Chapter 305: Android
[Chapter 305: Android]
Just four days later, Brian had prepared a complete plan and personally delivered it to Hawke Osment. During his previous campaign for mayor of Covina, he had encountered extremely fierce competition, which had provided Brian's team with invaluable experience -- especially in their off‐the‐books recruiting efforts.
In America, elections had long devolved into personal attacks, where candidates not only sought to elevate themselves but also aimed to undermine their opponents. The prevailing attitude was that it was acceptable for one candidate to be mediocre as long as the opponent was worse.
In the last governor recall election and Covina mayoral race, the Democrats' momentum had been undermined, allowing the Republicans to gain ground. This enabled Brian to secure the support of the California Republicans, and with the influence of the Ferguson family, he had smoothly become the sole candidate put forward by the Republicans. Brian also officially announced his candidacy for the next Los Angeles mayoral race, forming a campaign team to begin election preparations.
The campaign team's top priority was to raise funds; without money, there was no point in wasting time -- it was better to concede outright. Hawke Osment had written Brian a check, becoming his first financier. Twitter also agreed to fund Brian's campaign, and other entities, such as the Pacific Investment Group and Fox Television, were also set to contribute.
...
In the office, after Hawke had finished reviewing Brian's plan, he asked Edward, "If chaos erupted in Los Angeles, could you mobilize your people to join in and further escalate the disorder?"
Edward laughed and replied, "You can't have chaos in Los Angeles without African Americans. Once the situation turned even slightly chaotic, folks from Compton would definitely come out to buy in bulk -- and it wouldn't even cost us a dime. We wouldn't even have to lift much of a finger."
He described a common scenario on the streets of Los Angeles: "Whenever a neighborhood fell into chaos, by the next day when things had stabilized a bit, many African Americans would inevitably appear on the streets selling second-hand goods at low prices and excellent quality, outcompeting the local shops."