Chapter 76

Chapter 76

We had a video call in our hotel room.

Behind Hyunjoo’s older sister, who had a very angry expression, Ellie smiled and waved her hand. Although it’s a video, it’s nice to see her face.

“Are you going to support Ronald? Are you crazy?

Taek-gyu was embarrassed and comforted Hyun-joo’s older sister.

“No, sister. Calm down for now.

The reason my sister found out about this was because we talked… … Not because the article was published in the media.

I looked at the New York Times next to the table.

[Ronald Stamper, Secret Contact with OTK Company]

Republican presidential candidate Ronald Stamper was confirmed to have secretly contacted the OTK Company at his own hotel after campaigning in Los Angeles.

After that, we talked for more than an hour, putting it off until the scheduled date. It is said that talk of donations of tens of millions of dollars came and went at this time.

OTK Company is known as a professional investment company that does not choose to invest in venture capital, foreign exchange markets and derivatives. During the recent Brexit crisis, it sold the pound and made billions of dollars, earning it the stigma of a vulture fund.

Ronald has always criticized Wall Street financiers for sponsoring Diane’s campaign. However, as it is known that he received a large amount of support from the OTK Company, he could not avoid criticism from public opinion.

I asked the Ronald Election Camp to confirm, but… … .

I didn’t expect our meeting with Ronald to be this much of an issue.

Most of the mainstream media was on Diane’s side. Perhaps because of that, it was reported in a negative tone as if it had caught a weakness.

Ronald responded by deliberately raising suspicions instead of explaining. It is intended to use media criticism as a dramatic reversal device.

Why don’t you spend a penny on advertising and use the media to eat? Am I supposed to be a business man too?

“What on earth were you thinking of meeting Ronald? Do you know how the US presidential election works now?”

At Hyeon-joo’s older sister’s words, Taek-gyu took out the Trump as if he were looking for it.

“If you compare the presidential election to a poker board… … .”

“Why are you taking out Trump? Aren’t you going to put that in?”

“Yep!”

Taek-gyu said while crying.

“Why are you doing this to me? It was Jinhoo’s decision.”

After all, this kid can’t move on to his older sister.

Hyunjoo’s older sister reached out her hand out of her screen and then put her cigarette into her mouth. Ellie lit the fire as if waiting.

“Whoa.”

Hyun-joo’s older sister exhaled her long breath. Her cigarette smoke seemed to pierce the screen and spread all the way here.

“I met Karos and said that I would invest in the automobile industry, so why did you suddenly intervene in another country’s presidential election?”

I said to the screen.

“The United States is such an important market. If Ronald is elected, automakers with production bases in the United States will have an advantage, and companies that produce and export elsewhere will be at a disadvantage.”

For example, a silver car.

Eunseong Motors operates a plant in Georgia. That alone is not enough, so it operates three factories in Mexico and is currently building an additional one.

If Ronald becomes president, the silver car, which exports a lot to the US, will be hit directly.

On the other hand, we will be able to take root in the US market with all the benefits and support of the next government. Whether the car produced like that is marketable is another matter.

“You are right, but that was when Ronald became president.”

I said it like it was natural.

“Ronald will be president.”

Ellie widened her eyes in surprise.

“It’s absurd.”

“When did I ever say I wasn’t there?”

“It is, but… … .”

The reason I am so confident is because I have seen foreknowledge.

If it hadn’t been for the foreknowledge, I would never have imagined that Ronald would become president, either.

Hyun-joo’s older sister pressed her forehead firmly to the back of her head.

“How the hell does Ronald become president? Are you saying that even when you look at the approval ratings now?”

“Just because he gets a lot of votes doesn’t make him president.”

The elections we call the US presidential election are not strictly for electing the president, but for electing the electoral college of the state in which they live.

The electoral colleges from each state then gather and vote to elect the President of the United States of America.

One of the interesting things about this is that regardless of the percentage of the vote, the winner gets all the electoral colleges in each state.

