Congresswoman Marjorie Greene sat in her office, the familiar ringtone signaling an incoming call from "Mogul," former President Trump's Secret Service code name. When she answered, the distinctive voice of the former president greeted her. "How are you, Marjorie?" he inquired.
"I'm doing well, Mr. President," she replied respectfully, awaiting his request.
Trump wasted no time getting to the point. "Have you heard of this librarian, Anni, the darling of the fake news?" he queried. Marjorie's response was curt. "Yes, I've heard all about that little bitch, sir."
Trump proceeded to outline his plan, with Marjorie's participation at the center. "I want you to debate her in a public forum," he instructed. Marjorie hesitated, but Trump continued, laying out the strategy. "Questions will come from an audience primarily composed of real Americans loyal to me. My people will prepare these questions, and to make sure you keep your pretty little head on straight you will be wearing an earpiece that I can coach you from."
"The goal is to throw Anni off balance, associate her with liberals and the deep state, and most importantly, make you appear as the victim of a rigged system," Trump emphasized. "Can you do that for me?"
Marjorie, eager to please, responded affirmatively. "Yes, Mr. President, I can do that."
"Good," Trump concluded. "Make the arrangements through your office, and make sure to present this as your idea. Keep my involvement under wraps."
With the call ended, Marjorie instructed her staff to contact Anni to set up the debate.
Meanwhile, Anni, caught off guard by the unexpected request, asked for time to consider. Seeking counsel, she turned to Father Dunkin, who readily agreed to meet after her shift at the Library.
Arriving at the parish, Anni found herself in Father Dunkin's office, seeking insight into the motivations behind the debate. Father Dunkin, having observed Congresswoman Greene's past associations and debates, speculated that she was not acting alone but was under the direction of Trump. "Congresswoman Greene is Trump's staunchest ally, and he utilizes her to push his more extreme views to his base," he explained. "It's likely Trump sees you as a threat and aims to discredit you, possibly painting Congresswoman Greene and himself as victims of the corrupt system."
Father Dunkin suggested the event be held at the church on her home turf but explained to Anni that he didn't want to turn the church in a media circus and requested that each candidate select only one media outlet of their choosing.
Cautiously considering the implications, Anni voiced her preference for NPR as the media outlet to cover the event, citing its balanced approach to the news. Father Dunkin concurred, praising NPR's programming.
Encouraged by Father Dunkin's support, Anni contacted Congresswoman Greene's office, agreeing to the debate under the condition that it be held at her church and limited to one media outlet per side. After some initial objections, Congresswoman Greene relented, insisting on News Max as her chosen outlet.
Father Dunkin, selecting an open Saturday on the church calendar, ensured the event's scheduling. Before Anni departed, he cautioned her about potential devious tactics, assuring her of the church's technical support for streaming and recording the debate.
As Anni left the parish, a sense of determination washed over her, ready to face whatever challenges lay ahead in the impending debate. Anni spent endless hours researching Congresswoman Greene's background, her public attacks on other republicans and her promotion of baseless QANON conspiracies.
On the day of the debate, Father Dunkin was busy ensuring that all technical aspects were in place for the event. He engaged in conversation with James, the church's media specialist, who also worked for law enforcement in the technology crime unit. James had installed additional equipment and was conducting sound checks before the arrival of Anni and Congresswoman Greene.
The debate setup included a mediator, the two participants, and audience members who would submit questions. The audience had been randomly selected through a sign-up form on the church's website. As a courtesy, one pew was reserved for visiting priests and nuns from the surrounding parishes, allowing them to ask questions as well.
Both NPR and News Max had set up their equipment and were conducting their own sound checks. Meanwhile, the parking lots began to fill up with audience members, and church members directed traffic.
However, a church member noticed something peculiar about the cars and trucks in the parking lot and brought it to Father Dunkin's attention. He explained that almost every car had a Trump sticker, indicating potential bias among the audience. Father Dunkin wasn't entirely surprised, as James had suspected tampering with the audience list the previous night. To counteract this, they had invited visiting priests and nuns as special guests.
