The organizers knew this. It was the hunger of those in attendance that they hoped to harness to carry their banner. Mark Swift and Renee DeAngeles had been retained by the Taiwan Interest Office. He had earned his spurs in the 2016 crusade of Bernie Sanders. She was a consultant for Ted Cruz the same year. They had both worked for the Number Two and they understood the drive and passion of the runner-up who’d almost derailed the leader but fell short. They were now going to take on the ultimate foreign power, the People’s Republic of China. And they knew that the big special interests had already cut deals with the PRC. They were older now, but the 2016 campaign had made them both hungry for victory. Though they came from opposite ends of the political spectrum, their passion to win had drawn them together.
Renee and Mark had also learned a lesson from Trump’s trade war with China: it helps to have a united country if you really want to win. Trump had made some progress, but too many in Congress and in official Washington were more interested in punishing him than punishing China. China had exploited that to the fullest. It had united big business to oppose the tariffs as economically dangerous in a way that played into the more general “Trump is dangerous” narrative. Fortunately for their current movement, Will Turner did not stir the kind of emotions that Trump had.
Renee led off. “Thank you very much for coming. I know many of us do not agree on many issues. But we are all united by one. China must be stopped!” Applause broke out in the room. “Thanks to their economic aggression against America we have an opportunity to remake the American political landscape like never before. The public is on our side. But they don’t know how to act to make change happen. We are gathered together to force change. And united, we will do exactly that.”
The lights dimmed and all eyes focused on the two large screens on either side of the speaker’s podium. A scene of factories belching color-enhanced black smoke took center stage. A male voice intoned, “China has made itself the world’s major industrial power.”
This switched to a series of pictures showing a crowd of factory workers headed to work in what appeared to be bitterly cold weather. Each was garbed in the quilted jacket so reminiscent of Chinese winter garb since the 1960s. In fact, it was unclear when exactly the footage was taken.
“It has done so on the backs of people who earn an average of just $300 per month.”
Now there was a montage of footage. The filthy air of a Beijing winter when the visibility was less than half a mile. Pipes gushing who-knows-what into the air. A stack of grim thirty-story apartment houses built one next to the other. The clothes draped over every balcony bespoke people who made washers and dryers for others, but who had no access to one for themselves.
“They breathe foul air, drink polluted water, and are forced to live in nightmarish conditions. A whole family is packed into a three-room apartment that measures just 450 square feet.”
Another cut to impoverished children playing with the most rudimentary toys in a concrete space between the apartments.
“Meanwhile the ruling elite live in the lap of luxury.”
Now a giant state banquet, followed by an upscale mall lined with Gucci, Hermès, and Chanel shops.
“This is the image that the Chinese want us to see. But this great wealth comes at a price.”
A headline appeared reading, “Worker Strike Broken Up by Militia Firing Point Blank.” A scene of panic—from a source that was not credited—followed by a scene of the street with a dozen dead bodies.
“But the Chinese elites can’t squeeze their people anymore. Now they have decided to squeeze us.”
A new headline: “China Dumps U.S. Securities.” Followed by a scene of the New York Stock Exchange in pandemonium. Given that electronic trading now made the floor of the exchange appear more like a movie set, the footage was dated. But it gave the right impression.
“Goods produced by workers paid slave wages. A rigged currency to let them steal our markets. Now this. China must be stopped. We cannot let them do to us what they have done to their own people. Join us.”
A shot of a diverse group of Americans arranged in a crowd. Not a tight shot—the contrast was between the individuality on which America prides itself and the Chinese. To drive home the point, the screen split with the diverse individual Americans contrasted to a scene of Chinese workers packing themselves on a bus with a crowd still waiting to get on.
“The time has come for us to tell the Chinese government that “Enough Is Enough.” And we need to do it the only way that they care about—money.”
More Americans on the screen, again quite diverse, picketing a large big box store. Each carried a sign: Enough Is Enough. Stop China Now.
“Join us in boycotting Chinese-made goods. Do it until they stop their attacks on our economy and on their own people. Stop China now.”
The lights raised. The total elapsed time was just sixty seconds. Applause broke out throughout the conference room. There was action in it for everyone. Labor got its message through with the appalling working conditions. Business liked the market-stealing narrative. The environmental groups, the smokestacks belching black smoke, and the human rights groups, the dead bodies in the street. This is how one built a coalition of diverse groups.
Mark Swift took the stage. “We have a $3 million buy for this ad to run on all the cable news networks across the spectrum. Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, Bloomberg, and Fox Business. The buy is aimed at policymakers. The money shows are aimed at corporate America. We want them quaking in their boots if they are importing cheap goods from China.
“But to drive home this message, we need you to bring two big things to the table. Your social media outreach to your members and your activist members. We need to spread the message. We are prepared to help each group assembled here prepare its own message targeted at its members.