So, it is not the total number of votes that is important, but how many electoral colleges are secured. No matter how many votes you get, if you lose the number of electoral votes, you lose.

In fact, there have been several cases in the past where people were elected by securing a large number of electors even though they received fewer votes.

“Diane currently has a stable 350 electoral college.”

The total number of electoral colleges is 538.

For her to become president, she must secure 270 of them.

“How the hell did Ronald get 80 people out of there?”

Some states have strong Democrats and others have a strong Republican Party. The state’s electoral college is what each candidate already has.

After a difference of 1% or a difference of 90%, the result is the same, so I don’t mind giving up on this place altogether.

Instead, they continue to campaign to get at least one more close-up drink. The victory will depend on how many electors you get there.

“Rustbelt will go to Ronald.”

“What?”

Hyunjoo noona and Ellie were surprised at the same time.

I told Ronald what I had been talking about for an hour.

* * *

Huge industrial complexes are located near the Great Lakes of the United States.

The region, which includes Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and even parts of New York, was now referred to as the Rust Belt.

In the past, the United States was the world’s leading manufacturing country.

It overtook Britain, the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, to create a mass production system represented by Fordism, and led the Allied Powers to victory with overwhelming industrial output during World War II.

However, with the opening of the neoliberal era, goods poured in from Asia. Japan exported industrial products, including automobiles and home appliances, to the United States, followed by Korea and then China.

Trade restrictions were abolished one after another, and from the end of the 20th century, American manufacturing began to decline. The same was true of the automobile industry.

During the financial crisis, American automakers went bankrupt. After that, it managed to revive thanks to the bailout, but it was followed by factory closures and layoffs.

Kevin Lewis was a worker in a subcontractor for an automobile factory in Detroit.

However, his factory moved to Mexico last year. The reason was that the labor cost there was cheaper.

That day, all of his colleagues working in the factory, including Cabin, lost their jobs, and were forced to eat unemployment benefits from the government.

His dream was simple.

Although he was not very successful, he wanted to be a good husband and a proud father at home. But unemployment took away even that dream.

Those who have never experienced it will never know. Even on weekdays, he felt a sense of shame that he was useless if he stayed at home without going to work.

All he could do was stare blankly at the TV. He occasionally met at the pub with his unemployed friends, sipping beer and talking about good times.

At that time, the conveyor belt was running non-stop, and they worked frantically to keep up with the influx of orders.

With that money, I bought a car, a house, and got married. Children were born that did not hurt even if they put it in their eyes, and they worked even harder to support his family.

But the result was this.

The shops were closed, and the streets were dismal. Young people moved to other places in search of work, and their homes were not sold.

In the garden of the vacant house, there is only a sign that says ‘For Sale’.

During the eight years of the Democratic Party, nothing has been done right. After the financial crisis, life continued to be young, but the media said the economy was recovering.

Financial companies on Wall Street held a money feast every day, and in Silicon Valley, they struggled to find IT manpower.

So what does that mean?

He is unemployed, and the city is dying.

Election season is back again, and Democratic nominee Diane is still repeating the same thing. But Republican nominee Ronaldman was different.

Unlike other politicians, he spoke directly about the reality of America.

Detroit, with a large working class, has long been a Democrat’s garden. Kevin, too, has never voted for a candidate other than the Democratic Party since becoming an adult.

While Ronald campaigned on the Rust Belt to salvage American manufacturing, Diane didn’t even show her nose.

Democrats have no interest in workers, so why vote for Democrats?

This city needed a change.

That day, Cabin put a sign in her yard with Ronald’s name on it. She and she joined the local Republican Party.

Kevin convinced her friends that she should give Ronald her vote. However, most reacted negatively.

“Ronald is a corrupt entrepreneur.”

“It’s true that Diane doesn’t like her, but Ronald is more of a problem.”

“What would be different if Ronald became president?”

Meanwhile, I heard the news that Ronald was going to campaign again in Detroit.

