Volume 4: White Devil Chapter 233: Florida People and Land Spirits
Nick sat in the passenger seat of the car rented by the crew, holding a sandwich in his hand and looking sleepily at a printing shop on the street.
Tommy Hawke, who was in charge of the filming in his group, had been in the printing shop for about an hour. Before entering, he asked Martin to buy a dozen Florida newspapers. After reading those newspapers, he started to get busy in the printing shop.
The photographer who got permission from the store to follow Tommy in the photo shoot whispered to team leader Nick on the intercom: "He is making plates manually. It looks like he is designing a newspaper layout or something."
"It's finally a legitimate business, although I doubt that the money he makes from pigeon poop is enough to support him to publish newspapers." Nick took a bite of his sandwich and responded perfunctorily: "No matter what he designs, at least the picture can be broadcast, not the kind of shit, piss and fart. When I think of the picture yesterday, I want to vomit the food I'm eating."
"I think you are a little too optimistic. When he was making the plates, he asked the printing shop owner to help design and make a few work ID badges with our names on them. He also asked Martin to find a cheap photo studio nearby to take headshots for us and put them in those work IDs. I am a little worried now. The work ID says that we are staff members of a Dutch magazine stationed in Florida, . Can anyone tell me when I became Dutch?" The photographer whispered to Nick:
“I haven’t even been to Europe.”
While the photographer was guessing what Tommy was doing, Tommy had already designed a small part of the layout. He then stretched his hands and feet, stopped working to take a cigarette break, and chatted with the Cuban immigrant boss who enthusiastically gave him a free cup of coffee.
Just as the two were discussing whether the Florida sun had radiation that could damage people's brains, which was why there were all kinds of weird people in Florida, the store door was pushed open.
A strong white man wearing plumber's overalls, a sun hat, and an unshaved beard walked in. The printing shop owner greeted him and said, "I remember I didn't call to report a water pipe repair before. Do you need any help?"
"Hello, sir. My name is Jeff Lavine. I'm a Democrat, and I'm the candidate for the special by-election in Florida's 18th District." The big man was quite strong, but his expression was a little nervous and shy. He introduced himself to the boss in a low voice.
When the boss heard the other party's self-introduction, his reaction was very straightforward. He frowned and pointed to the door: "If your eyes and ears are fine, you should be able to infer from my skin color and spoken language that I am of Cuban descent. So, don't expect me to vote for the Democratic Party that discriminates against Cubans! Get out of my territory!"
Tommy, who was holding a cup of coffee nearby, laughed when he heard his boss's blunt words. Indeed, the Democrats in Florida today, or in many aspects, are much more radical in their words and actions than the Republicans.
For example, in Florida, the Democratic Party has been accusing the ruling Republican Party of destroying this great country by continuing to accommodate hundreds of thousands of Cuban immigrants for the sake of international reputation. These hundreds of thousands of Cuban immigrants will not only take away jobs from American citizens and occupy their social welfare, but at least tens of thousands of brainwashed Cuban communist fighters will be planted among them. They will lurk in Florida like ghosts, waiting for Castro's order, and then they will quickly occupy Florida and become the vanguard of Cuba's attack on the United States.
This statement is extremely brainless, and the Democratic politicians who said it should know very well that it is all nonsense, but the grassroots people in Florida are willing to believe it and even spread it and change its appearance, such as accusing some gun shops run by Cuban immigrants of being arsenals established by Cuban spies, and that these damn Cubans have hidden hundreds of tanks and planes in the unknown depths of the Florida swamp.
Therefore, the large number of Cuban immigrants who have moved to Florida in recent years almost hate these Democratic politicians who slander Cubans. Now that a Democratic candidate comes to canvass for votes, the boss will naturally not be polite.
"You misunderstood, sir. I'm not... I'm not here to canvass for votes, sir. I want you to help me print some campaign leaflets." The big man named Jeff explained awkwardly, "I don't discriminate against Cubans. I... I just want..."
