Chapter 380: A New Beginning
Elon, considered by countless people to be a potential NASA director.
As long as Big T wins the election, he will undoubtedly become the NASA director.
Whether tirelessly running around shouting at campaign rallies, or using super political action committees to bypass campaign funding restrictions on campaign funding to give sky-high sponsorship to the Elephant Party and Big T himself, it all indicates one thing: his covetous gaze on NASA, and the inevitable political payback after winning the election.
Every election is a gamble, Musk has placed a heavy bet, so inevitably, once the other side wins, he can get what he wants.
Just like in these three years, Musk stood on the wrong side, causing SpaceX to be suppressed, with a large number of NASA’s launch orders taken away by General Aerospace, and he wants to get back what he lost with interest.
But who is Sharvin? Sharvin is a general under the White House, the third most powerful real-power figure after the president and the Secretary of State, with more power than the sealed Kamala, and he actually has a private deal with Musk?
This couldn’t help but shock Jonathan. The White House is all Big T’s people, how can they win?
“Jonathan, you misunderstood. The presidential campaign is for this country’s future, for letting voters choose the path they envision for this country.
No matter who wins, I think you should go work for Musk, do some real work, instead of at Aerospace Corporation.
Jonathan, after you came to the White House for the special meeting last time, I looked at your resume. You are very talented, with research spanning lunar geography, international law, lunar exploration, and other fields, and you have achievements in these areas.
It’s just that you’ve wasted too many years at Aerospace Corporation, wasting too much time.
This isn’t your fault, it’s this country’s fault. Now, I think you can go to Musk for a new start.
If he can become NASA’s director, I think you can help him quickly sort out NASA’s major and minor affairs.”
Smart people don’t need to spell things out too clearly.
The New York Times, Reuters, CNN and other media are hyping up that Kamala’s polls have surpassed Big T for the first time, with national poll support rate exceeding Big T for the first time, indicating she will win the final presidential election.
But now, Sharvin saying this is clearly hinting that Big T will win, Musk will become NASA’s director, and you, publicly loyal and knowledgeable, are suitable to do great things under Musk, to cleanse NASA’s past chaotic mess.
Jonathan also realized that the earlier conversation was an interview, and there are probably many people on Sharvin’s list, he is just one of them, and he passed the interview.
But what made him even more curious was Sharvin and Musk’s relationship, Old Timers and Big T’s relationship.
This couldn’t help but remind him of the conspiracy theory circulating in Washington circles: Old Timers withdrawing from the race was a conspiracy, forced by the Donkey Party internally.
In the sensitive period from early July to late July, Old Timers repeatedly emphasized he would absolutely not withdraw, with such firm words and sincere attitude that it was deeply convincing.
He first repeatedly claimed he would absolutely not withdraw, saying he would rather be hit by a train than withdraw.
As a result, after Big T’s vice president pick was confirmed, Old Timers immediately changed his stance and announced his withdrawal.
Jonathan doesn’t know if Old Timers’ withdrawal is related to the Donkey Party internally, but what is certain is that the current White House hopes more for Big T to be elected, rather than Kamala from their own camp.
This couldn’t help but make him feel the wonder of politics.
“Jonathan, this country has reached a time when it must change. I think change needs to start now. Contending for the moon will be the focus of the future. I believe your knowledge will play a greater role under Musk than at Aerospace Corporation.”
After Sharvin finished speaking, Jonathan couldn’t hold back. He rarely had the chance to have such close one-on-one contact with a White House senior official.
And it’s a real power figure, the operator on the Russia-Ukraine front line, fully implementing Old Timers’ will on the front line.
Someone like this, in the past, he had no chance to contact.
And now, Jonathan asked: “Mr. Sharvin, do you know about NASA’s existence.”
Jonathan hesitated to speak; as soon as he said it, he felt his question was stupid. Would NASA’s problems only exist at NASA? This is obviously a problem prevalent throughout Washington’s bureaucratic apparatus.
Sharvin’s tone was weary, his voice clear: “Of course, of course, of course.”
He repeated “of course” three times, then said: “We abandoned efficiency in pursuit of equality and diversity.
