On the same day on February 12, when the Thanksgiving period started, another major event in the United States happened.

The Lewinsky incident, which was extended by the Paula Jones case and lasted for 13 months, finally came to an end.

On Friday morning on the East Coast time of the United States, the Federal Senate officially voted on the two impeachment charges of "obstruction of justice" and "perjury" involved in the Lewinsky incident. In the end, all of them were not passed by a 50-50 and a 45-55 vote ratio, because the relevant impeachment required an absolute majority of two-thirds of the approval, that is, at least 67 votes to be established.

Although there is no danger, the bad impact of this messy political crisis is doomed to be unable to be eliminated in the short term. After all, in last year's midterm elections, the people had already voted to express their disgust for the two parties, especially the Republicans, who were not doing serious business all day long and only knew how to poach people and pursue others relentlessly.

Mexico goes south to California.

On Saturday afternoon, on a yacht off the sea off San Lucas Manor, Simon was meeting guests.

On the top deck with a breeze, another carefully disguised old man sat next to Simon, looking through a document under a parasol, about the report that the Weijia political team predicted in advance that the Republican Party would end in failure last year's midterm elections based on online data.

More than ten minutes later, the old man finally closed the document, but he continued to hold it in his hand with some reluctance and looked at Simon: "This is really... surprising."

Simon put down the white porcelain teacup that was so moist in his hand, slowly re-held some green tea for himself, looked at the opposite side and said, "George, you have been in charge of the CIA, so you can definitely distinguish the authenticity of this report and the value of the data analysis technology involved behind it, right?"

George, who has been in charge of the CIA, is naturally Bush.

This meeting is related to the development of the Westeros system in the future, so Simon will not talk to any Bush agent. Of course, if you want to find the right owner, you must also be the one who can make a decision.

Bush, the old man noticed the calmness of the young man opposite, let go of the report without any trace, picked up the cold green tea in front of him and took a sip. He wanted to interrupt and make a few compliments, but he still couldn't help but get straight to the topic: "Simon, of course I can see, but although there are these data, I am still curious about how to operate it?"

"For example," Simon said: "First of all, online, for example, an ordinary working voter who was originally more inclined to the Democratic Party, went home after a hard day of work, turned on the computer and surfing the Internet, you can always see on the Internet how many job opportunities the Democratic Party's globalization policy has lost, how much extra money the Democratic Party's tax hike policy has brought to the hard-working working class, and how many rogue and lazy people have gained nothing. So, do you think his attitude will gradually change?"

Bush Sr. nodded and pointed out the problem accurately: "But, Simon, even if you have Egret, I don't think you will and can't do that. Egret has always been relatively neutral or more Democratic. You don't plan to turn it into a Republican media, right?"

"Of course not," Simon said: "But what I just said is not a clear tendency operation like Fox TV, which has only one face. In the information age, the advantage of big data is that as long as we want, we can accurately locate the political tendencies of everyone through people's online behavior, such as the websites they like to browse, their speeches on social networks, their consumption tendencies on shopping platforms, etc. You should know that this is actually very simple. For the need to accurately place online advertisements, various platforms such as Igret have corresponding data analysis teams and a huge user behavior database. These are mainly for commercial needs, but may turn into political needs at any time. Besides, regarding the operation of the election, what we need to do is to accurately locate some people who can change the election results, such as Florida's Cuban immigrant group who tends to the Democratic Party, and then conduct precision surgical information delivery, and ultimately change their political tendencies."

After hearing Simon's words, Bush, although he was still calm on the surface, he unknowingly sat upright as he learned the young man opposite to him leaned on the back of the chair. After a little consideration, he did not immediately discuss more operation details. Instead, he asked: "Simon, you just said first, what about second?"

"The second is offline," Simon continued: "Although the current federal Internet penetration rate is close to 70%, there are still many people who do not have access to the Internet. This is one of them. In addition, as you just said, I cannot turn platforms such as Igret into a thorough Republican media. Therefore, the intensity of online operations must not be too large. This requires you to use the data we gave to conduct offline campaign operations. George, you are very clear that the campaign funds and team resources of each elector are limited. After precise positioning through our data, you can place campaign resources at the critical position that can reverse the election results with the greatest efficiency, such as the swing city of a swing county in a swing state. Haha, many times, in these swing areas, the voting gap between the two sides is only a few thousand or even hundreds of votes. As long as you win, it means dozens of electoral votes that can determine the situation of the election."

Bush, the old man nodded slightly, leaned back on the back of the white rattan chair, pondered for a moment, and finally looked at the opposite side and asked, "Simon, I have always not understood why you chose us. Isn't it easier to bet Gore directly?"

"Of course it's for the interests of my personal family," Simon said straight to the point: "In the size of the Westeros system, my family and the future of the Federation are closely related. For the Democrats, I agree with their globalization policy because it's the future of the world, but at the same time I don't agree with many of the views of the Democrats, such as high tax rates, too loose immigration policies, such as their excessive laissez-faire for political correctness. To be honest, I'm a conservative in some aspects. In short, George, you know, I like Chinese culture very much, and one of the core of Chinese culture is balance. Therefore, Bill's eight years is enough. I don't want the Democrats to last for another eight years, and it's you next."

Bush listened quietly. Although Simon emphasized in a blunt manner for his own interests, he still keenly felt that there was something reservation in it.

Also a little uncomfortable.

Since it is a capitalist country, Bush of the Sr. Of course, he is aware of the status of capitalists in this country. The young man opposite the round table is undoubtedly the most powerful capitalist in this country and even society, no doubt. However, as a political wealthy family with enough power, Bush instinctively does not like this feeling of being manipulated behind the scenes.

