Hoya

120.

My cell phone vibrates. Caller ID: Q. Txt msg: Fox @ 1100. 

I immediately route the intel to our team, TOM and Julie in Virginia, Davis and Saunders in Tucson, Calahan in Vegas and Bromden in Portland. The cable news network, infamous for its allegiance, and therefore chicanery, to the right-wing conservative republican agenda of racism, cronyism and corruption, and now viewed by the intelligence community and ninety-percent of the free world as the state operated voice of the immoral, deceitful and seditious POTUS, a network whose own tagline suggests their content to be entertainment rather then news, will air a special campaign report at 1100 EST, or thirty-five minutes from now. 

TOM, responds with an update that DC has just reached the ‘off-the-charts’ chatter level of the other cites we are watching. Something, I muse, is going down, something big, going down very soon and on our current watch. In a rare breach of protocol, Drysdale, sitting beside me with his screen showing the same content as mine blurts, “Not gonna happen, not on THIS watch.” 

I survey the team to ensure readiness and a gentle reminder of our code, “Show time folks, let’s go to work.” 

TOM announces that local agencies have been alerted to the security levels, including specialized resources of Airspace, the Counter Sniper Team, Hazmat Response, Agent Mitigation, Medical Emergency Response Team, Magnetometer Ops, and specialty teams to provide protection from threats including chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear materials and IEDs. He ends the list of agencies on alert with the announcement that the entire operation from this point forward will be administered from his office with me running point. 

It is 1058. I wish we had a better idea of what is going on now that I am the eyes, ears and brain of a national network of highly trained law enforcement professionals, but I suspect that I soon will. I instinctively reach for a bottle of water and drink. 

The nauseating echo-chamber theme of the network comes on and it is their number one guy, another spineless sycophant spewing hateful, racist propaganda at the behest of the administration. The Breaking News chyron is full screen. I watch calmly despite my rising blood pressure. I brace for lies, mistruths, calls to hateful action. The host opens as if he is introducing the Oscar winner for best picture, citing a new direction of American Greatness, with the promise of a powerful and exciting new campaign video just released for our viewing pleasure. With a disgusting, mocking, snickering smile he says, “Let’s watch.”

The POTUS appears at his desk in the Oval Office. Behind him, posing as if in police line-up, stand a dozen grim looking septuagenarian males. If one looks close enough one can see the puppet POTUS reading from a hidden teleprompter. He says, obviously closely on script, that tomorrow will be a key turning point in his reflection campaign, that the polls indicating an enormous eight point lead for his Democratic opponent are all fake news, and that the four city whirlwind whistle-stop tour of Omaha, Tucson, Las Vegas (and here I lip-synch the last city along with him) and Portland, Oregon, will dramatically influence the election and guarantee another four years of Greatness for all Americans. He finishes the extraordinary brief announcement by saying that he is counting on our enthusiastic participation in the celebration of freedom and the complete eradication of his socialistic opponent's treasonous attacks on our fundamental liberties. The propaganda piece ends with a collage of highlights, including footage from previous rallies, the chanting of ‘lock her up,' the construction of an oxidizing steel wall, photo ops with world leaders, poorly doctored shots of smiling minorities, a gay rights parade on Wall St. and a room full of serious looking blue-haired republican women. 

The bootlicking host ends the segment by saying that while the courageous incumbent is out inspiring America to further greatness, the Dem candidate, now guilty of several past sexual indiscretions, will be speaking at Georgetown University Law School. His condescending look into the camera as the segment fades to black reminds me that this media war is Terrorism versus Democracy - and that I am unsure which side the host represents. 

My cell vibrates. Caller ID: Q. Txt msg. Hoya.