A "Novel" Idea: Write a Tale About a Crazy President in Moscow's Pocket
I've taken a couple of years off from fiction writing in order to devote myself to political and foreign affairs commentary, mainly with POLITICO and Washington Monthly. But I'm getting the itch again to immerse myself in story telling. But I need ideas. I've been tossing some around. I've come up with one I'm really excited about and thought I'd throw it out there for your feedback. So, here goes!
There's this rich, narcissistic business tycoon who wants badly to be president of the United States. He'll even lie about everything under the sun, including how he demeans women, loathes minorities, has no real policies...
What's that you say? There's already a guy out there who fits that description? Well, wouldn't you know it? Okay, okay, I need to work on character development more.
So, anyway, here's this rich twit. Let's call him Bump. So, Bump runs this populist campaign, flouting his profound ignorance on just about everything to appeal to millions of uneducated fellow ignoramuses who don't give a flying fudge about the future of the country, who view democracy as some form of reality TV because that's all they know, never having read a book in their lives. And here's where I strain suspension of disbelief: Evangelicals (yes!) overwhelmingly support Bump, who has been married multiple times, is an adulterer, lies incessantly, never goes to church, gropes women...
What? That other guy is already exactly all of these things? Boy! Am I out of practice, alright. Better hit my fiction writing texts again. But meantime...
This charismatic idiot, Bump, actually wins the election! And because of our 18th century electoral system designed by effete powder-wigged aristocrats, wins despite losing the popular vote by close to 3 million votes...
Been there, done that, you say? Well, bless my soul. Fact is indeed stranger than fiction sometimes. Blame it on House of Cards. I guess I need to brush off my plotting skills as well. But just bear with me.
This president-elect Bump is actually an agent of the Russian intelligence service known these days as the SVR. You can't tell me that that other guy fills this description.
You're scratching your head. Not sure, eh?
Good. Let me continue with this preposterous yet plausible scenario. Bump was suborned years ago by the old KGB. In my novel, I'm going to lay out a sex-and-money trap. Falling upon tried and true Russian spy tradecraft, Moscow set up a honey trap for Bump. Being stupid and a slave to his impulses, Bump fell for it lock, stock and barrel. To close the deal, the KGB put their best case officers to work providing a trove of cash to Bump at a time when, because of his gross mismanagement, his businesses teetered on the verge of bankruptcy. Bingo! Trapped. Classic recruitment spycraft. As a result, Bump refuses to divulge his tax returns. Green eye-shaders might just turn up clues to a Russia connection. Nuts, isn't it?
Yeah, so? Any real-life individual fit that profile? Hah! But "no comment" isn't acceptable.
Alright. So, Bump's puppet masters in Moscow not only instruct him to lavish praise on Russia's autocratic leader, but - get this! - also to discredit the solid work of 17 U.S. spy agencies who conclude that the latter-day Russian czar blatantly interfered in our elections to ensure Bump won. Crazy, isn't it? Well, my story gets even better. Bump fills his entire foreign policy team with more agents of Moscow, men the KGB/SVR has groomed for years to first become access agents, followed by agents of influence, ultimately active agents to do their bidding. Grist for a best seller!
So, you say this scenario may be just too outlandish, that the reading public won't buy onto it, that literary agents will reject it as too over the top? Hm.
Well then, how about if I add the following twist to the plot: Bump gets Congress's collective noses so out of joint that they impeach him...
See also:
Is Donald Trump the Siberian Candidate?