After the boss realized that he had misunderstood the other party's true intention, he softened his tone, but still kept a straight face: "Don't think about it. In principle, I will not print advertising leaflets for the Democrats unless you are willing to pay more."
"If I pay more, will it go faster?" Jeff handed a plastic bag containing his information to his boss, not refusing the boss' unreasonable request for more money.
The boss took the information and said with sarcasm in his tone: "It's definitely not as fast as the Democratic politician Ross Wright going to bed with women."
The saying that Florida is blessed with talented people and beautiful scenery is well-deserved. Ross Wright, as the printing shop owner mentioned, was a candidate for mayor of South Miami last year, a Democrat. This guy had just spent the night in bed with a high-class Cuban girl the night before, and at a campaign rally the next day he righteously criticized the Republican Party's Cuban immigration policy for robbing local people of their jobs.
The Cuban girl saw this bastard's speech on TV that hurt racial rights. In a rage, she published the details of Ross Wright's prostitution scandal in the name of the person involved, giving Republican opponents the opportunity to ridicule him. They ridiculed him in the newspapers, saying, "Ross Wright, a great politician who always claims to help Americans keep jobs and boycott Cuban immigrants, but at night he would rather provide jobs to Cuban female immigrants than touch his American citizen wife."
Then, Ross Wright, who was forced to withdraw from the election, became the mascot of the Democratic Party in the eyes of Cuban immigrants and was often dragged out and whipped by Cubans.
In fact, in Tommy's opinion, this kind of thing is not a serious scandal. All the men in Florida know that the most cost-effective girls are Cuban girls. Ross Wright's mistake was that he didn't expect that the prostitute he found when relaxing would have such a strong sense of brotherhood. Ross Wright was not really against Cubans, just like the Republicans in this state did not really care about the life and death of Cuban immigrants. It was all business.
The Republicans have controlled Florida for many years. Although the governor is a Democrat, the Republicans have held 12 of the 19 Florida seats in Congress for the past decade. This is because the financial backers of these Republican lawmakers are major citrus farmers or sugar companies in Florida. These financial backers demand cheaper wages for workers. The influx of a large number of legal or illegal Latino populations can keep the wages of Florida's bottom workers stable at a low level. This is the fundamental reason why the Republicans are tolerant of immigrants in this state.
If technology is advanced tomorrow, the assembly line work of these large companies can be replaced by machines. The Republicans who still affectionately call Cubans the pillars of Florida today will be able to accuse Cubans of being brainwashed warriors together with the Democrats tomorrow, and even slander Cuban immigrants for hiding in the swamp and rubbing atomic bombs with their hands.
The boss was busy printing flyers for Jeff. When Jeff looked around, he noticed the camera next to Tommy. He was stunned for a moment and walked carefully to Tommy's side: "Sir, are you recording social news for the TV station?"
"Of course. Do you need to run a campaign ad? You pay me a thousand dollars, and I'll let the most advanced camera in the United States point at your face and film you for the whole morning." Tommy said to the big man without blinking.
He will not discriminate against the other party just because he is wearing a plumber's uniform. Sometimes candidates wear cheap clothes or work clothes which are carefully designed. It is not that they cannot afford suits. Sometimes they may just pretend to be down-to-earth. Moreover, they are generally very wealthy. Even if they have no money, they will have campaign funds supporting them from sponsors or voters.
"No, I can't afford it. I called the TV station to ask about the advertising price, but it's too expensive. If I had money to advertise, I wouldn't have to print these flyers and distribute them door to door. This way, everyone can get to know me." The other party grinned at Tommy in a simple manner and said with an envious glance at the camera.
"It doesn't seem like the election date is right now." Tommy held a cigarette in his mouth, stretched his neck, and asked casually, "Has any unlucky congressman resigned due to a scandal?"
The normal election for members of Congress had already ended before the presidential election. This special election usually leaves a seat vacant in a certain district, and that district will re-prepare for the election.
