Whostillgets fucking re-elected despite a squeaker of a primary and general.
I mean, what the actualfuck, West Virginia?
Edwin Markos’ re-election, despite his terrible margins, invigorates him. He gets louder, more obnoxious, looking for every opportunity he can get to score what he perceives as a hit against us, all while basically trying to do as much as possible to fuck over the votersin his state while lining his pockets thanks to PACs and special interests.
He’s a shitstain.
How he managed to birth a human being as smart, funny, good-looking, and empathetic as Kev is a complete mystery to everyone, and frequently leaves Kev the subject of good-natured ribbing by his former colleagues.
Chris jokes with me in private that maybe Kev’s mother cheated on his father, and Kevreally isn’t related to the congressman by blood, but we don’t say that around him.
Meanwhile, the citizens of the great state of Florida seem to have their shit together for once—they reelect Susa Evans for a second term as governor, so there is that. We all voted for her—because we’re all legal citizens of Florida. Chris and I have our legal residence listed as the house behind Kev’s, eventhough we rarely get to go there because of the logistics issues and not wanting to cost the taxpayers the expense.
Kev tells me to ignore his father, but that’s difficult when the guy seems bound and determined to virtually get right in my face as much as possible. He rails against me in long, rambling speeches he delivers to nearly empty chambers late at night, but which still get aired onC-SPAN, and the videos of those speeches are linked to by him and others sharing his skewed and vitriolic political views.
When I don’t tank the economy like he insisted I would, he tries to take credit for our strong growth himself, which even FNB and Fox gives him side-eye over.
Like, dude, you’renotthat important. Get over yourself.
The more people ignore him, the louder he gets. One day,Kevin stumbles across an Internet article written by a clinical psychologist and which pegs Kev’s father as a narcissist, with a step-by-step breakdown, including real-world examples and quotes and actions to back him up. Kev shows it to Chris first because, as Chris tells me later, Kev breaks down crying.
Chris takes Kev up to the residence for an hour to de-stress.
I don’t find out about thisuntil later, because I was at a luncheon in New York with union leaders. Kev had stayed behind for a meeting with lawmakers from the Hill to work on defining our agenda for year three.
It heaps more guilt upon me that I wasn’ttherefor Kev. I should’ve been. I feel like all the energy is flowing to me and I’m not sending enough back to my men despite how they reassure me that’s not the caseat all.
Year three starts out with me having to deploy troops to Kharmaria, which has been a persistent pain in America’s ass for decades, but which finally devolved into civil unrest when the authoritarian regime pushed their hand a little too far and massacred a group of one hundred and fifty women and girls protesting the closure of a school in their region.
Reaction was swift and brutalfrom the citizens, who rose up en masse around the country in an action that made the Arab Spring look like a college die-in from the Sixties.
The dictator was not just overthrown, but arrested and publicly decapitated, along with his army officers.
You don’t want to see the pictures, trust me.
I wishIhadn’t seen the pictures.
Needless to say, the new government requested troops and assistanceto root out the stray remnants of the old pro-murdering-assholes regime, so they’re getting them. It’s not only us sending troops—it’s a multinational coalition from the UN, but of course we’re providing a goodly chunk of troops and equipment.
Yet something else for Congressman Markos to try to come after us over. On the one hand, he claims he loves the military. On the other, he’s voted at nearlyevery turn to try to defund them, or defund the VA, or reduce money earmarked for supporting vets.
The man never served in the military. So I’m not exactly sure where he gets off trying to tout some mythical pro-military voting record that doesn’t exist anywhere except in his own mind. Unfortunately, his die-hard base doesn’t care about the truth, even when he’s caught in bald-faced lies abouthis voting record. They’re single-issue voters that usually only care about trying to ban abortion.
Fortunately, he’s only one voice out of five hundred and thirty-five—counting both the Senate and the House.
Since I’ve pissed off people on extremes from both sides of the aisle, I assume that means I’m doing something right.
Based on the reactions at the annual White House Correspondents Dinners,they have to stretch to find things to roast me on, and they tend to focus heavily on my marriage to Chris and his non-traditional First Spouse role, his former profession, my top two staffers being former conservative media, my bipartisan relationships with GOP lawmakers, and my justified reputation as a pretty horrible cook, which is fine.
Better that than they come after me for my relationshipwith Kev.
Or my mother.
Yes, I’m running for re-election. My poll numbers are pretty decent and running on the high side of average, we still have a lot we want to accomplish, and Elliot is already taking on a larger role in preparation to position him for his own run after my second term. If I’m reelected, which we have no reason to think I won’t be.
My own personal nightmares don’t get anybetter or worse during this time. I have Chris and Kev to help shut off my brain, and that goes a long way.
I try not to think about what happened that night. It’s been over twenty years now, but I can still feel her hand on mine.
