Twenty-Four
[Trump’s] not ever going to become president, right? Right?!
No. No he won’t. We’ll stop it – text messages between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page
“24” was a Fox television series that ran from 2002 to 2011. The lead character was Jack Bauer, an agent for the Central Terrorist Unit of the US Government. His job, hour by hour, was to protect the United States from a variety of threats, often using any means necessary. Brutal torture was one of Bauer’s tools, but only to “really bad guys.” He saved the country, again and again.
If Jack Bauer had been around during the summer of 2016, here’s what might have happened.
A famous reality star and businessman, Ronald Crump, was running for the Presidency of the United States. As the season begins, we find out that members of Crump’s campaign have been in contact with Russian Intelligence operatives. Russian intelligence has hacked into the email of the Crump’s opponent, Jillian Hinton, and a clearly coordinated release of embarrassing emails hits the internet at the optimum time.
Bauer receives further intelligence through highly secret electronic intercepts that the highest members of the campaign are working with the Russians. In addition, an old friend in British intelligence lets Bauer know that Crump is deeply indebted to Russian oligarchs, all controlled by the leader of Russia. He also reveals that the candidate engaged in deviant sexual behavior that Russian Intelligence has on tape. “Kompromat,” blackmail, was another hook into the Crump’s campaign.
Bauer is faced with the possibility that a “Manchurian Candidate;” controlled by Russian Intelligence, is a major party nominee for President of the United States. And Bauer has another problem, Crump’s opponent is also flawed; Hinton has been extremely careless with emailing classified information, an investigation that Bauer concluded last season. But now, there are more emails that might further damage her candidacy.
Through all of this, Bauer is having an affair with a Justice Department attorney. Both are married to other people, but see each other daily on the job. The pressure of their highly classified missions pushes them together. They want to communicate, but can’t use their own personal phones for fear their spouses will see the texts. So they use their government issued phones, classified from their spouses, to carry on their relationship.
What would we expect Jack Bauer to do? Will the US elect a “Manchurian Candidate,” who could be used by the Russians to further their foreign policy aims of destroying the post Cold War world order? Will the flawed opponent overcome her email mistakes? As the clock clicks down to the end of the season, we sit on the edge of our couches, wondering what will happen next.
Bauer, confident that the US voters will make the right choice, continues to build the case against the Crump campaign. But then, in an unexpected plot twist, Bauer’s boss at CTU decides to release new information about Hinton’s email. Thousands of messages have been found on the laptop of a sex deviant, and turns out the deviant, a former Congressman, is married to Hinton’s chief campaign advisor.
The Director of CTU releases the news that the Hinton investigation is reopened, ten days before the election. Bauer and his lover are desperate; Crump, even though some of his deviant sexual actions are now public, is recovering in the polls. The election closes in, and Crump, by a fluke in the Constitution, becomes President of the United States.
As the last hour ticks away, Bauer goes back to work, building a case. The man elected President of the United States is under control of the Russians. Tune in again next season, to see what happens next.
Of course, that season of “24” couldn’t run on Fox. Maybe NBC will pick it up.
hey Paul… how’s the new suit fit?
Is orange the new silk suit?
Awesome article Dahlman keep up the good work!
-Brandon-