"Mr. Claude Pepper, a Democratic member of the House of Representatives, has been hospitalized for advanced gastric cancer. His condition is not optimistic and he has been in a coma most of the time. When he was conscious, he said that even if he was discharged from the hospital, he would resign and stay with his family in the last moments of his life. Therefore, he needs to re-elect for his seat in the House of Representatives in Florida's 18th District." The big man named Jeff didn't seem to be very good at chatting with people. He would only answer one question when Tommy asked, and he would fall silent after he finished speaking. However, he could not help but move slowly towards the camera lens, as if he wanted to get into the shooting range of the lens and find a chance to be on camera for free.
From the question and answer session, Tommy learned that this guy, who looked like a Florida gang leader but spoke like a harmless white nerd, was 31 years old this year. He was a plumber with a stable income and worked part-time as a volunteer janitor at a church elementary school. He had served in the military before and came from a typical well-off white family in Florida, with a wife, two dogs, three cars, and four children.
"Since I'm also a supporter of the Democratic Party, five hundred dollars. You pay five hundred dollars and the camera will be around you all morning. You can shoot whatever you want, and I can guarantee that you will appear on TV." Seeing this guy's desire for the camera, Tommy opened his mouth and gave a friendly price.
Then the guy shook his head again and retreated carefully: "I can't afford it."
"You can't even afford a TV ad. Your campaign action committee didn't conduct a pre-fundraising campaign?" Tommy said with a look of disgust. "You don't have small cash sent to you by voters, or large checks sent to you by companies or enterprises in your district?"
The big man shook his head in bewilderment. "I previously launched a rally to 'Say No to Atheists.' At the rally, everyone said I should run for election so that more people could hear my slogan. So I registered to run. I'm currently preparing for the party primary. No one has sent me any money yet."
"You organized a rally?" Tommy looked at him suspiciously. "You give me the impression that you are a little reserved when talking to strangers. I doubt whether you have the motivation to incite people. How many people will attend your rally?"
"If you count them all, more than seventy?"
Tommy was stunned when he heard this number. This was already a large number of people. You know, when many councillors in small constituencies hold campaign rallies, if they have fifty supporters who would rather take leave from work to support the rallies, it is already very outstanding. At least it shows that these fifty supporters are absolutely die-hard. What's more, these fifty people also have families.
This shy big man in front of me was able to incite more than 70 people to start a rally. No wonder he had the confidence to run for election.
Tommy circled the big man twice, and finally said to him: "Jeff, look, you see, we have a camera, we work for a TV station, I can help you, no one knows more about publicity than me, as long as you are willing to pay, I can even show you on the spot how to sell tanning cream to black people and make them darker."
"I can't afford the TV commercial, Mr. Hawke." The big man said with a wry smile, "I only have one hundred and seventy dollars."
"Deal. I mainly want to support the Democratic Party to make America greater. The compensation is not important. We can talk about it later. As long as you allow me to set up a campaign action committee in your name and allow me and my staff to take a portion of the funds in the name of reasonable compensation for employees of the campaign team. Do you see these camera equipment and these people? They will all be used by you." Tommy stretched out his hand to the other party: "One hundred and seventy dollars, I will show you how candidates make voters willingly pay you money."
"But I still have to pay for the printing of the flyers." Jeff took out his wallet and looked at Tommy hesitantly.
"Why print that? Poor people won't use it to clean their butts." Tommy took the other man's wallet, took out all the money inside and put it in his pocket. He turned his head and said to the busy boss: "Hey, boss, Jeff wants to add a new slogan to the flyer: Say No to Cubans!"
"What the hell did you say?" The boss walked over and glared at Jeff.
Jeff wanted to wave his hands and explain, but Tommy hugged his arms tightly and said to his boss, "He said his campaign slogan is, 'Say No to Cubans,' and the font should be bigger."
"Get out of my store! Americans!" the boss roared angrily.
Tommy took the other person in his arms and walked out of the printing shop. "The cameras recorded everything . We stopped printing flyers because they breached the contract. This way you don't have to pay. You can wait until you get the donations. When we can afford a lawyer, we can come back and sue them for breach of contract and force them to pay us several times the damages."
