The Ides of March Page #7

What's up?

Ida knows that I met

with Duffy.

I don't know how she knows,

but she knows.

And she tried to blackmail me.

She said she's gonna release the story

unless I tell her all the details

about your meeting

with Thompson.

So it's gonna hit

the papers.

Probably.

And whoever

she takes it to is gonna

call me for a statement.

If I deny the whole thing alltogether,

but Duffy admits to it,

it's gonna look even worse.

And if I just say, "No comment,"

they're not gonna let up.

I leaked it to Ida.

At the event.

- I don't understand.

- We made a deal.

Paul, they're gonna...

They're gonna print that story

in the paper tomorrow morning.

I know.

So why'd you do it?

Why would you do that?

Why would you do that

to the campaign?

The campaign will survive.

- Why would you do that to me?

- Makes it easier to let you go.

What?

Why'd you meet with Duffy?

I made a mistake.

I made a stupid mistake.

No Stephen, you didn't make a mistake,

you made a choice.

You called me and left a message

to call you back, that was important.

And when I did,

you told me to forget about it.

You chose not to tell me.

Why'd you make that choice?

Because, Paul,

I didn't think it was important.

Oh, f*** yes, you did.

But you went because you were curious,

because you felt flattered,

because you felt special...

to think that Duffy wanted

to speak to you instead of me.

Because you thought yourself

"Maybe I can get something out of this."

Because--

because it made you feel big.

You know, the first campaign I ran,

it was a tiny little race in Kentucky.

Hm... State Senate seat,

working for some redneck nobody

named Sam McGuthrie.

No staff, no money,

no f***ing office.

Everyone thought

we didn't stand a chance.

No way we can compete, right?

And about this time,

this guy running this congressional

campaign a few districts over

gives me a call, and he says,

"I really like what you're able to do

for poor old Sam, but, let's face,

he's a goner.

Why don't you come work

for me?" What did l do?

Well, Stephen, this is where

you and I are different.

I told Sam about the call.

And Sam says to me,

"Paul, if you think this other guy's

got a chance at winning

and he can pay you more

that anything I can afford

and if it's what you feel you need to do,

then I won't get in your way."

And l say,

"Sam, you took a chance on me

and hired me when I was even more

of a nobody than you are.

So I'll be damned if I'm gonna jump ship

just because the sh*t hits the fan."

We lost that race, but three years later

when Sam decided to run for governor,

who do you think he called?

We won that race, and 20 years later

I am where I am f***ing now.

Now, there's only one thing l value

in this world, Stephen, and that's loyalty.

And without it, you're nothing!

And you have no one.

And in politics,

in f***ing politics,

it's the only currency

you can count on.

That's why I'm letting you go.

Not because you're not good enough,

nopt because l don't like you.

But I value trust over skill,

and l don't f***ing trust you

anymore.

It doesn't matter whether

you trust me, Paul. It matters

whether the governor does.

The governor already knows,

and he thinks

it's the right thing to do.

He does?

Yeah, and you know what?

If l were you,

I'd get a good night's sleep,

because you're gonna

get fuking pounded by calls

from the press in the morning.

- Hey.

- Hey. Where were you today?

Um, l'm not feeling great today, Ben.

You picked a hell of a day

to call in sick.

- Jesus, it was a f***ing wild-ass day.

- Why? What happened?

Stephen's off the campaign.

Paul fired him.

Some fuking setup about loyalty.

And looks like Stephen may have been

doubling down with Duffy,

on the Pullman campaign.

I... I was sitting in the room

when Paul told Stephen

he was fired.

And Stephen said,

"Who's gonna take over?"

And Paul said me.

I know, and l'm like,

"Easy there, soldier."

And then Stephen goes apeshit,

Paul gives him this speech

about loyalty.

and then shits out Stephen

like l've never seen before.

I mean--

- humiliating sh*t.

- When was this?

Molly, listen to me.

I'm gonna run the campaign

under Paul.

Stephen's going to Duffy.

I just jumped three years ahead.

So starting tomorrow morning,

we go into full damage control.

And l'm telling you,

Stephen's going apeshit.

He said he's taking everybody

down on his way out.

Morris, everybody.

Sh*t. I gotta take this.

Do you need anything?

No.

Paul. What's up?

I'm mailing you all those files.

- Where's Duffy?

- You got an appointment?

Joe, can we have the room

for a minute?

Okay.

Thank you.

It's not too bright

walking in here like that, Steve.

I'm in.

I'm coming to work for you.

A reporter from Roll Call

phoned me this afternoon.

Yeah.

I know who leaked it.

- Who?

- Paul.

You told Paul?

- I told Paul, and he leaked it.

- Oh, Steve.

- You shouldn't have told him that.

- I felt like l should.

Yeah. l've worked with Paul.

He gets paranoid.

- Obviously.

- So he fired you.

- I quit.

- No, you're lying to me. Come on man.

I quit. l'm gonna

give you everything.

I'm gonna give you Morris,

I'm gonna give you his whole strategy--

I don't need his strategy. I already have it.

Paul gave it all to Thompson.

What if I had something else?

You would do that

to Morris? To Paul?

- Yeah.

- Oh, no.

Revenge makes people

unpredictable.

Steve, I can't have someone who's

unpredictable, who's unstable.

- I'm not unstable.

- You know, if this had been a clean break,

if you had left Morris

before the story broke,

that'd be one thing

that, we could control.

But like this?

Paul fires you, and then you

wanna come work for me?

It makes me look like

I'm picking up the scraps.

It puts Morris

in the driver's seat.

I can't have that.

- What if I had something big?

- Like what?

Something big.

Something that'll put

Morris down.

What is it?

Give me the job.

No, that's not gonna happen.

I'm sorry.

Go take a nice long vacation.

You're a smart guy.

Everything that I said

the other day is absolutely true.

But, you know,

maybe politics isn't for you.

Politics is my life.

Oh, you know what? Do yourself a favor.

Get out, now, while you still can.

Go into entertainment

or business.

Go open a f***ing restaurant

in Costa Rica. Anything.

Do something that's gonna

make you happy, okay?

Because if You stay in this business

long enough,

you're gonna get jaded and cynical.

- Like you.

- Yeah, just like me.

You knew I was gonna

f***ing tell Paul, didn't you?

No, I didn't know.

I thought you might,

but I didn't know.

You knew I was gonna tell him,

and you knew he was gonna

fuking fire me.

Well that's the thing about Paul.

He's big on loyalty.

Yeah, l know.

I just got a big speech on it.

You were never

gonna hire me.

Put yourself in my shoes,

Steve.

Your opponent has the best

media mind in the country

working for his team.

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