Joe, Dr. Jill, and Hunter are at the White House, discussing the campaign.
JILL: You dropped out about a hundred days ago. How are you feeling about that?
JOE: It was kind of like the stages of dealing with death. I was angry at first. Now I accept it. Kamala has a fighting chance, and I didn’t. I didn’t have the energy to deal with Trump and the state of public opinion. Plus, I don’t have the pressure of being the only one standing between the country and fascism anymore. It’s a weight off my shoulders.
HUNTER: But Dad, you saved America from Trump before. You would have done it again. Besides, the party and the country owed you! You were entitled to run again!
JOE: That’s Trumpist talk, son. The country didn’t owe me power. In a liberal democracy, power is a privilege, not a right. When it’s time to go, it’s time to go.
JILL: I think it’s for the best. And I think America will ultimately recognize what you accomplished. It will just take some time.
JOE: If there’s one thing that really bugs me, it’s that the country doesn’t appreciate everything we’ve done. All the polls say Americans think they’re worse off now than they were in 2020. That’s just not true.
JILL: They blame you for inflation, which wasn’t your fault.
JOE: It’s a bunch of malarkey. Inflation was a worldwide phenomenon. They even had it in Japan. We came back from the pandemic with the strongest economy in the world. And even Kamala can’t persuade the people that we did a good job. At this point, she isn’t even trying.
JILL: It’s really frustrating. Trump gets a pass for the pandemic unemployment, even though his response was ridiculous and chaotic, but you don’t get a pass for pandemic inflation.
JOE: I don’t get it. I really don’t.
HUNTER: Dad, we really need to talk about a pardon before you leave.
JOE: It’s too early, son. Let the process play itself out. You might not need one.
HUNTER: But you know I’m the victim of political persecution. No one else would have been prosecuted for those offenses.
JOE: There’s some truth to that. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens. Maybe Trump would agree to pardon you if he wins.
JILL: Perhaps if Trump wins, you could offer to tell the DOJ to drop the charges against him in an effort to bind the nation’s wounds in exchange for a pardon for Hunter. It would be a good way to start the new presidency. Trump would actually come across as a unifier.
JOE: That’s an interesting idea. I hope Kamala wins and it never comes into play, but I’ll keep it in mind if things go the wrong way.