"But I still have to hand out flyers to promote myself, and few people in my constituency even know me." If it weren't for the camera following this guy named Tommy and filming him, Jeff Lavin would have thought he had met a scammer.
Tommy looked at the weather and said, "Or, you can take me to meet your seventy-plus supporters at the rally. I'll show you what magic is. But first of all, I'll take care of the money raised."
Martin also ran back from a distance at this time: "Boss, I found a photo studio, now we can let them take headshots."
"Let me introduce you. This is Jeff. Jeff, this is Martin, the most suitable campaign manager for you. He is also black, which will help you win the black votes." Tommy said without blinking.
After the two confused people shook hands, Jeff went back into the printing shop, wanting the boss to return his documents to him. While the other party was away, Martin asked Tommy:
"Campaign manager? Didn't you say we should use Nick and the others' names to publish a magazine to earn advertising fees?"
"Nick and the others have to thank Jeff. Jeff saved their lives when they were almost hunted down by the entire Florida marijuana dealers. Let's change the way we start a business and set up a campaign consulting company in Jeff's name and form a campaign action committee."
Martin had a look of astonishment on his face. "Boss, looking at his behavior, he has no chance of being elected, and he may not even make it through the primary election. When I was in Miami before, I saw a lot of poor black people who were just as hot-headed as him. They all thought they were the next fucking president of the United States and were famous all over the world , but in fact, even the neighbors in the community couldn't remember their names."
"We don't care whether he can be elected or not, Martin. Whether he is elected or not has nothing to do with us. We just use his name to collect voters' money." Tommy whispered to Martin, "He has more than 70 supporters. As long as he gathers those people, I guarantee that with my help, he can empty their wallets with a speech. Including Page, we have seven people working for him, so it is reasonable to take 80% of the income. In other words, if that guy receives 500 yuan, we can take 400 yuan. Or, you want us to go to another square and continue feeding pigeons."
The photographer next to him pondered for a long time, but still couldn't figure out why he was almost chased by someone. At this time, he came over to Tommy with a strong desire for knowledge and asked, "Mr. Hawke, what are you talking about with the magazine and the chase?"
"I was planning to do a Dutch hemp business weekly. That country is the only one in the world that has legalized hemp. We can let merchants in warm areas like Florida who grow a lot of hemp pay to publish legal product promotion advertisements in the magazine and expand the international market." Tommy said to the other party.
The photographer swallowed hard. "So... so they really paid you to advertise, and we will be hunted down for defrauding them?"
"How is this considered a scam? They are developing international markets, and so is our magazine. Products that are illegal in the United States are not illegal in the Netherlands, and we are selling advertisements." Tommy explained confidently:
"The solution to avoid being hunted is simple. Let Stephen send you to the Netherlands to really register and establish a magazine there. Another group of people will follow and film. This will allow me to continue to engage in animal protection activities such as helping pigeons lose weight without being disturbed."
At this time, the big man Jeff also came out of the printing shop with his information. He looked at Tommy and smiled innocently, "Well, this is the most hasty decision I have ever made. I just walked into a store and trusted others. But I think if I really need to stand up and run for election, I really need to learn to trust others. Come in the car with me, and I will take you to the school to meet my supporters."
As he spoke, he walked towards a family recreational vehicle on the side of the road.
Tommy asked suspiciously, "School? Are you saying those teachers are your supporters?"
"There are two teachers and three school workers. The remaining supporters are mainly children. Can you believe it? Now science classes actually teach children that God does not exist and the earth is round. This is too much, so I launched a rally to 'Say No to Atheists' to tell children about God's great miracles." Jeff opened the car door and warmly invited Tommy, Martin and the photographer to get in the car: "And most importantly, the earth we live on is flat, just like a pizza."
Martin leaned close to Tommy's ear and said, "Boss, you just said that you can get this white man in his thirties who still fucking believes that the earth is flat to squeeze a few hundred dollars in donations out of dozens of kids?"
"I underestimated the magic of Floridians." Tommy first laughed at himself weakly, then rubbed his face hard and said firmly:
"Yes, I can squeeze money out of any Floridian, whether he's an adult or a child."
