Chapter Text
Spoiler for the season 3 finale - season 3 finale fix it.
Tom Kirkland was looking through the window in his living room in the White House, thinking about the situation he was in, about the bioterrorist plot and the recording exonerating Cornelius Moss from guilt. He didn't know about what his subordinates were doing. He had no idea. But those were his subordinates, those were people he aligned himself with and people who believed in the same agenda as he did. Maybe Moss didn't know about the plot, but he agreed about everything else in the rethoric. He was the same as them - so did it really matter if he knew about the plot or not? He was just as guilty. And Tom wanted to be president, to continue the work he was doing. He needed to be elected for that, and the election silence was already approaching and if he revealed the truth now, he would surely lose elections. Surely keeping unverified recording to himself wouldn't be wrong in those circumstances.
Tom wished Alex, his darling wife was there. She had always supported him, she would have been able to tell him it was alright, he had to do it. She agreed with him that he had to be the president after the bombing, no matter what. She had told him that. Then he remembered another conversation, the one he had during the Michigan crisis. Alex had told him then that if he listened to his instincts, he would do the right thing. But what were his instincts, and what was the right thing to do here? He couldn't let Moss win, and if he revealed this now, his campaign, his political career was at stake.
Since when has he been caring about the political career more than about the truth? Staying silent was something Moss would have done, Lorraine would have told him to do, hell, every politician would have him do. It was the politically wrong decision. Just like not saying who the enemy was was the wrong decision immediately post bombing, just as trying the diplomatic solution with Iran immediately after the bombing was a wrong decision, just as leaving Washington to meet the SEAL team in person was the wrong thing politically. Politically, he was a disaster, he used to be disaster who wouldn't play the cards he should have. But that was what gained him people's loyalties in the end, wasn't it? Those were all the right things to do. Because he wasn't thinking about being the president then, he was thinking about what was the right thing, he was thinking that everyone had the right to explain themselves, that it was innocent until proven guilty, that people deserved to know who would order them to potential death, because every life mattered.
So, if he wasn't running the elections, if he was just the current accidental president, who probably wasnt even the right person for the job, what should he have done?
Not released the first video, that's for sure. Not have been afraid of losing votes because of Sasha, that's for another. When had he started compromising? Being uncompromising was also a part of his agenda, not compromising, being transparent and acting with integrity. If that video was truly fake, of the recording saying that Moss had truly nothing to do with it was true, it needed to come to light before the election. No matter what that might cost him politically. That was the transparency and integrity he has been promising Americans throughout his campaign, and this was the right thing to do.
And what if Moss won? He didn't agree with his politics, but he hasn't been terrible as a president. Conservative, yes, but still relatively moderate. He went behind his back as the Secretary again and again, but as president, he wouldn't have to be accountable to a superior. The deals he made weren't bad, it was just the way they were done, without confirmation, that was wrong. If by doing this move, he would tank his political career and Moss got into the office, it wouldn't be great, but it wouldn't be the end of the world. And there was always the next election.
But first, how to make sure the recording is actually real?
Tom sighed to himself and went back down to the office. He needed to make a couple phone calls. He couldn't call many people, this would be a political disaster anyways and the less people knew the less people would have their careers decimated. The didn't need to know. FBI director first, they needed to check the validity of the recording. White House Council and Seth, to manage the storm the were about to unleash.
Aaron, because he was his VP and he deserved to know they would be tanking their careers. Aaron was ambitious, but he also believed in the right thing, so he would probably agree. Lorraine not at all, she wouldn't agree and would try to talk him out of it.
Then the hardest phone call, the one that required most political acumen and was best done behind the closed doors. Calling Moss on the phone number he still had from the days he was his Secretary. Calling him from his personal number, intentionally. Knowing that he needed to ask, somehow, if it was really fake and if, if he won, if he would be reasonably moderate as the president. Tipping his hand, probably, but also knowing that Seth would be arranging press conference within an hour anyways, political silence before elections be damned.