universities, the plaintiff attorneys, the public employee unions, minorities, Hollywood, the publishing houses, and the social media companies were forces in the country that had to be reckoned with and he could not take them lightly. These forces controlled the bullhorns of society and held a death grip on the teaching of young minds. The false narratives of so much of what these groups had been flooding society with over the last two decades such as hyperbole about racism, divisive categorization of people based on race and gender, grievance politics, exaggerated outrage over climate change, the re-writing of history to match current leftist sensibilities, the monstrosity of cancel culture, and the banning of speech these people disagreed with was so egregious in Jacob’s mind that he felt strongly that these issues had to be confronted and a serious debate had in society at large. But he knew that how to have this conversation would have to be carefully considered.

The sitting president, Barack Obama, was apoplectic about the election results because he knew what was coming next. Everything he had done in his eight years as president would quickly become undone. If the election had been close, and especially if the Democrats had held at least forty seats in the Senate, perhaps they could have used the filibuster to prevent Cahill from pursuing his agenda, but now it was likely that that was impossible. They had only one chance now. They had to convince moderate Republican senators like Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and John McCain to oppose Cahill’s legislative agenda. All the Democrats’ efforts would now be focused on slowing Cahill down and pushing these three senators into the Democratic camp.

Jacob had other ideas, however, and he intended to assiduously court all three of these moderate Republicans and do his best to convince them of the merit of his policy proposals. First up was a visit to see Senator McCain. A notorious curmudgeon, McCain agreed to see Jacob and they met in his office in the Capitol building. Shaking hands, Jacob said, Senator McCain, it’s a real pleasure to finally meet you. I’ve been a fan of yours for many years, in fact going back to my time in Vietnam after hearing about your capture.

I’m very happy to meet you, President-elect Cahill, Sir. I was thrilled with the results of the election, especially seeing that smug Hillary Clinton eat crow! Getting lambasted like that couldn’t have happened to a better person. I had to smile, he said, chuckling.

Well, Senator McCain, I’m sure you know why I’m here, although I have truly wanted to meet you for a very long time. Now, at least, I have a legitimate reason to come see you. I really do want to discuss policy with you and listen to what you think and also, of course, ask for your help and support. The first item on my agenda is a line-item veto. I’ve already asked several well-known constitutional scholars to help me craft something that would pass muster with the Supreme Court, said Jacob as he watched McCain shake his head.

Not going to happen Mr. President-elect. There’s no way House members or Senators for that matter would willingly give up their power of the purse. And the Supreme Court would never approve it. And I just don’t think you should spend your political capital on such a non-starter. I guarantee you it will never happen.

Any way I can convince you to call me Jake, Senator McCain, at least, in private?

Nope. Can’t do that. It’s Mr. President-elect now and on January 20th, it will be Mr. President. You’ve earned it. Something I could never do. And, by the way, I took a look at your military file. I still have contacts at the Pentagon, you know. Impressive stuff. And your first debate with Hillary, taking off your shirt and displaying your wounds to the world. Brilliant stuff. It really took the wind out of her sails, that arrogant, over-stuffed bird. I never liked her, even when she was in the Senate. She would have made a terrible President. I was so happy when you beat her, which, I admit, I never thought you could do. You really ran a brilliant campaign. Never a misstep. But the line-item veto? Not going to happen, said Senator McCain.

So, if it came up for a vote, you would vote against it, Senator McCain? asked Jacob.

You know, Mr. President-elect, I’m eighty years old. I’ll never run again and I’ll never again worry about what anybody thinks about how I vote on any bill. I think you’d use a line-item veto responsibly but maybe the next guy wouldn’t. That’s what I worry about. So, I’m going to wait and see how the bill is crafted and then decide. But, for the most part, I like your other ideas and I think some of them even have a chance at passing. But I’m an easier vote for you then maybe Susan and Lisa are. I don’t know that you’ll be able to convince them of some of your ideas. You’ve got to remember one thing, Mr. President-elect. You got a lot of votes based on your achievements but also because a lot of people hate Hillary. A lot of people who voted for you don’t agree that it’s a good idea to change Social Security and Medicare. These people will fight you on those ideas and legislators will listen to them. I think your agenda is already in trouble.

I see. Well, Senator McCain, I will always value your input and thoughts so please reach out when you have something to say. I appreciate your time today, said Jacob as he got up, shook hands with the Senator, and left. Clearly, it was going to be a difficult road for him in the Senate, in particular. What he really needed was a few more Republican seats in the Senate which he would not be getting anytime soon.