“Many of you have your own resources and we will help only to the extent you want us to. For those groups without a media center, use ours. You write the script. We will pull the visuals together. The target is your own membership stressing the issues they care about. The ending will be, ‘Tell Senator so-and-so that Enough Is Enough. Stop China Now.’ This should be followed by a link that tells them how to email or phone them.
“But the real impact is to turn the last scene in the ad into a reality across the country. We need your members to start picketing the big box stores that deal with China. Walmart, Target, Home Depot, and Loews. We will help you attract local media to the protest. As scenes flood in on the networks’ local affiliates, the national news shows will pick them up and carry them. It won’t take long before the Chinese get the message.
“Questions?”
Hands went up. The questions were all technical and logistical. That meant Renee and Mark had made their sale. No skepticism. It was all, “We’ll do it. Tell us how.”
When the last delegate left forty minutes later, Mark and Renee high-fived each other. The train had left the station and there was no turning back.
PART TWO
THE DANGEROUS GAME
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
IT WAS A LONG RIDE home from the White House to the Coleman residence in Great Falls. It wasn’t just the seventeen miles, and at this hour there was no rush hour traffic. Total time door to door was just under half an hour.
Ben was staring out the window from the back seat on the driver’s side. Silent. Bernadette put a hand on his arm but got no response. No movement at all.
“I’m getting to really like Cynthia,” she said. “She has a head for this business but remains a real person.”
Ben did not respond.
Bernadette sensed trouble brewing. Ben wasn’t this way very often. In fact, she could count on one hand the number of times he hadn’t been communicative in their eight years of marriage. She decided maybe she should let him be. He would eventually come around. But she left her hand on his arm nonetheless. No point in retreating or withdrawing. At this point that would be the wrong approac
h. She needed to signal that she was there.
When they got home, she stood at the base of the stairs and said, “I’m going to bed.”
No response.
“Want to join me?”
That produced the functional equivalent of a grunt. One word, “Work.” Then he headed off to his study.
She knew he was exhausted and wouldn’t be working long. Nor was it clear he would be any more talkative later. She decided to go to sleep.
When she awoke at her usual weekend time of seven-thirty she noted that, indeed, Ben had come to bed. His side remained rumpled although the covers had been pulled back toward the pillow. She slipped into her Saturday homebound attire and headed down the stairs.
She noted Ben was again in his study staring at his computer. “Good morning, dear. Still working?”
“Your coffee’s in the kitchen,” was the only response.
She got her coffee and came back to the study and stood there, waiting for him to say something. But all she got was silence and Ben didn’t take his eyes off the computer. She could feel anger boiling up inside of her. She raised her voice to just below a shout.
“Ben, you’re more than happy to fuck me, but not to talk to me.”
“At this point I’m really not much interested in fucking you either.”
“What,” she said, “are you still mad at—”
He cut her off. “Enough,” he said. “Our marriage is based on trust and us sharing with each other. Yet you didn’t trust me with the most basic thing. That is not a marriage.” Ben stood up from his computer and Bernadette noticed that he was in his gym outfit. He announced, “I’m going for a walk.”
“Can I join you?”
The response was cold. “It’s a free country. I can’t stop you.” Then he made motion with his jaw, pointing with his entire head at the chandelier. He stormed out of the room and out the front door, slamming it shut behind him.
She quickly found her jogging shoes and headed out after him. Once outside she noted that Ben was a block away, moving at a saunter, then slowing to a stop near one of the ubiquitous Aqua Blue vans backed into a neighbor’s driveway.
He really didn’t want the rest of the conversation heard by the entire world. So he was not acting for personal reasons, but for national security as well. He had set her up to have a frank conversation out of earshot, their first such talk since the bugs were planted. Better make the most of it.
“Are you still mad at the President for his wise crack?” she said as she caught up. “He more than apologized.”
“I’m not mad at him.” Ben started walking at his usual brisk pace. “I’m mad at you for betraying me.”
“I don’t understand. I had no idea. To think, our own country was spying on us, and why? To make sure you didn’t unintentionally slip me some intel?”
“The hell you didn’t.” Now Ben’s voice was as loud as hers. “Not only listening but giving the President and God knows who else the details of our sex lives. The great Red Ninja didn’t know the most basic thing about spycraft! How the fuck do you expect me to believe that?”
“Hector never told me.”
“Ah, but Hector knew. And how many other people? Lombardi? Chief of staff must get the intel. So must Steinway and Reynolds. So there I am, working day after day with people who are quietly laughing at me.
“ ‘Chairman Stud.’ Do you know how professionally demeaning that is? At best it makes me some kind of well-endowed racehorse. And likely one who is past his prime.” Ben turned away. “By the way, that list probably included your new BFF Cynthia Turner. What did she say? ‘Will, why can’t you perform like that?’ Please spare me the ‘I didn’t know’ bullshit.”