As Anni and Congresswoman Greene arrived and took their places on the stage, James began to pick up some strange crosstalk coming Congresswoman Greene's lapel mic. Concerned, he alerted Father Dunkin. Father Dunkin instructed James to isolate the microphone to prevent it from interfering with the church's audio.
Upon further investigation, James discovered that someone was communicating with Congresswoman Greene through a hidden earpiece. Father Dunkin listened intently as James played back the audio, clearly capturing Trump instructing Congresswoman Greene to remain composed until he gave the command to storm out of the room.
Father Dunkin seized the opportunity to leverage this information. He instructed James to combine the audio from Congresswoman Greene's mic with the other audio and broadcast it on the live stream. "Let's have a little fun with this," Father Dunkin remarked as the debate commenced.
As the debate begins, Trump is clearly heard telling Greene that the first question is going to knock Anni off balance.
The mediator asks the first person in the audience to direct their question to Anni.
The first Audience person starts off by saying., "This church is very interesting. Why is it filled with graven images and statues when god forbids it."
Anni replies. "Catholics use statues, paintings, and other artistic devices to recall the person or thing depicted. Just as it helps to remember one's mother by looking at her photograph, so it helps to recall the example of the saints by looking at pictures of them. Catholics also use statues as teaching tools. In the early Church they were especially useful for the instruction of the illiterate. Many Protestants have pictures of Jesus and other Bible pictures in Sunday school for teaching children. Catholics also use statues to commemorate certain people and events, much as Protestant churches have three-dimensional nativity scenes at Christmas.
The Audience person continues. "Do you admit to praying to these so called saints?"
Anni replies, "We don't pray to saints we ask the saints to pray for us". To illuminate the difference between praying to God or Jesus as we do in the Our Father, I will recite the second most popular Catholic prayer, the Prayer of the virgin Mary. It goes like this, "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Do you see the difference, Anni asked?
The Audience person replied, "I do not"
Trump could be heard telling Greene, *We got her on the ropes", and continued with, "this next question should be an easy one for you"
The mediator asks the second person from the audience to ask their question and directs it to Greene.
The Second person starts by praising Congresswoman Greene for her wonderful support by holding the liberal's feet to the fire. They go on by asking, "Congresswoman Greene, How concerned are you about the wide open boarders the current administration has obviously failed us on.
Congresswoman Greene responds, "It's a fact that Joe Biden is allowing criminals to bring fentanyl into the country and killing our youth. As an example, Michigan mother and conservative activist Rebecca Kiessling to the House Homeland Security Committee testified how her sons Caleb, 20, and Kyler, 18, had died, as a result of fentanyl poisoning from taking pills Kiessling said they had mistakenly believed were safer pain pills. Blood is on the hands of Biden"
Anni, shouted out, "check your facts Congresswoman, Kiessling had explicitly told the committee the date of the tragedy, making clear that it happened with more than five months left in the presidency of Donald Trump not during the Biden Administration"
Trump could clear be heard yelling, "You idiot ask her why Joe hasn't done a damn thing about the boarders." Greene quickly added, "Well Biden hasn't done a thing about boarders."
Anni said, "You mean like the bipartisan immigration reform bill that took four months to work out between democrats and republicans that Trump asked to be killed so as not to interfere with one of his favorite talking points"
Trump could be heard cursing.
The mediator asked to keep the debate moving.
The elderly lady that had confronted Anni about the inclusion of God in the constitution was the next person to ask a question.
The elderly asked Anni, "Did you know your great grandmother was a socialist and a Jew during WWII"
Anni replied, "I seem to recall she was part of the French resistance movement fighting the Nazis. When Germany invaded Poland, the family had fled to France."
Anni continued, *During WWII the U.S. and Russia were allies. I guess anything is possible. Say who feed you that question? The elderly woman ignored Anni's last question and shouted, "my father was a veteran of WWII and would roll over in his grave if he heard your filthy lies. Anni told her she should stop in at the library and check out a book on the history of WWII if she didn't believe her. The elderly woman replied, "I wouldn't step foot into that front for liberal lies"
Trump could be heard telling Congresswoman Greene, "Watch and learn Marjorie, that old witch is about to tie that bitch Anni to the Socialist.
