"That's when they'll realize what kind of monster they've provoked."
...
Washington, the West Wing of the White House.
David Stern stared at the phone in his hand, the line dead. He stood frozen on the spot.
His face flushed crimson, and the veins on his neck bulged.
"Lunatic! An absolute lunatic!"
Stern slammed the phone down on the sofa.
"Thirty-five! That's the Constitution! And he wants me to amend it?"
The senior advisors in the office exchanged glances, but no one dared to speak.
"He's blackmailing the President!" Stern paced back and forth in the room, like a caged beast. "He knows we can't afford to lose Pennsylvania. He knows we need that photo."
"But the price he's demanding is too high!"
A legal advisor ventured cautiously, "Chief of Staff, actually… looking at certain ambiguous clauses in the Twelfth Amendment, there is some academic debate regarding the definition of eligibility…"
"Shut up!"
Stern roared.