“But I didn’t, at least not until Hector told me on Thursday.”
“Oh, and you didn’t guess on your own? Come on, Bernadette, I’m not that naïve.”
“Just a damn minute here, Ben. You’re forgetting one thing. I was spied on too.”
“But it’s your trade to be spied on.”
“Not in the bedroom. Not like this. I was violated too. I said other things besides calling you a stud, you think I want that lover’s talk to be part of someone’s water cooler conversation?”
“You don’t have people calling you ‘Chairman Stud’ behind your back.”
“No. They call me Red Ninja to my face. Red? How original. Ninja? Not even Chinese. Aren’t you the one who compared your confirmation hearing to a colonoscopy without the drugs? Suck it up, Ben. You’re in bed with politicians. What the hell did you expect?”
Ben’s expression melted into one of utter shock.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I got caught up in the moment. I apologize for that. And I should have known about the bugs. I didn’t, but I should have, and for that I am sorry as well.”
“I had no idea,” he said. “You never told me—”
“Of course I didn’t. It’s that damned MI6 mindset.” She tried to smile but it didn’t go over.
“And there it is,” Ben said, face stiffening.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It’s that same CIA, MI6, KGB bullshit that’s been happening for decades. You’re sorry you got caught. You’re sorry that you fucked up. Nothing more, nothing less.”
Bernadette shrugged. “Well, you think you know all there is to know about the situation, then. What more can I say?”
“Probably nothing. Maybe I am realizing that I am not the person I thought I was. Not as tough. And a lot more naïve. I was genuinely surprised and angered last night. Now if I were a typical male, I should take it all in stride. But that is a stereotype. Adult men do not share every detail of their sex lives with their buddies. At least, not this one. That’s always been sacrosanct, between you and me.
“But now it’s all over Washington, no doubt. ‘Ben Coleman is so good in bed that the president of the United States is commenting on it.’ Maybe The Washington Post could write a column on it. For the style section. Yes, that’s it! ‘Ben Coleman, the guy everyone wants to be like.’ And then Cosmopolitan will be calling you. ‘The Ten Things Ben Coleman Does in Bed That Drive Me Wild.’
“So, yes. I am pissed. And I feel betrayed. But it wasn’t me who was betrayed, it was the person I thought I was, still naïvely believing what I learned as a kid.
“I can get over the Chinese doing it. In the simple world of the old Ben Coleman, they are the bad guys and bad guys do bad things. Well, it turns out the good guys aren’t all that different than the bad guys, are they? Or at least their governments aren’t.
“And here I am, in what many consider one of the most powerful jobs in America. Does that make me a bad guy too? Part of a bad system? You’re part of that system, too, remember. You should have known, and you should have told me. Maybe you take things like this for granted so the sense of violation I feel doesn’t make any sense. And I don’t understand why you don’t feel violated too. Everything I have believed since I was a boy, everything I assumed Colemans have believed for generations about what is right and wrong is being turned on its head.”
Bernadette listened. He was venting, true, but these were legitimate and deeply held feelings. Her psych training said that it was good to let them out. He did have a strong sense of right and wrong, and she loved him for it. Finally, she put her hand in his and stopped him, mid-angry stride and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “I love you.”
“Am I off my rocker? You’re the one trained in psychology. Shouldn’t I feel this way? Or am I living some fantasy that was drilled into me in childhood about the way things are supposed to work?
“Worse, I am upset, downright angry, frustrated, and mad at a time when I need every bit of me to do my job and do what’s best for my country. And that despite feeling that my country has let me down.”
“Darling—”
“Do you think Governor Li is going through something like this too? I’ve read his brief. Decent guy. Not really a believer in Marx or Mao, bu
t a real believer in China. But he can’t be happy with all that is happening. You once told me that one day he would need a favor from me. I have always assumed it was because at some point the system he lives in would be out to get him. They play for keeps and he doesn’t have the luxury I have of being naïve. But he still is in a way. He believes in China the way I believe in America.”
“Ben,” she said, “you wanted complete honesty, right? That there would never be any secrets between us? You know that is not part of my profession.”
Ben nodded and looked straight at her.
“We have to set him up.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Li,” said Bernadette. “Part of the Agency’s strategy is to sow discord and distrust among the Chinese leadership. He’s part of the team of those who have been Westernized and who want to make China a normal country. The other team, mostly in the military, believe that they must ‘Make China Great Again.’ And their way is through the use of force.
“Sure, the force guys realize that a strong economy is good for building up the military, and the economy guys know that a strong military is a part of a strong China. It’s mostly a matter of degree. But we want it to be more than that. We want them to be so divided that they cannot work together.”
Ben took it in. “So you want the new, decidedly not-improved Ben to put that into an operational plan? We are going to use the bugs to send some disinformation to the guys on the other end that Li may be disloyal and working with us?”
Currency War Page 21