The elderly lady regained her composure and asked Anni, "Isn't it true while you were at Harvard you were a member of the Socialist group the GMSC?" Anni replied, "The what?" The elderly lady smirked, "you heard me". Anni thought for a second and the light came on. "Oh, you mean the Grand Master Social Club". The elderly woman shouted, "Yes that one". Anni replied, "it's a Chess social club not a Socialist club." The elderly women grinned and said, "yes but isn't it true some members of the club were Socialist and you therefore had close contact with them." The elderly woman was noticeably getting under Anni's skin when Anni replied, "Look I don't follow or like extremist views. I don't care if they are coming from conservatives or liberals.
Trump could be heard clapping his hands and saying bingo. We got her. Have News Max do a cut and paste job on that exchange and broadcast it on an endless loop.
The debate mediator could be heard yelling time. The mediator said as a curtesy to our host we are going to take a question from one of the visiting Priest, a Father Francis.
Just then someone tapped Trump on the shoulder and handed him a note. The note read, "Somehow the church's audio system is picking up your conversations with Marjorie and its being broadcast on their live stream." Trump could be heard yelling, "Cut the feed"
Congresswoman Greene could be seen tapping her ear with a panicked look on her face.
As the debate continued, Father Francis thanked the mediator and the asked Congresswoman Greene a pointed question, "Congresswoman Greene, you have made claims that President Joe Biden 'stole' the election from Donald Trump and encouraged people to protest before the demonstrators later went on to storm the Capitol."
Congresswoman Greene responded, asserting she was a victim of the January 6 riot as much as any other member of Congress.
The priest pressed further, "You didn't answer the main question. Did Joe Biden win the election, Congresswoman Greene?"
"Joe Biden is the president of the United States," Greene replied.
"Absolutely—but you pushed a big lie that said he did not win the election and it was your inflammatory rhetoric that drove those people to the Capitol on January 6," the priest stated firmly.
Greene interjected, claiming, "There was election fraud in the 2020 election, and my husband has the proof of it."
As the mediator attempted to steer the debate to the next question, Greene persisted, insisting she had "evidence of proof of election fraud."
Despite the mediator's efforts, Greene continued speaking, insisting, "Ok, but he's not going to accuse me of a crime when I have not committed one."
When offered the next question, Greene accepted, but directed a sharp remark at Anni, snapping, "You're a liar, by the way."
Anni calmly replied, "Didn't you testify under oath that your husband did not request a mailed ballot and that when he showed up to vote in person, he was told he had already voted absentee?"
Greene responded, "Yes. We saw a tremendous amount of voter fraud. We have investigations going on right now in Georgia. There is an investigation going on in multiple states. My husband showed up to vote, and when he went to vote, he was told he had already voted by absentee ballot when, in fact, he had never requested an absentee ballot. There are many instances."
Anni countered, "Floyd County voting records contradict that statement about her husband's voting experience and the inference of election fraud."
Anni continued, "Isn't it true your husband relinquished his right to vote absentee by mail so he could vote in person, a legal option in Georgia? And even though it is registered as absentee in the system, the early voting is referred to as an absentee ballot as well because you're casting an absentee in person," Anni pointed out.
Congresswoman Greene, red-faced, yelled, "I may not be a doctor, but I do have a PhD in recognizing bullshit."
Anni retorted, "Well, in that case, I suggest you look in the mirror."
With that, Congresswoman Greene found her opening and stormed out of the debate, looking visibly relieved as she made a hasty exit.
Father Dunkin was seen handing the NPR reporter a copy of the debate that included the audio of Trump as seen from the church's live stream. "I think you may be interested in this", He said.
Meanwhile back in Trump's office, he was shouting orders to his staff. Get me the "Spin Doctor on the phone and take down the church's WEB site.
In the next chapter the "Spin Doctor" turns a disaster into a win for Trump by pushing the idea that audio was a deep fake created by the crooked Joe Biden administration.