Chapter 64: Taking Down the G.O.A.T.
In the West Region, election campaigning was firmly underway. Lily was holding rallies across the region. Huge numbers were showing up for them. Local polls showed her popularity was high and climbing. She was a clear favourite to win one of the representative positions for the West Region.
Jallelle was struggling with her popularity. The polls placed her sixth out of the ten candidates running for the four positions. Jallelle believed it was now time to leak her video of Lily with Pardi on the balcony. She contacted the pro-Business Sector media with her story. They seemed very receptive to the idea of exposing Lily, but they needed to confirm with their sponsors about releasing such video footage.
After calling around and having a few brief meetings, the three pro-Business Sector media companies decided they would release the video footage. They also agreed to interview several representatives and candidates about how they felt about Lily’s secret relationship. All media companies agreed they would not reveal how the video was captured.
Wolf News, the largest of the three media companies, invited Lily onto their evening show for a live interview. Lily accepted, even though she did not know what they had planned for her. Prior to Lily’s interview, Wolf News interviewed Jallelle, Leanne, and Jaslene; they planned to show snippets of these interviews during Lily’s live interview.
That evening, Lily showed up at the studio. She was excited about having the opportunity to address a mostly pro-Business Sector audience. It was unusual for her to get these types of interviews. She did not want to waste the opportunity to cement her lead even further. Lily walked out onto the set of the Evening Show. She took her place opposite the show host, Rotaderp.
‘Welcome, Lily,’ said Rotaderp. ‘Dare I say it, the G.O.A.T. of politics!’
‘Thank you so much for the warm welcome,’ said Lily.
‘100% deserved. You have helped lead our world from strength to strength,’ said Rotaderp.
‘I’ve been lucky,’ said Lily. ‘I have always worked with great teams.’
‘On the topic of great teams, your team of governors had a huuuge shakeup at the recent Governors Election,’ said Rotaderp.
‘Yes, it did,’ said Lily. ‘It felt more like an earthquake than a shakeup.’
They both laughed for a moment.
‘Tell me, Lily, was the strong response by the representatives necessary?’ asked Rotaderp as he leaned towards her.
‘No, it was an overreaction to the events in Adoy,’ said Lily.
‘Riots, kidnapping, and sexual assault are incredibly serious,’ said Rotaderp as he leaned back to his original position.
‘Yes, they are indeed,’ said Lily firmly. ‘However, these things rarely happen. When they do, it is a shock. The great work of the Government prevented far more of these types of disasters from happening.’
‘Far more of these types of disasters were brewing under the surface,’ said Rotaderp. ‘In the last few months, we have had Sapes attacking each other, trains derailing, and arson in the regions, resulting in lockdowns. Surely, your Government needs to take some responsibility for these disasters too.’
‘Actually, no,’ replied Lily calmly. ‘Sapes fighting each other is a natural occurrence caused by the toxic wastelands. The train crash was because of poor maintenance. The fire, singular, was caused by a mentally ill Sapien.’
‘Surely, the underlying cause is the misallocation of funding to “rights” instead of enabling “privileges”,’ said Rotaderp.
‘If anything, we should allocate more funds to “rights”,’ replied Lily. ‘Mental health and public safety are “rights” that deserve to be well funded.’
‘We got you, Lily,’ said Rotaderp as he winked at her. Lily frowned back at him.
‘As you know, Wolf News is sponsored by the Business Sector,’ said Rotaderp. ‘Our goal is to provide the most relevant news to our business viewers and supporters of the pro-economic ideology.’
‘Yes, I think we all know that,’ said Lily.
‘However, whatever story we cover, we need to remain unbiased and honest,’ said Rotaderp.
‘So, you inviting me on here is an indication of that claim,’ replied Lily.
‘Yes and no,’ said Rotaderp.
Lily frowned. ‘So you are trying to trip me up?’ asked Lily in frustration.
‘I want to give you an opportunity to make your important announcement,’ replied Rotaderp.
‘Sure,’ said Lily. ‘I’m running for representative so I can represent the best interests of West in the Capital Region as well as enable myself to remain a governor and represent the best interests of Sapey.’
Rotaderp rose to his feet to applaud Lily. Lily remained seated while smiling.
A few moments later, Rotaderp sat back down. ‘I could end this interview here. It would be in the best interest of our sponsors for me to do so,’ said Rotaderp.
‘In the best interest of the whole public,’ Lily added.
‘The true interest of the public is to be informed about what they are voting for,’ said Rotaderp.
‘Yes, of course,’ replied Lily.
‘As far as I know, you haven’t informed them that you have switched sides,’ said Rotaderp with a smile.
Lily turned pale. ‘What are you insinuating?’ she asked.
‘You are all in for the Business Sector,’ said Rotaderp. The audience exploded with excitement.
‘That is complete nonsense,’ rebuked Lily angrily.
‘You voted for this election so you could clean out anyone aligned with the House of Divine Knowledge,’ stated Rotaderp.
‘I voted for this election to demonstrate the strength of support the public has for representatives that embody the values of the House of Divine Knowledge,’ said Lily angrily.
‘Sure, you have values, but they cannot compete with your desire for wealth,’ said Rotaderp.
