Goff’s half-smile was vanishing rapidly. “Now you’ve turned into a cynical reactionary. It’s like you hate everything you were back then, and you’re driven to see it all destroyed.”
“Not destroyed — changed,” Thorn said. “Changed into what it was meant to be. Changed into what the Founding Fathers wanted it to be.”
“That was then, Thomas,” Goff argued. “That was the eighteenth-century world, where time was as much a barrier as a mountain range or an ocean. Now information travels at the speed of light into almost every home on the planet. The world is a far more dangerous place than ever before, and we need every advantage we can take.”
“You can’t convince me, Robert,” Thorn said. “I’m not going to change my philosophy of how to run this government simply because a military plane gets shot down, an espionage operation is uncovered and exposed, or some country thinks they can get away with invading and occupying a smaller, weaker nation.”
“‘Think they can get away with it, Thomas?” Goff asked. Thomas, they’ve already ‘gotten away with it.’ It’s a done deal. Russia has sent over twenty thousand troops into the Balkans in the past two weeks alone. None of those nations can do or say anything against them. How are we going to deal with Russia now? They’ve taken over Macedonia, they are staging massive resupply missions and setting up huge hardware and ammunition depots in Bulgaria and Serbia, and they’re conducting cross-border raids into Albania that look suspiciously like another invasion operation — the Germans are virtually stepping aside, letting them cruise anywhere in the Balkans. We’ve implicated them in mass murder, surprise attacks, and even genocide. Someone has to stop them.”
“We’re not going to deal militarily with Russia,” the President said.
“What?”
“If the Balkan countries want Russia to occupy them, let them go ahead and do so,” Thorn said.
“What do you mean, ‘if they want them to occupy them?” Goff asked. “Why would any country want Russia to occupy them?”
“Robert, have you heard of any opposition to Russia’s new peacekeeping role in Macedonia?”
“We get briefings and see video of anti-Russian protests every day.”
“But there’s no opposition from the government, the Macedonian parliament is still in session, there’s no government in exile, and the Macedonian army is still intact,” the President observed. “Yes, we’ve heard from opposition leaders in their government asking for American troops to counterbalance the Russian troops, and we’ve heard dire predictions of a Russian invasion of Greece and Turkey. But it’s all background noise, Robert.”
“‘Background noise.’” Goff’s voice was intentionally monotone, as if he was too stunned to even react.
“It’s all rumor and possibility and threats and panic,” the President said. “It’s opposition groups in every country in Europe vying for position. It’s ethnic and religious groups in this country vying for press and donations and influence. It’s congressional representatives vying for votes and donations. Everyone’s got an agenda, Robert, including you and me. But their agendas don’t have to influence my thinking.
“That goes double when it comes to deploying the armed forces of the United States,” the President went on. “I refuse to use the military as a hammer against anyone who happens to have thoughts, actions, or policies contrary to ours, no matter how horrific or dangerous they seem to be.”
“Then you’re willing to sacrifice the peace, security, and freedom of every one of the democratic nations in Europe, just like that, in order to preserve your way of thinking?” Goff asked incredulously. “Even if Russia takes the Balkans, breaks up NATO, reoccupies the Baltic States, and re-erects the Iron Curtain, you’re still willing to stand aside and watch it all happen?”
“You are living in a fantasy world of someone else’s making, Robert,” the President retorted. “You’re starting to believe all the hype in the press. Yes, I believe Russia has hostile intentions toward the Balkans, and possibly elsewhere in Europe. But what’s the solution, Robert? Send troops to Macedonia or Albania or Bulgaria? Send in the Sixth Fleet? Then we’d be the invaders. We’d turn the Balkans into a battleground, just like before the start of World War One—”
“To preserve freedom and democracy in Europe, I damn well think it’s worth our sacrifice!” Goff retorted. “Would you have stood aside and let Hitler take Europe or the British Isles, or let Mussolini take Greece? Would you have let the Japanese island-hop their way to California without opposing them? Would you have let Israel defend itself against Egypt and Syria? Would you have allowed Saddam Hussein to keep Kuwait and then take Saudi Arabia?”
“I’m not going there, Robert,” Thorn snapped. “I’m not going to rewrite history, for you or for anyone else. I’m only concerned about what I’m going to do here and now—”
“Which is nothing? Turn your back on our friends and allies?”
“I’m not going to engage Russia or China or any other nation unless the very existence of the United States of America is at stake. And I don’t mean losing a few markets for wheat or soybeans or soda pop — I mean threaten our shores, threaten our national security.”
“You’re going to unravel decades of alliances, friendship, and trust between the free nations of the world, Thomas.”
“Am I? Do you think the German chancellor had this discussion when he decided to divide the Balkans between themselves and Russia? Did the Germans care about NATO? Did Russia care about maintaining years of mutual trust and friendship between us and them? Or do you think they were motivated by self-interest to do what they felt was right for their countries?”
“Or maybe they’re just in it for the money.”
“So what if they are?” the President argued. “What if Sen’kov is really getting billions of dollars from that Russian gangster Kazakov to invade the Balkans just so he can put up his pipeline? Do you think the Russian people will stand idly by and watch him do this? Do you think the Russian military will happily march into Albania and risk another Afghanistan or Chechnya debacle just so Sen’kov can get rich and retire wealthy to the Caribbean?”
“Maybe they can’t do anything about it.”
“Boris Yeltsin proved that even a nobody can stand up to the power of the Red Army if he has the strength of his convictions,” Thorn said. “History is full of stories of successful visionaries.”
“And dead martyrs,” Goff added.
“I don’t intend on becoming a martyr, Bob,” the President said. “But I am going to fight for my beliefs. The American people elected me for one simple reason: to form a government with my vision, my ideals. They wanted less interference in foreign affairs, to bring our troops home from endless, pointless peacekeeping missions, to downsize government, improve our quality of life without raising taxes or polarizing our people, and to make America strong by putting America first. If they don’t like what I’m doing, there’s a way to get rid of me without my becoming a martyr, too — impeach me. But it won’t happen, and for one simple reason — because I follow the rulebook: the Constitution of the United States.”