His meetings with Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins went in a similar vein with both women being very polite. However, neither committed to supporting his agenda with Susan Collins saying that her state had a large retiree population that did not support changing Social Security and Medicare. Jacob tried at length to explain what he wanted to change and how the transition would happen, trying to convince both Senators that it would not in any way negatively impact any person, now or in the future. He stressed the positives of his proposed changes but the fear of change was strong in both women and he could not convince either of them to support him. Mike had been right. It would be a real struggle to overcome a filibuster on any significant legislation. He decided to visit Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a state where Jacob had won 71% of the vote, an extraordinary number. Perhaps he could convince Joe to side with him, he thought. Yet when he met with Senator Manchin, he got nowhere, just a polite run-around. He left as frustrated as ever.

Yet one thing did make him smile. Mike walked into Jacob’s office one day and asked him if he wanted to take a call from Ann Westphal, his old high school girlfriend, on line three. Jacob said, sure, he’d take that call and he punched the button for line three on his phone. Hi, Ann. Haven’t heard from you in a long time. Thanks for calling.

Hi Jake or should I say, Mr. President? Just wanted to congratulate you for your spectacular win. I’d say it was amazing but, truthfully, I’ve expected you to become president for a very long time. But it’s still incredible, said Ann.

Truthfully, Ann, it’s not something I ever wanted to do. I’m still not sure this is what I want to do, but Mike convinced me to do it and said he’d be right by my side the whole way. So, there you go. We’ll see how things proceed from here. I’ll do my best, but I’m not convinced that’s it within my wheelhouse. I’ve never been good at back-and-forth banter and compromise. But I’ve also got Mitch Daniels to help me through this and he’s got a lot of experience in this arena. Who knows?

Jake, you’ll do great. I voted for you, by the way, in case you’re wondering, said Ann.

Ann, I’m sorry I didn’t call you when your mom died. My condolences. She was a wonderful woman and, obviously, a great mother to you. I hope she didn’t suffer.

Thanks, Jake. No, she went quickly. And she lived a good, long life.

And you, Ann? How are you doing? asked Jacob.

I’m doing fine, Jake. Still single. After my divorce, I’ve dated a bit but it seems hopeless. My kids and grandkids keep me busy though. Thanks for asking, Jake. I’d ask about Linh but all of you are all over the news all the time these days. Talk about a window into your lives. It’s amazing.

Isn’t it though? Not something I like, enjoy, or want but I’m told it comes with the territory. I guess I’ll have to learn to suffer through it. Ann, thanks for calling. I really do appreciate it. And it’s been good to hear your voice. Let’s keep in touch. Okay?

Sure, Jake. And good luck, said Ann, remembering the days long ago when she thought the sun rose and set on Jacob Cahill and suddenly realized, it still did.

Mike Thomas had set up a transition team a month prior to the election and Jacob and Mitch Daniels had already met with them several times dictating priorities and discussing candidates for the many positions that Jacob would have to fill. Mitch was a valuable resource here as he was well connected around the country and familiar with many talented politicians and administrators, while Jacob knew many talented people in the private sector. Jacob laid out his ambitious time schedule of legislation and said he needed people in place quickly to drive the implementation of the legislation, dedicated people who were excellent administrators and capable of driving change in large organizations. It was a tall order, said Mitch, but they would all work hard to get it done.

By the end of the week of the election, Jacob had over one hundred people working hard on his transition team. Most were focused on a specific department such as the State Department, the Defense Department, or the Department of Justice. Their immediate task was to focus on four things: 1) identify people in the department who needed to leave government employment on day one given a likelihood that they would try to actively hinder Jacob’s policies; 2) identify people to recommend to Jacob to appoint to specific positions; 3) determine policy changes that needed to be made and could be made immediately by executive order or by rescinding prior executive orders; and 4) determine new policies that needed to be implemented as soon as possible. Most of the people on the transition team Jacob had already identified as people he wanted in his administration but hadn’t yet determined the specific job they would be assigned. He was also gathering a large group of people who had experience drafting legislation. He had laid out in detail his key policies and now he wanted this newly formed group to draft the legislation, laying out new law on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, welfare, food stamps, the environment, taxes and the list went on. He then intended to find representatives or Senators who would sponsor the legislation in Congress and he expected all of it to be passed in year one. Mike had to smile at Jacob’s ambitions.

During the third and fourth week in November, Jacob was already interviewing dozens of people for high level jobs. He had asked them all to come to his compound in California, stay for a night, and then be available to talk to Jacob at the scheduled time. In the meantime, they enjoyed the amenities of the place, talked to Linh and their children informally, played golf or swam, enjoyed good food, and had a chance to just relax. Jacob got the sense that everyone who came seemed to enjoy it. And Jacob was able to get a better sense of the person and obtain input on the person from his family. Even Sam, almost always the busiest of the Cahill children, came to the estate often to interact with his father’s guests.

