Forging America: My Campaign Manager is Roosevelt-Chapter 43 - 34: Wrestling in the Mud Pit

Leo was silent, a war raging within him.

He felt like he was standing on the edge of a cliff. On one side were the principles he’d been taught since childhood, the political ideals he held dear—the belief that truth is revealed through debate and that justice will ultimately prevail over evil.

On the other was the world Roosevelt had revealed to him: the true world of politics, a treacherous swamp filled with traps, a brutal jungle where survival depended on digging up dirt on your rivals.

"Mr. President, I still feel... this is wrong." Leo’s voice was laced with anguish. "I don’t want to become the very person I despise. If we resort to despicable means to achieve a noble end, how are we any different from our enemies?"

Roosevelt’s voice echoed in his mind, gentle this time.

"My boy, do you think I was born with a fondness for these dirty tricks? Do you think I enjoy having that fellow Hoover, with his little black ledger, act like a watchdog, spying on my friends and enemies alike?"

"I’ll tell you, my very first thought upon becoming President was to completely dismantle Hoover and his FBI. I despised him. I despised everything he stood for—the act of lurking in the shadows, trading on the private lives of others to gain power. It was the thing I loathed most."

"But, in the end, I didn’t." Roosevelt’s voice was tinged with resignation.

"Because I quickly discovered that my enemies—the bankers on Wall Street, the racist congressmen from the Southern States, the industrial oligarchs who wanted to drag the United States into the mire of fascism—every single one of them was using methods a hundred times filthier than Hoover’s against me."

"They bribed the media to spread rumors about my health. They hired private investigators to dig for scandals in my family’s personal lives. They even orchestrated a military coup to overthrow the elected government when I was in the toughest phase of pushing for the New Deal."

"I realized I was locked in a life-or-death struggle with a pack of beasts who would stop at nothing to protect their own interests."

"Leo, in that situation, I needed a dog more vicious than them to guard my yard. Edgar Hoover was the dog I chose."

Roosevelt’s voice paused, giving Leo time to digest this brutal piece of history.

"I’m not telling you this story to make you admire Hoover, much less to glorify these dirty tactics."

"I want to teach you the simplest of truths: politics is, first and foremost, a game of survival. Before you can realize any of your lofty ideals, you must first make sure your enemies don’t kick you from the table entirely."

"This is the very situation you’re facing now. Your enemies have already started using all kinds of dirty tricks against you. They will use bureaucratic red tape to bog down your projects, negative press to tarnish your reputation, and money and power to buy off your allies."

"In a street fight like this, if you insist on holding yourself to an outdated code of chivalry, then you’re not being noble, you’re being foolish. You’re not defending your ideals; you’re personally digging their grave."

Roosevelt’s voice softened, yet it was filled with power.

"Leo, I chose you because I saw in your heart the same fire that burns in mine. But the fire alone is not enough. You also need to learn how to protect that fire, to keep it from being extinguished by the gales of politics."

"Learning to use these weapons you dislike isn’t about turning you into a villain. It’s about enabling you to survive in this filthy world long enough to one day create a cleaner one with your own hands."

"That is the difference between us and them. They use these methods to protect their own ugly, selfish interests. We use them to protect a greater purpose."

Roosevelt’s words were the key that turned the lock in Leo’s mind.

He finally understood. ’This isn’t a fall from grace; it’s a battle necessity.’

Leo nodded.

He found Sarah discussing canvassing routes with Frank.

"Sarah, I need your help with something," he said. "I need you to find a few people we can trust completely, people who are experts at data mining and information retrieval."

"We need to conduct a comprehensive background investigation on a Mr. Alex Cortes."

Sarah’s hand, which was sketching a district map in her notebook, stopped.

She raised her head and looked at Leo.

"A background investigation? Leo, what exactly do you mean by that?" Her voice was laced with confusion. "Are you talking about... digging up dirt on him?"

Before Leo could even answer, Frank burst out laughing.

"Dirt? Of course, it’s dirt!" Frank slapped the table. "The kid’s finally seen the light! We should’ve done this ages ago! In a political campaign, you strip your opponent down to their bare ass!"

Sarah ignored Frank’s crude remark. Her gaze remained fixed on Leo, her eyes filled with disappointment.

"Leo, I thought we were different," she said. "The reason we have so much support is because we’re clean. We earned people’s trust by being reasonable and getting things done. If we start using these filthy tactics too, then how are we any different from Carter Wright and his cronies?"

Leo looked into Sarah’s clear eyes. He was silent for a moment, then spoke with a seriousness she had never heard from him before.

"Sarah, look at me. Do you think I enjoy this? I hate it. I wish I could throw every scheming, conniving politician in prison."

"But you need to see the situation we’re in. Think about all the underhanded tactics Carter Wright has used against us. If it weren’t for those anonymous meeting minutes, we would have lost the community center by now."

"Right now, Representative Murphy is our only line of defense in Washington. If he falls, our federal funding will be cut off instantly. All of our ongoing community redevelopment projects will grind to a halt, and the workers who fought so hard to get their jobs back will be unemployed once again."

He pointed to the busy figures on the construction site outside the window.

"Everything we’ve accomplished, all the hope we’ve brought to this community, will vanish into thin air overnight."

"Alex Cortes paints himself as a perfect saint. He called the 2.5 million we secured ’breadcrumbs.’ But what if he isn’t as perfect as he claims? What if that perfection is just a lie to win votes? The people of Pittsburgh have a right to know who they’re really voting for."

He took a step closer, his voice even lower.

"Sarah, we’re not manufacturing lies. We’re just looking for the truth that he has deliberately hidden."

"This isn’t just about helping Murphy. It’s about protecting everything we’ve already won. It’s for the future of Pittsburgh."

Sarah was silent.

She couldn’t refute Leo’s words, but she found the change emotionally difficult to accept.

Frank muttered from the side.

"When you fight with a Demon, you can’t expect to win with an angel’s playbook."

Finally, Sarah took a deep breath. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"I understand," she said, her voice heavy with exhaustion. "I’ll find someone. But Leo, I need you to remember what you said today. We are only looking for the truth."

Leo watched Sarah walk away, his emotions a tangled mess.

’Politics is just a wrestling match in the mud.’

’No one comes out clean.’