America 1919

As for Congress, although there were some voices of opposition, overall, they still supported us. However, Congress made it clear that this matter should only be investigated up to Donnie Block, with no possibility of the case expanding any further!" After saying these words, Coshek Kevin couldn't help feeling a bit smug. The attitude from the White House was ambiguous, but Congress's position was relatively firm. This seemed to indicate that the situation was still within his control! In fact, everyone present knew that Donnie's whiskey empire had long infiltrated all of the United States' power structures. Even among those in Congress who supported them, some members were part of this interest group. Take for instance a congressman from Kentucky. He had a massive storage center in Kentucky that provided jobs for thousands of people. This storage center, which had just been built last year, was used exclusively for stocking whiskey that was transferred through Kentucky. This congressman appeared to have no financial ties with Donnie Block's whiskey empire, but in reality, these workers represented thousands of families, each with its members having votes in their hands! Although Donnie seemed to have been busy with many things over the past two years, he had never neglected his whiskey business. Even when he was short selling Sinclair Oil Corporation and persisting in the ABC short-selling battle, he would still take time out of every day to manage the whiskey business. That is why, despite the high profits of the whiskey business, Donnie still needed more than a year to truly start making a return on his investment! The present was not like the future where, thanks to transportation and networking technologies, it was easy to manage a national business. Nowadays, to have a business spread across the United States, ensuring storage and transportation was crucial, otherwise, a multitude of serious problems could arise! Now, whether it was the White House or the stance of Congress, Coshek Kevin believed he had the capability to bring down Donnie Block! However, his smile did not last long because he saw Michael Ribeiro frown slightly. "The White House is too entangled with Donnie Block's interests. In this matter, their proper stance should have been to show no relations with Donnie and to even support us. The same goes for Congress, especially since they had already reached a consensus before..." At this point, Michael Ribeiro rubbed his eyes and continued to explain, "But now they've shown an ambiguous attitude, which indicates they have already made up their minds about this matter fundamentally. I even suspect that the White House's people are already in Atlantic City. As for the stance of Congress, it's understandable that there are opposing voices, but why haven't they continued to fight with the White House over this issue? Or is it that they have reached a consensus on that previous matter and have now given up on further investigating Donnie Block?" Michael Ribeiro's words had plunged the people in the meeting room into silence. Then Michael Ribeiro added, "The most important thing is that the director isn't here today. He was here the last time!" By this point, Coshek Kevin was already feeling overwhelmed and couldn't help but ask Michael Ribeiro for advice, even though he knew it would undermine his own authority. "So you mean, they've already given up on the IRS?" Michael Ribeiro shook his head and said, "Given up, no, but I think we've already fallen into a disadvantageous position. You could interpret this as the White House's people are now officially siding with Donnie Block, while those in Congress are on the fence. They, too, have sensed the unprecedented resistance we would encounter if we tried to investigate this issue. In such a situation, every politician's first thought is how to ensure their own interests are not jeopardized. Therefore, they will wait and see how our battle with Donnie Block unfolds. If we can turn the tide, then those in Congress will immediately support us, and the White House's people will also shut Donnie Block up. But if we can't sway public opinion back to our side after Donnie's counterattack, then in the end, it all becomes the IRS's problem. And then, gentlemen..." Stopping there, Michael Ribeiro looked at the four people in the meeting room and said, "Whose fault will it be then?" This sentence made the other four begin to sweat. Political struggle was always like this; it seemed as gentle as a spring breeze, but the outcome was as fierce as thunder. What awaited them? It would mean the end of their political careers! For a politician, that was the most severe punishment! "Then how should we counterattack Donnie Block?" At this moment, Coshek Kevin was starting to panic. Michael Ribeiro said, "If Donnie Block wants to use the public's voice to block our retreat, then naturally we also need to use the power of public opinion to get more people on our side!" "No!" Just as Michael Ribeiro finished speaking, Coshek Kevin immediately objected, "Because Donnie Block made this matter public, we fell into a passive position. If we now spread this issue through the media, every American will know about it, and then the people in the White House and Congress will need to protect Donnie Block even more, making our chances of winning even slimmer!"