And for the first time ever, Jacob took someone down with him to his computer room fifty feet below his house. He and Sam descended to the room that had only one entry point, the elevator in the estate’s basement. With Jacob in the White House, Sam would now have to take on the responsibility of updating and maintaining the quantum computer that was the most powerful and fastest computer in the world, using chips designed by Jacob and manufactured at Jacob’s chip factory. It was capable of processing trillions of bits per second and de-encrypting anything anywhere as long as he could access it. He had so far not encountered any Internet connected computer that he couldn’t break through the firewall and decode passwords, even those up to sixty-four characters long. Maintaining and updating this computer was a significant undertaking and as Jacob explained the fundamentals of the computer’s structure and capabilities, Sam was in awe of its sheer power. He knew it would take him a while to understand it and he would still need his father’s help to keep it updated. Jacob reiterated how critical it was to keep this computer a step ahead of anything else out there and free of any intrusions even if it took Sam half of his time to do it. For Jacob, it was a feeling of let the transition begin. After all, he thought, he can’t live forever.

But at the same time that he was interviewing people to fill government positions, Jacob was very quietly starting to put together a team to attack America’s enemies outside of the headlines of the day. The initial focus of this team would be cyberwarfare with a twist. His cyberwarriors would attack hackers operating both in and outside foreign governments, but he also intended to build an additional small, clandestine team that would punish the hackers where they lived outside the delicate diplomacy among nations. Jacob believed that his technology could locate these criminals and spies and he wanted his assassination team to kill them. After a few of these missions, assuming they were successful, he believed that the incentives to hack into U.S. government and American business computer systems would diminish quickly. And with China’s cyberwarfare system already badly damaged by Jacob with the assistance of his man in Shanghai, Tang Da, it would be a long and costly path for the CCP to get back into this game. Only Russia and Iran remained as major players.

He had already decided who he would assign to lead his assassination team. It would be Liang Huan, his former head of security in China. After Xi had ordered him to be arrested and tortured, Jacob had bribed the Chinese guards in the prison Liang had been incarcerated in to get him out. He had then whisked him out of the country. Still in his employ, Jacob would now have Liang fulfill this dangerous task. But Liang, Jacob knew, was tough as nails and smart. Other than perhaps Tang Da and himself, Jacob believed that Liang was the best man for the job.

He brought Liang to his compound clandestinely through the underground tunnel that he had built after the Chinese attack on his compound several years before. Only he and Rufus McHenry, now his special assistant on national security and a long-time friend, had access to it. His Secret Service contingent would remain unaware of it. And regarding this assassination team, he wanted no one other than Rufus to know about it. When the three men met in early December, Liang readily agreed to lead the team. Who would be on the team was discussed at length and key decisions were made. Methods of communication were finalized and it was decided that Rufus would be the intermediary between Liang and Jacob. Liang would have no direct access to Jacob. An initial list of key Russian, Chinese, Iranian, and North Korean hackers was developed and a discussion ensued about how best to access and eliminate them. But Jacob also wanted Liang to take out a notorious NSA leaker who now resided in Russia, Edward Snowden, who had so far escaped punishment for his release of reams of classified material in 2013. It would not be easy and all three men understood that Liang would have to use all his experience and cunning to carry out this assignment. Jacob, perhaps stating the obvious, mentioned that no one on the assassination team could be captured alive by a foreign government, as Liang nodded his head in agreement. But Jacob could tell that Liang relished this challenge as many times in the past he had been frustrated with many of the rather routine duties of managing Jacob’s Chinese security team. He was immediately anxious to start putting his team together and begin a rigorous training regimen so he would be ready to go as soon as Jacob was sworn into office. Jacob gave him the go ahead and he left the compound soon thereafter. Rufus looked at Jacob and said, you sure you can control this guy, Jake? These guys get caught, the shit’s goin’ to roll all the way down and hit you hard. You know that, right?

You’re right, Rufus, but the alternative is to just wave a hankie at these assholes as Putin, Xi, and the rest of them protect these guys. I’ll play by the book where I can, Rufus, but when I can’t, well, Liang will be my hammer to make sure our enemies don’t have free reign to create chaos. I need you to help me make this work, Rufus.

And you know I will, Jake. But this, the Chinese cybersecurity hit, and this Iran thing. These are big risks you’re takin’. You got anything else up your sleeve, stuff you’re thinkin’ about?

Probably so, Rufus, and as I sort them out, you’ll be the first to know, said Jacob.