‘I accumulated my wealth through hard work,’ said Lily. ‘My wealth is minuscule compared to the wealth of any of the candidates from the Business Sector.’
‘For now,’ replied Rotaderp. ‘Before we continue this lively debate, I would like to share a video. This will add a little more context to my claims.’
The video of Lily kissing Pardi on the balcony was played. Lily watched it in stunned silence.
‘Congratulations on your relationship with the richest business owner in Sapey,’ said Rotaderp smugly.
‘I admit, Pardi and I have become much closer recently,’ said Lily. ‘The friendship is purely personal. It does not affect my politics.’
‘There is no one outside the Government, more involved in politics than Pardi Carvaress,’ said Rotaderp.
‘Pardi was married to my sister,’ said Lily defensively. ‘We were family before I entered politics.’
‘Yes, but this romance is a much newer development, isn’t it?’ asked Rotaderp as he sat up straight in his chair.
‘What can I say? I only recently found his sweeter side,’ said Lily.
‘Early today, we showed this video to the three other representatives from West,’ said Rotaderp. ‘Listen to their reactions.’
He played short clips from videos of Jallelle, Leanne, and Jaslene. They all showed disappointment in what they saw. Jallelle added that Lily sabotaged her reelection attempt at the Governors Election. This meant that governors aligned with the Business Sector, controlled Government.
Lily repeated her claims that her friendship with Pardi did not influence her decisions as governor. Rotaderp insisted that her relationship with Pardi was much closer than just a friendship. He ended the interview with surveillance footage of Lily’s apartment block on the day she was filmed kissing Pardi. It showed Lily leaving her apartment building in the early evening but not returning until the next day.
The coming days were difficult for Lily. The media continued to interview more representatives from different regions. John spoke out against her. He claimed she repeatedly tried to show him up during meetings and debates. Collingswaggle stated that he had found Lily much easier to work with since the formation of the new Government. Several more representatives aligned with the House of Divine Knowledge spoke out about Lily on various issues.
Lily’s campaign manager quit. Jallelle, Leanne, and Jaslene refused to campaign with Lily. Lily struggled to campaign on her own. The only questions she was asked were about her relationship with Pardi. Lily tried to contact Pardi, but he did not respond to her messages or pick up her calls.
Four days after Lily’s disastrous interview, the media interviewed Pardi. Pardi was asked about his relationship with Lily. He claimed Lily had won his heart and the hearts of his twin daughters. He shared videos of the four of them together. He showed how much his daughters adored Lily. He had photographs of them holding Lily’s merchandise and recordings of them praising Lily.
Unexpectedly, Pardi began to sob. The interview paused for a moment so Pardi could regain his composure. He explained how it was all a con. He showed all the bugs that Lily had placed inside his apartment. He explained how he felt Lily had violated his trust. He now believed her true motivations were to gain access to his wealth and use his influence to remain a governor indefinitely.
Collingswaggle came on stage to sit next to Pardi. Collingswaggle explained how his relationship with Pardi had taken a drastic turn for the worse after Lily had approached Pardi. Pardi apologised to Collingswaggle. They both embraced.
On the same show, Pardi’s interview was followed up with an interview with Lily’s security team. They confirmed Pardi’s story about the bugging of his apartment and about how Lily reached out to Pardi for her own political gain.
Lily was sitting in her small West Region apartment as she watched her political career and reputation be torn apart on television. Her thoughts shifted to Pardi. She knew he was rotten to the core. She was struggling to believe how she could have trusted him. She thought about the twins and her love for them, but she knew that was over too.
Her phone buzzed. Merida, the Head Philosopher from the West House of Divine Knowledge, messaged her to tell her that she had been excommunicated. She realised her world was collapsing before her. Even at this point, she was still determined to run in the election to win her seat and return as governor. She checked the polling, but it had not been updated yet. She turned on her computer to change her speech for her upcoming rally.
The next day, Lily showed up at the convention centre for the rally. She was not aware that leaders from the Business Sector had planted many protestors at this event as well as all the other rallies she had planned to hold.
Initially, Lily felt encouraged by the large crowd. She took to the stage to speak, but she was greeted with loud boos. Some in the crowd began throwing things at her. It was so bad that, as a safety precaution, she was not permitted to speak. Security was forced to cancel the event. Lily was met with the same anger and abuse at every event. All her remaining events were cancelled.
The latest poll was released, and it was a disaster for Lily. She had dropped to a distant tenth place. Lily called the media, asking for interviews so that she could regain some publicity.
Finally, Wolf News agreed to another interview with her. Lily wanted to clear her reputation to give herself some chance of reelection. However, Wolf News had other plans. Without informing Lily, they invited the twins to the show. The interview appeared to start well. This changed when the twins were brought on stage. Rotaderp got the twins to ask Lily questions. Lily tried to explain that she loved them. However, Rotaderp made it a point to twist everything she said against her. It got even worse when the twins began to cry. Rotaderp ended the interview with a short monologue where he called Lily a traitor and a liar.
The next day, Lily announced that she was dropping out of the race. It was a very short statement. She concluded by thanking everyone she had ever worked with and all those who had supported her over the years.
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