However, reality still needs to be faced.

Putting aside these uncomfortable emotions, Bush nodded and asked, "So, Simon, what about support at the Internet level, I mean, like campaign funds?"

After the midterm elections in 1994 that fundamentally touched the rules of the US election, the biggest change in recent elections was the rapid increase in the cost of campaigns. Even though we understand that this is a poison to quench thirst, both parties have not agreed to relax restrictions on raising campaign funds.

Since the person in front of me is the richest capitalist in the world, of course I have to talk about money.

Simon also considered this issue and said, "In terms of funding, George, I can't give you too much help on the surface. You know, after that time in 1994, Washington was very close to me, not to mention that my current position is to stand on the side of the Democratic Party. Therefore, in next year's election, what I can promise is to reduce investment in Gore and appropriately increase your help through the Political Action Committee of the Westeros system under the Political Action Committee, but it is definitely limited. However, at the private level, I will definitely not keep the amount of investment that can be invested, but this investment cannot be given to you, and you can only believe me."

Bush Sr. was a little disappointed, but he also understood that what Simon was talking about was the truth.

Simon is indeed the richest person in the world, but the least important thing that the other party can give their family support is perhaps money. The soft power of the Westeros system in all aspects of this country is the key.

Simon continued without waiting for Bush to respond this time: "In addition, I can promise you a bargaining chip today. Regarding Igrit, you know, this is the company with the highest market value in the federal stock market and the most conspicuous. You can choose the opportunity to use Igrit as a target, launch an antitrust investigation, and require the company to be split. Use it properly, I believe that it will win a lot of public support for George next year. After all, the public always likes to see things that are above the top are destroyed."

Simon had already confirmed the split of Igret very early.

I have considered how to start this matter before.

The initial idea was to wait for Washington to initiate an investigation, and here it was "resolutely" to resist, and both sides would go back and forth, let the public eat enough melons, and then pretend to lose, and then start the split. At that time, politicians got political achievements, the public had eaten melons, and here it completed its goal, eased the conflicts with all parties, and won three goals at one fell swoop.

However, there was also hesitation during this period.

People are always greedy and are absolutely popular with the public, so they can bring rich political capital to politicians. However, if politicians taste the sweetness, go further, and take advantage of other companies in Westeros with greater urgency, it will be more than worth the loss.

Now, this is a compromise.

Simon took the initiative to bring up this matter and gave away chips first, so that some people could understand that it was not because you launched an investigation that I was forced to split, but because I gave you the opportunity to act together and get what they needed. In this way, politicians gained "political achievements" and also understood how their achievements came about. If you want to get more and more, you have to consider it.

Bush Sr. was really surprised this time: "Simon, are you sure you're not kidding?"

Simon shook his head: "George, I have been considering actively splitting Igret. Perhaps the market value of Igret with over $600 billion is shocking to you. However, with the potential future size of the information industry, even if I divide Igret into three according to my plan, I believe that each of the three companies in the future will have a trillion-dollar market potential. Since that's the case, let you first propose it and give some political capital, and we will get what we need."

Bush, the old man, stared at Simon for a moment, and finally nodded.

However, what Simon said was more shocked. Even if Igret is divided into three, each company will still have a market value potential of trillions of dollars in the future.

That's $3 trillion!

Except for the United States and Japan, the GDP of any other country in this world is less than US$3 trillion.

What's more, this is just Igret. Similarly, Daenerys, Tincobaier, Cisco, American Online, Nokia, etc., which are currently growing in the Westeros system, will be in the future market value? How powerful and terrifying will the wealth represented by these market values ​​and the power contained behind these wealth?

Thinking of this, although Bush was unwilling to accept it, he still felt that perhaps the best way to make friends with the young people on the other side was to do as much as possible.

Simon noticed Bush's shock, leisurely picked up the white porcelain tea cup in front of him and sipped a few sips of tea before continuing, "So, George, is there any other problem?"

Bush, the old man came to his senses, shook his head, and then said, "Since that's the case, Simon, what do you want?"

"I want it. The general direction has been mentioned just now. I hope this country can maintain a balance, neither too left nor too right." Simon said this, took a sip of tea and continued: "As for the specific needs, there is only one, Secretary of State, I hope Kenneth Starr will serve as Secretary of State for the next president."

Bush subconsciously shook his head: "Simon, this position is too important, and Starr is not suitable. Although he has made our Presidential trouble in the past few years, Starr is not likable to the public, and he also does not seem to have experience in presiding over diplomatic affairs."

"Yes," Simon said: "Star has participated in a lot of foreign policy formulation in his time as a government, and has also led the negotiations on control of the Panama Canal. Moreover, the Secretary of State is responsible for foreign affairs and does not need to be liked by the people. By the way, during the years you were in power, he was still the Republican whip of the House of Representatives, and you should be quite familiar with it."

Bush, Sr., hesitated and said, "Simon, I need to consider this."

"There is another important thing. Starr has no background. Like Bill, he climbed up from the bottom. Such people will not have too many ties and can serve us loyally," Simon ignored Bush's request that he considered, added, looked at the other party with a restrained expression, and said, "George, I just made so many promises. It's your turn to hesitate for my first small request, which disappointed me."

"Simon, this is not a 'small request'," Bush retorted with a wry smile, but also understood that he had to show enough sincerity and nodded decisively: "Okay, Simon, I promise you."

The solemn expression on Simon's face quickly melted into a smile, and he raised the teacup in his hand to Bush: "Then, I wish us a happy cooperation."
Chapter completed!