CHAPTER TWO

James Glenn wanted a decision from Jacob about joining his administration as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Jacob was torn. He didn’t want to strip his company of top-level executive talent and take them to Washington, D.C. with him, yet he would need competent people he could trust to get his agenda implemented. And James wanted to do it. The press would, of course, scream about James’ lack of qualifications for the job, but Jacob knew they would scream about virtually everything he planned to do so that was of no consequence to him. James finally convinced Jacob after he brought his proposed successor, Pete Constantini, with him to the compound and sat down to discuss the future of the cloud business. Jacob knew Pete well and was impressed with his vision for the business. He also knew that James needed a new challenge and had considered retiring. Afterall, like Jacob, he was sixty-seven years old, and had run the cloud business now for more than ten years, so Jacob made his decision. James would join him in Washington, D.C., along with Mike Thomas who would be Jacob’s Chief of Staff, and Rufus, who would be the only man who would be privy to all of Jacob’s foreign policy plans, both overt and covert. And as he went to bed that night, Jacob thought about Mac Glenn, James’ father and a father figure to Jacob, too. He missed him terribly and sorely missed his common-sense counsel and hard look at reality that Mac never failed to deliver. Mac had never been a man to pander and Jacob knew that Mac could always be counted on to tell you exactly what he truly thought. Now that was a skill that was hard to come by in Washington, D.C., he knew.

Other personnel decisions came quickly as Christmas loomed, but Jacob had no intention of taking any time off. There was too much to do as he spent a late evening reading the new bill that had been written for him on health care. It was a frustrating read with all its references to the myriad of prior laws on the subject. He told Lester Hamilton, the lead person writing the bills, that he needed to see every law that was being referenced, a monumental task in itself but, as Jacob attempted to explain to Lester, there was no way he could evaluate the new bills when everything seemed to depend on something else. Lester said that given the years and years of laws and built-up bureaucratic infrastructure within the federal government on these complex subjects like health care, it was impossible to write a bill without massive references to prior laws and the detailed legalese that gave it its substance. With that explanation in hand, Jacob saw a new policy goal, a massive re-write of the nation’s laws to de-clutter, simplify, and improve comprehension. But it was one of many examples that proved to Jacob that the federal government was just a huge morass of inefficient, ineffective, and wasteful policies, programs, and corrupt practices benefiting a relatively small number of people who fed off the complexity and opaqueness of this huge bureaucracy. And the more money that was fed into this machine, the more wasteful, distorting, and corrupt it became. Jacob decided to dedicate his remaining years to slaying this dragon.

Jacob had a practice of quickly perusing several major daily newspapers each morning and an article on the front page of the New York Times caught his attention on that Christmas morning. He read it quickly, noting that the author, a black female journalist at the paper, was accusing him of ignoring diversity and equity, hiring mostly white men in his businesses, and, in general, being a racist. It quoted a number of his statements during the campaign and noted how few black people worked for LCS. A real hit piece, he thought, noting how out-of-context everything she said was. But he knew it was standard fare for the media as it currently operated. What he didn’t realize at the time was that Claire was reading the same article and making a decision that would surprise everyone in the family. Her proposal came later that day after the family’s mid-day supper. She wanted to speak to her father alone, maybe in his upstairs office. Okay, said Jacob as Linh watched her daughter and Jacob walk upstairs. When Claire closed the door to Jacob’s office behind her, Jacob knew she was serious.

Daddy, I want you to appoint me your press secretary, said Claire as she remained standing and folded her arms in front of her. Jacob looked at her with a surprised look on his face but said nothing. You know I could do a good job and I would never go off on a tangent and start spouting off about my own views on things. I’m much more disciplined than that. At least I am now. And you really badly need someone up on that podium who can push back on all this nonsense that keeps getting written and said in the media about you. That New York Times piece this morning was such drivel. Did you read it?

Yup, I sure did and you’re right. It was complete nonsense. Putrid as well. But I’m getting used to it. I think that kind of nonsense will be the norm. These people in the media don’t like me and they particularly don’t like my politics. But then neither do you, Claire, so why would you want to be my spokesperson which basically means you have to get up there every day and sell my policies which you don’t like. How would you be able to do that?

Daddy, no matter who you have up there, there will be some policies they don’t like and they’ll have to do the same thing. I just might have to do it more often. But you said yourself, I’m a good actress and I know I could pull it off.

But, Claire, don’t you think I would be better off with a press secretary who truly believes in a smaller federal government, generally lower taxes, a balanced federal budget, private property rights, a strong military, a light regulatory footprint, and free markets?

"Daddy, please, you haven’t caught up with my transition as I study more and learn more about these things. Although it’s been a slow transition, I’m really starting to see where you are coming from and I’ve learned a lot as I have watched you on the campaign trail. I actually think I would do a better job than anybody else could. I know the media. I know you. I know your views and how you think about things. Nobody else has that package. Anyway, think about it. But I probably need to know pretty soon because I’m looking at that talk show and will probably do it if you don’t want me working in your administration.