"But don’t get the wrong idea. Don’t look at this as a personal grudge."

Roosevelt said in a deep voice.

"Look at the three people who oppose you."

"They aren’t monsters, nor are they simply bad people. They are just faithfully carrying out their duties, just as you are faithfully carrying out yours."

"At this table, everyone represents their own interests. Everyone is a mouthpiece for their own class."

"Those three people want to see you fail because your success means the interests of the class they represent will be harmed."

"This is a political game where the minority submits to the majority. Here, truth isn’t some dogma written in a book. Truth is only held in the hands of the majority."

"You can’t persuade them with your reasoning, because you’re sitting in different chairs."

"The only thing you can do is persuade the centrists, win over the undecided, and turn them into your majority."

"When the number of votes in your hand outnumbers theirs, your will becomes the truth, and your orders become law."

"At that point, no matter how much they hate you, they’ll have no choice but to shut their mouths and obey."

"These are the rules."

Leo asked inwardly, ’Mr. President, how did you deal with people like this back in your day? How did you get the people who hated you to ultimately vote for your New Deal?’

"Intimidation, enticement, division, and recruitment."

Roosevelt offered four words.

"I used public works funding to entice congressmen from the Swing States. I told them that if they wanted dams and bridges built in their districts, they had to vote ’yes’."

"I used radio speeches to rally the masses, getting tens of thousands of voters to write letters to their representatives. If they didn’t vote to support me, they’d be kicked out in the next election."

"As for the truly stubborn ones, I planted moles around them. I found their leverage and paralyzed them politically."

"Leo, when facing these nine people, you cannot be a beggar."

"You must be a conqueror."

"You can’t expect to persuade them with reason, because reason is a language they don’t understand."

Leo looked at the nine photographs, feeling as if he were staring at nine great mountains.

Just then, Ethan Hawke spoke up.

"Leo, we need to focus on this person."

Ethan Hawke stood in front of the whiteboard, his finger tapping the photograph in the center.

Even in the still photograph, the man exuded an unsettling slickness.

Thomas Moretti.

Speaker of the Pittsburgh City Council.

"We need to talk about this guy." Ethan’s voice carried a rare hint of resignation. "If Carter Wright was the emperor on the throne before, then Moretti is the gatekeeper lurking in the shadows."

Leo looked at the photo.

Sixty years old, of Italian descent, with a broad face and a smile that always seemed kind on the surface but was cold underneath.

Mayors come and go, but the Speaker is a constant.

"First, tell me about the other three in detail," Leo said.

Ethan drew three lines next to Moretti’s photo, connecting it to three other pictures.

"These three are the council’s centrists, the swing votes."

Ethan pointed to the first one, an old man with a full head of white hair who looked a bit slow on the uptake. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

"Billy Wilder. Everyone calls him Old Billy. He represents the traditional Union district. But he’s not like Frank. Frank is a fighter; Old Billy is a peddler."

"He only cares about getting more parking spaces for his district or finding a cushy job at City Hall for one of his relatives."

Ethan pointed to the second, a middle-aged Latina woman in a brightly colored suit.

"Samira Rodriguez, representing the Latino community in the Brooklyn District. She’s very pragmatic, you could even say she’s an opportunist."

"She helps whoever is powerful. She helps whoever is winning."

The last one was a middle-aged white man with gold-rimmed glasses who looked gentle and refined.

"Stanley Baker, representing the middle-class communities on the edge of the city. What he fears most is chaos and tax hikes."

Ethan paused, looked at Leo, and summarized, "The interests of these three don’t fundamentally conflict with ours. Old Billy wants funding for parking spots, Rodriguez wants permits for commercial district redevelopment, and Baker wants a bigger budget for community policing."

"They’re merchants, not die-hards. As long as we can offer a big enough chip and satisfy their demands, they can be swayed to our side."

Ethan drew a circle in the air. "As long as we can get these three votes, plus Aisha and Benji, we’ll theoretically have the five votes needed to pass the budget. We can win the vote."

At this point, Ethan paused, his expression turning grim.

"But that’s not the real problem."

"Even if we secure all those votes, as long as Moretti is still in the Speaker’s chair, we could still suffer a crushing defeat."

"Because as the Speaker of the City Council, Moretti holds a weapon more deadly than votes—the power to set the agenda."

Leo froze for a moment. "The power to set the agenda?"

"Yes," Ethan explained. "That is the Speaker’s true scepter."

"According to the Pittsburgh City Council’s charter, all proposals—whether it’s a budget submitted by the Mayor or a bill drafted by a council member—must first be assigned to the appropriate special committee for discussion. Only then can they be scheduled for a vote before the full council."