China’s rise is the external projection of our internal problems.
What can destroy an empire is always internal problems.
So, we need the election, need voting, to clear out internal risks all at once.
To give America a chance to start anew unburdened.
It’s just that with technological development, past problems could be covered up, but the opponent’s technological progress is too fast, exposing the problems right now.
The White House changing hands is exactly the time to solve the problems.”
Jonathan persisted: “So sir, you can see the problem, you know the problem, but why not solve it?”
Sharvin was very patient; he knew his time was running out and needed to leave as much usable talent for the country as possible.
He admired Jonathan very much, especially after learning from Little Robert that the other was willing to sacrifice his own interests to save NASA’s budget, he admired him even more. The country ultimately needs people who get things done.
If all are petty schemers, how can the empire be maintained?
“Yes, I know, Mr. President also knows, but we cannot change it. National Security Advisor is just a job, president is just a job; it doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want.
In this world, no one exists who can make the world operate according to their own will. We need to follow the game rules, follow the operating rules.
Big T can wantonly attack minority ethnic groups, make jokes about minority ethnic groups, criticize immigrant groups, and propose various reasonable or unreasonable solutions.
We cannot, the Donkey Party cannot. Even if we know NASA has problems, we have no way to solve them.
Just like Melroy is not qualified for NASA director position, as a white woman, with limited professional knowledge, limited engineering management ability, and even not so good at personnel management, but we cannot replace her, because Mr. President needs a female NASA director to show the progress we’ve made in diversity.
This is the source of Donkey Party votes, the foundation of Donkey Party’s existence; no one dares to shake such a foundation.
If Kamala becomes president, you’ll soon see a black woman as NASA director, even if she knows nothing; her identity determines her position.
This is the inevitable reality in electoral politics; you need to be responsible for your power source, sir.”
Even in such a private setting, Sharvin had content he couldn’t fully lay out.
Identity politics, power sources can be laid out.
But why not go after Commissioner Smith? Because Mr. President’s son is one of this country’s past largest and most famous Commissioner Smiths; Hunter is about to be specially pardoned by the president.
If you lift the lid, not let NASA’s Commissioner Smiths have their way, and even launch an investigation, then what about Hunter? Should Hunter also be investigated, locked up in federal prison until death?
Self-interest is the fundamental reason this White House cannot investigate NASA’s Commissioner Smiths.
Even in his home turf, in his own office, in absolute safety, Sharvin would absolutely not say such words out loud.
But saying half was enough to give Jonathan a new understanding; he felt that during this time, he gained a new understanding of the White House, Washington, and the entire America’s bureaucratic system operations.
Power is only responsible to its source; this sentence rang deafeningly in his mind. He finally understood why Little Robert treated his proposal like a great enemy, why Sharvin only had a change of heart before leaving, and what constraints Mr. President faces.
Wang Jiarui, as the first student of Lin Ran’s math class, has already graduated from university this year and entered the next stage of his life.
He went to Harvard to pursue a PhD under Mahadevan, who is the chairman of Harvard’s applied mathematics field, and appeared earlier with the photovoltaic module.
The other is also the dean of Mathers College.
The entire first class of 20 students in Lin Ran’s math class, the lowest is direct admission to the home school for grad studies, then going to Yanjing Tsinghua University for PhD, and further to famous schools around the world; they are in short supply.
Their resumes are simply too impressive.
Taking Wang Jiarui as an example, participated in Apollo Moon Landing, participated in Deep Red research and development, personally taught by Lin Ran; every item is top-tier resume material, all gathered in one person.
Even for schools like Shanghai Jiaotong University, which is in the catalog, they get the green light all the way; the entire process from applying to schools to applying for visas is smooth sailing.
Today is election day, Wang Jiarui is of course interested in who becomes president. If Big T, there’s fun to watch; if Kamala, maybe not without fun.
An Indian-African mixed-race woman, a woman who mainly laughs in public, becoming America president; Wang Jiarui always has a sense of déjà vu—isn’t this a sign that the empire is about to fall? At the end of a dynasty, prodigies run rampant.
But he wasn’t interested enough to specially run to the auditorium to watch the vote counting.
