Forging America: My Campaign Manager is Roosevelt-Chapter 40 - 33: Dancing with the Demon

He suddenly burst out laughing.

His booming, powerful laughter echoed, making the entire room reverberate.

"Interesting! You’re truly the most interesting young man I’ve ever met!" He stood up and personally filled Leo’s glass to the brim with whiskey. "A hell of a lot more interesting than that fool Carter Wright, who only knows how to stick his hand out for money but can’t even manage his own backyard!"

He raised his glass.

"All right, I agree. I accept all of your terms."

「A few days later.」

The Pittsburgh City Council convened another emergency meeting.

At the meeting, Speaker Daniel Murphy announced with great distress that after an "in-depth study" by their team of legal advisors, they had discovered that certain clauses of the recently passed temporary amendment potentially violated the Pennsylvania Antitrust and Fair Competition Act.

To preserve a fair commercial environment in Pittsburgh, the council voted unanimously to repeal the very resolution they had passed just one week prior.

Leo’s "Pittsburgh Renaissance I" plan had finally cleared its last obstacle.

The local Pittsburgh media, however, reacted to the City Council’s farcical flip-flopping with astonishing unanimity and silence.

The *Pittsburgh Chronicle* merely ran an objective report on the City Council’s repeal of the amendment, tucked away in a corner of the municipal news section.

Not a single media outlet questioned the true reasons behind the reversal, nor did any reporter press for an explanation as to why a bill, just passed, had become "potentially illegal" within a week.

"Look at the so-called ’fourth estate,’ these media outlets claiming to be uncrowned kings." Roosevelt’s voice, full of unconcealed scorn, echoed in Leo’s mind.

"They had the guts to howl at a young man with no connections, painting him as a dangerous radical. But when their true master—Douglas Morganfield, the man who gives their papers loans and buys ad time on their stations—so much as clears his throat..."

"...they all turn into docile lapdogs, not daring to so much as fart."

「One month later.」

The groundbreaking ceremony for the "Pittsburgh Renaissance I" project was officially held in an abandoned community park in the Pittsburgh South District.

Leo stood on a makeshift dais. Behind him were dozens of newly hired, formerly unemployed workers, all dressed in brand-new work uniforms.

Below the stage, an audience of over a thousand community residents and media reporters had gathered of their own accord.

Leo gave a short speech.

He simply told the crowd that from this day forward, the money of Pittsburgh’s taxpayers would finally begin to serve the people of Pittsburgh.

After his speech, a massive bulldozer, spurred on by the cheers of the workers, demolished the park’s long-abandoned and rust-covered slide.

It symbolized the tearing down of the old to make way for the rebirth of the new.

Leo stood on the construction site, his gaze fixed on the distant downtown skyscraper belonging to the Morganfield Industrial Group.

He knew he was only temporarily using the great alligator that lurked in the city’s depths.

The real battle had yet to begin.

Roosevelt’s voice echoed in his mind.

"Well done, kid."

"You’ve learned how to use one enemy’s greed to defeat another. And you’ve learned how to win the biggest pot for yourself at the Demon’s poker table."

"Now, take that two and a half million US Dollars and spend every cent of it, and spend it well. Fix the roads, build the park, and put those jobs right into the hands of the workers."

"Let everyone in Pittsburgh see with their own eyes who it is that can truly bring them change."

"When the time is right, the doors to the Mayor’s Office will naturally open for you."