"Mr. President, Frank has been shot dead!"
Outside the conference room in the presidential palace, a security officer in a formal suit reported the situation in a low voice to the president who was reading a script.
The president slowly put down the script in his hand. He glanced at his security officer and wiped his face. "This is really bad news, but are the hostages safe?"
The security officer nodded solemnly. "According to the news from the scene, Frank refused to communicate and tried to harm the hostages. Our people were forced to shoot him. The hostages are safe."
The president nodded with satisfaction. "That's good. It's my duty to protect the safety of the Federation's citizens …" After he finished speaking, he picked up the script again. After a few glances, he nodded to the security officer and the chief of staff and stepped into the conference room.
The moment he walked into the conference room, the flash almost turned the place into a silver world. Even the president, who was used to seeing the media, was somewhat uncomfortable with the sudden light.
He narrowed his eyes slightly and walked to the side of the host's podium. He lowered his gaze, which made him feel a little better.
It had been 24 hours since the incident broke out yesterday morning. No matter what others thought, the media would first go crazy, then public opinion.
The news had already spread, and it was obviously not practical to cover it up. It would make people think that the president and his cabinet were incompetent. They could only find a way to solve it. At least, they had to calm down the ordinary investors who were blocking the door of the bank or the exchange.
A few seconds later, the flashing frequency of the cameras decreased, but all the reporters raised their arms high. Mr. President's chief of staff's voice came from his headset. "The fourth lady in the second row wearing a blue scarf …"
The president looked up. There was indeed a lady in a blue scarf in the second row. He pointed casually. "The lady in the blue scarf …"
When the female reporter stood up, the others immediately retracted their raised hands and grabbed their pens, ready to write something at any time.
The female reporter who was called by the president waited for the conference room to quiet down a little before asking, "Mr. President, since yesterday, people have found that the war bonds issued abroad can't be redeemed. What can we do? What can you do?"
Some reporters frowned. This question was not sharp enough. It was very ordinary, so ordinary that it did not have much value. This was because even if these questions were not asked, the president or his press officer would eventually say them. This was equivalent to wasting an opportunity to ask questions.
However, since he had asked, he might as well record it.
Mr. President showed his calmness and composure, almost opening his mouth to speak. "We have urgently contacted the bond issuing country, and the Federation's embassy abroad is also urgently negotiating with the local government."
"So far, we haven't been able to come up with any effective solutions for the time being, but I can assure the people that we haven't wasted a single second. Our ambassador and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs haven't rested since yesterday."
"If there are any new developments, we will immediately announce them to the public!"
It was a standard answer without any highlights. Some reporters gave up halfway through the recording. This answer could be directly used as a draft.
Generally speaking, news like the president's speech would have a draft. It would be more official answers and core ideas. The mainstream media would respect the content of this draft and do some processing without changing the core.
However, some of the less mainstream media were very daring. They would always make a formal press conference look like a conspiracy conference. They also relied on this method to gain more readers and subscriptions.
Following that, some lucky reporters were called out and asked questions. The questions asked by these reporters were too standard, which made many reporters very disappointed, because the question and answer session of the press conference became a one-man show for the president.
This situation was becoming more and more common. When the president had just taken office, he would not arrange these reporters to hold the press conference steadily. At that time, he was still very passionate, but look at now.
Almost every press conference that he personally attended was like this. It was full of official questions and official answers. There would not be a single accident in the entire press conference.
Did those "official media" not feel disgusted?
In fact, it did not matter whether it was disgusting or not. What was important was how to avoid some embarrassment when the current situation was unclear.
After half an hour, the press conference ended. The president quickly left, and his press officer took over his job.
The reporters still did not need to think about getting valuable answers from the press officer, because when the questions became sharp, he would say that he was just a press officer and could only give the answers he had prepared in advance. It would still make the reporters feel helpless and helpless.
After coming out of the press conference room, the president removed some of the electronic equipment that made him feel uncomfortable. These things weighed several kilograms, and it was not a good experience to hang them on his body.
He returned to his office and called for his chief of staff and his team of advisors. He needed some advice and countermeasures to solve the current problem.
There were some things that couldn't be delayed.
"Mr. President, we discussed all day yesterday and finally came to a conclusion, but …" He looked at the others and then looked at the president. "But you may not like it very much."
The president frowned. "What kind of answer?"
He joked, "For example, you want me to submit my resignation to Congress?"
This was obviously not a funny joke. The chief of staff laughed dryly. "We think that the best thing to do now is to let things develop naturally. It is necessary to give some simple answers. This is more in line with our current situation and our position."
The president's brows furrowed tighter and tighter. He even dug his ears. "Sorry, I don't quite understand what you are talking about. Can you be more specific?"
The chief of staff began to explain in more detail. "We don't do anything for the time being because no matter what we do, it will be difficult to change the attitude of those countries. They will not honor us, especially the victors."
The war bonds that could not be honored mainly came from the victors. The victors were willing to exchange these bonds and made an announcement in the name of the country. They postponed the redemption of the bonds issued by the international community before the war for a year and increased the redemption rate by 15% on the basis of the original redemption rate.
However, everyone knew that by the time they could redeem the bonds, the money and currency they gave would be worthless.
The president nodded. He knew this. "So your solution is to do nothing?"
He leaned back, and there was no change in his attitude or expression. "Then how should I explain this to the citizens?"
The chief of staff corrected some of the minor mistakes in his words in a timely manner. "It's not you who should explain this to the citizens. It's those countries who refuse to honor their bonds. How should they explain this to the ordinary people of the international community?"
"In fact, the chief of staff unanimously believes that this is actually a good thing because we have inadvertently solved some very critical problems. We have shifted the conflict from the different standpoints between the two governments to a national government and the ordinary people of the entire international community.
"Before this, these victors' failure to honor their bonds could be said to be a national action. Their target was also the Bailey Federation. But now that their opponents have become ordinary people, they are somewhat shameless.
"We can unite some of the countries that are facing the same problem as us, or even the defeated countries, and build momentum in international public opinion. If we can privately leverage one or two small countries to cash in some of their bonds, this can destroy the trust between the victorious countries and their allies."
"More importantly, we can use 'safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of the people' as an excuse to unite some forces in the international community. Facts have proven that complete isolation is not desirable!"
The president listened while thinking seriously. He had to admit that these things mentioned by the chief of staff were indeed desirable. As the biggest supporter of the isolation policy, the president had already realized the drawbacks of the isolation policy at this time.
When the Bailey Federation was in trouble, no one would stand up to help him. Because of the isolation in the international community, he had no position at all. This was also the reason why the victors could manipulate the Bailey Federation at will.
His thoughts spread very quickly. His fingers unconsciously tapped on the table. "A neutral alliance?"
The chief of staff nodded slightly. This was the idea behind his back. Since isolationism was confirmed to be unworkable, they would use another relatively moderate way to change the current position of the Bailey Federation in the international community.
Considering that the president came to power through this policy, they could unite some neutral countries without changing their neutral position. This way, the people would not feel the failure of isolationism, and at the same time, they could use the power of the people to solve some problems. It could be said to be a perfect solution.
"What about those people who are causing trouble outside? How do we deal with them?"
The president quickly came to a decision and asked another very sharp question.
The chief of staff said meaningfully, "There must be someone who has to bear the responsibility for this matter …"
Scapegoats, scapegoats, this kind of game had been used for many years. It was so simple that almost everyone knew this situation, but people just fell for it.
The president nodded. "If there is no other way, then let's do it. I hope we can see the results as soon as possible."