America 1982-Chapter 527 - 104: Professor Tommy’s Political Mini-Lecture
There are still more than two hours before the Democratic Party’s primary election officially begins tonight.
"Mr. Page told me that over four hundred veterans had already arrived outside the venue more than an hour ago, holding various slogans and Jeff’s portraits. Well done, Martin, your brothers and some black veterans were arranged to stand in the front row, making the scene look less racist," Tommy said, leaning against the doorpost in Jeff’s living room, speaking to Martin, who was busy adjusting the receiver for Jeff.
Martin was too occupied with the final adjustments of the tiny receiver in Jeff’s ear to respond to Tommy. Nowadays, these tiny receivers are not considered cheating in political elections, almost every politician has one in their ear because you never know, when you want to speak from the heart during an election speech or debate, how your opponent might interrupt you with a bizarre question. If you’re caught off guard and left speechless, the television cameras are going to broadcast your foolish expression to all the viewers watching live at home.
"It feels like there’s a chickpea stuck in my ear," Jessica and the kids also had receivers in their ears; they didn’t need to go on stage, but they needed to appear in the front row as the candidate’s family. Members of the election team would monitor them one-on-one to ensure they sat nicely and didn’t do anything unseemly or give opponents something to criticize in terms of etiquette.
"You just have one, darling, I have two, and they’re not even the same size," Jeff said, standing motionless in front of the dressing mirror but responding to his wife.
At this time, members of Marcus’s styling team took Jessica and the kids to the more spacious backyard to test the reception of the chickpea-sized receiver in their ears. To ensure everything was foolproof, Jessica and several of the kids each had a receiver stuffed into their left ear.
Throughout tonight’s live televised primary debate, Marcus’s team members would keep a close eye on them, providing voice reminders of various issues, mainly etiquette related, such as when to smile, when to applaud. If the opponent attacked Jeff on stage, they couldn’t counter on behalf of Jeff; they had to control their emotions, mind their posture when standing to leave, where to meet up with Jeff afterwards, as well as how to position themselves in the hallway, and how to handle handshakes with waiting supporters outside the venue.
Jeff, as tonight’s candidate, had an additional receiver compared to Jessica and the kids—one in each ear, left and right. The reason for having two was to guard against other candidates’ possibly sneaky tactics, like using jamming devices to cut off a competitor’s reception. For someone like Jeff who, despite having accumulated some experience in public speaking, would become slow to respond and appear dumbfounded on live television without his receivers compared to his more politically seasoned opponents. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂
So, for safety, Tommy had prepared two completely different professional receivers for him, ensuring that even if one of the opponent’s teams by fluke jammed the model of one of the receivers in Jeff’s ears, cutting off his reception, the other would continue to work steadily.
"Where did you buy these beans, Tommy?" Jeff shook his head, testing whether the receivers would fall out, and curiously asked Tommy, "This gadget, I mean, if a student put it in their ears during a test, could everyone get into Harvard?"
Jeff knew that politicians all wore these gadgets because he’d seen them featured in many election-related shows and movies he had watched before. He was just curious why nobody wore them to take Harvard’s test.
Martin was also taken aback, then looked at Tommy, his eyes sparkling: "Did you hear that? Boss, Jeff has stumbled upon a business opportunity. Right, we should sell these and make a killing. We could offer all the black high schoolers in Little Haiti, who are learning to sell weed or preparing to join a gang, a chance to study at Harvard!"
"The one in Jeff’s left ear was developed by a tech company in Silicon Valley started by a Stanford alumnus of mine, aiming to get orders from the United States Army or the National Guard, and it’s not on the market. The one in his right ear is from East Germany; a shrewish buddy of mine used it to complete an interview over the Berlin Wall. So, I’m not too sure how many convenience stores your black brothers would have to rob to gather enough cash to afford these two beans," Tommy said as he took off his suit jacket, and Page came over to help him fix the two transmitters, the size of playing cards, on his belt and secure the microphone at Tommy’s lapel. After checking, he nodded at Tommy, signaling that the two transmitters, used for directing Jeff’s live performance, were functioning correctly.
"Isn’t it a bit of a waste to use such high-end products in an election of this scale?" Martin said with a smile, upon hearing how advanced the receivers were.
After Page finished adjusting the transmitters, Tommy straightened his collar and asked, "Do you know what the benefit of investing in a bunch of tech companies is?"
"Not really clear, perhaps the whole Hawk family could use these gadgets to get into Harvard?" Martin shook his head, offering a response he himself believed was far-fetched.