The football stadium, the site of the campaign, was open to any U.S. citizen with the right to vote, not just Republicans.

Then people flocked to the city like a cloud, not only from Detroit citizens, but from nearby cities and countryside.

The spectator seats with more than 40,000 seats were so full that there was no room for a move. As the Democratic Party prevailed, there were also quite a few opposition supporters.

The media coverage was also hot. Cameras were circling everywhere and the atmosphere of the scene was broadcast live.

With the heat rising, Ronald Stamper finally showed up on the pitch.

“Wow!”

“Wow!”

Shouts and boos broke out at the same time.

Ronald smiled relaxedly, as if this was nothing, and waved to the supporters.

Standing on the podium in the middle of the stadium, Ronald grabbed the microphone and started speaking.

“There are a lot of great American citizens here. Wow! And over there, you can see the people Diane sent. Did you say that if you come here and hold a picket, you will get money? Democrats have a lot of money for elections. Because she’s playing with her corrupt entrepreneurs and financiers.”

It’s a nonsense from the beginning because I’m afraid someone is not Ronald Stamper.

“Wow!”

There were boos from all sides, but Ronald didn’t care.

“In the past, Detroit was a symbol of American manufacturing. It was a mecca of the automobile industry where factories of the three major American automobile companies, GM, Ford, and Chrysler, were concentrated, and it was once called Motor City. But where have all those companies gone now? Is it because people don’t drive cars? Does everyone ride a carriage? Or do you walk on two legs like primitive people?”

He leaned back and swung his microphone like a stone axe, pretending to be a caveman. Laughter erupted from everywhere.

Ronald shouted, waving his hands.(Read more @ wuxiax.com)

“I know why. You know. Our auto industry has been completely raped by Korea and Japan! Eunsung and Toyota sell their ships to the US market by millions every year. They don’t buy American cars, so why should we buy them?”

At his words, shouts of anger erupted among his supporters.

“Wow!”

“Ronald! Ronald!”

Cabin also shouted Ronald’s name with his throat bursting.

Then the opponents shouted too.

“Diane! Diane!”

“Put away the corrupt pawns!”

“Detroit supports the Democrats!”

If it were normal, I would have kicked him out of the rally right away. No, they wouldn’t have let you in in the first place. But today was different.

They were supporting actors who would make them shine even more.

“What have the Democrats been doing for eight years? They completely ruined America. But Diane shakes hands with Wall Street financiers and talks about America’s future. She is a liar!”

A middle-aged woman holding Diane’s picket in the front row shouted.

“You played with a financier too!”

Ronald didn’t miss it. He could be said to have deliberately induced him to say that.

“It seems that the woman here has something to say to me. Give him the microphone.”

The staff handed the microphone, and the camera shot the woman’s face.

The middle-aged woman said as if shooting at Ronald.

“Not long ago, you met OTK Company and you were given tens of millions of dollars. You are a liar! You’re a liar!”

Ronald said confidently with a smile of conversion inwardly.

“Yes. I met the CEO of OTK Company. And I asked for help.”

Reporters were astonished.

In the meantime, Ronald has thoroughly avoided answers despite criticism from the media. However, he admitted that fact on the spot.

Diane’s supporters booed in unison.

“Wow!”

“Shut up, Ronald!”

Ronald raised her hands and shrugged her shoulders, making a ‘what do you want me to do’ gesture.

After the long booing subsided a little, Ronald picked up the microphone again.

“Am I supposed to receive election funds? The media are all scammers. Don’t believe what they say. What I received is not election funds, but just one promise.”

Now it’s time to drop the bomb.

Ronald exclaimed with more exaggerated gestures and louder as he looked around the rally.

“I got a confirmation from OTK Company that I would invest billion in the American automobile industry! Let’s get the factory back on track in Detroit! Hire the unemployed, and we will hire US citizens, not illegal immigrants! We will open closed shops and restaurants, and save the city! If the Democratic Party made this a decrepit industrial city, I will turn it into a city of light!”