(2024 presidential election, Harvard campus, viewing event held in Sanders Theater)
He is now in Sanders Theater, inside a Victorian Gothic building.
Today’s event is co-hosted by Harvard University’s Institute of Politics (IOP) and Harvard University administration.
The scene is packed with people.
Wang Jiarui is actually not interested in such a politically charged occasion, with Stars and Stripes everywhere, even feeling uncomfortable.
But he couldn’t resist being urged by his roommate, whose roommate is named Ingmar, an American of Indian descent.
He said it like this: “Today we are going to witness history, witness the birth of the first female president in history!”
The other is Kamala’s loyal supporter.
To be precise, the vast majority of Harvard is Kamala’s loyal supporters.
To celebrate this historic moment, about to witness the birth of a female president, IOP held vote-watching events in the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum and Sanders Theater.
The event at John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum is more formal, inviting cross-party experts to discuss, with supporters from both Donkey Party and Elephant Party.
At Sanders Theater, it’s smaller, mainly Donkey Party supporters.
Of course, there are Elephant Party supporters at Harvard too; they are holding a party at the top Cambridge Queen Bar.
But at Harvard, supporting Elephant Party, supporting Big T, has a vibe of everyone shouting to beat them, so their gatherings are smaller and more private.
Wang Jiarui, a yellow person, Chinese person, without even a green card—how could he possibly go to an Elephant Party gathering? He’d be kicked out.
The atmosphere on site is tense and excited.
The screen continuously scrolls the latest vote counting results; university students gather together, holding beer and snacks in hand, eyes glued to the television.
Different skin colors represent different ethnic groups; all gathered in this theater full of posters and Stars and Stripes, waiting for the final result.
The clock on the wall points to ten o’clock at night; as votes gradually increase, the numerical gap between the two sides becomes smaller and smaller.
Wang Jiarui’s roommate Ingmar has his hands clasped, praying for his same-ethnic candidate.
On the left of the screen is Big T’s campaign image, next to his vote count; on the right is Kamala, following closely.
The television host’s voice sounds:
“With all votes from Florida counted, the gap between the two sides has narrowed to less than three percentage points.
Now all eyes are on Pennsylvania, that swing state will decide tonight’s result—”
The optimistic atmosphere no longer exists; the initial optimistic estimate that Kamala would win in a landslide is gone.
The scene becomes exceptionally tense.
Wang Jiarui asked: “Ingmar, if Big T is elected.”
Ingmar said resolutely: “Impossible! If he is elected, I will unhesitatingly return to my homeland!”
Wang Jiarui asked: “You plan to go back to India?”
Ingmar said matter-of-factly: “No, my homeland is Maple Leaf Country! I will immediately transfer to Toronto. Didn’t I tell you? My grandfather and grandmother are both there!”
Wang Jiarui was speechless. Damn, so your homeland is Maple Leaf Country; then my homeland could also be Maple Leaf Country! Indian descent is too awesome, saying such things without batting an eye.
Wang Jiarui asked: “If Big T is elected, Musk might really take over NASA and change the current bad situation; isn’t that a good thing?”
Ingmar leaned to his ear and whispered: “If Musk takes over NASA, we will see an all-white NASA, see whites occupying the moon; these have nothing to do with minority ethnic groups.
The moon becomes the white people’s moon; minority ethnic groups won’t enjoy the benefits it brings.
Wang, you think that way because China is a country all Chinese people; no matter how you develop, Chinese people are one. If Chinese people go to the moon, in the future interstellar era, Chinese people can follow China’s technological development and spread their footprints across the solar system.
But believe me, if this guy Musk becomes NASA director, the moon will only have whites, Mars only whites; minority ethnic groups still on Earth, and even worse living conditions.
Because whites have a second home, they don’t care about Earth’s environment; they can wantonly destroy, use Earth’s resources to modify Mars—anyway, whites can go to Mars.
I am Indian descent; why should I support Big T, why support whites?”
Wang Jiarui understood; from this angle, no problem.
The higher Musk’s efficiency, the higher the success rate, indeed no benefit at all for these minority ethnic groups.
“Makes sense!” Wang Jiarui said.
“Musk’s plans are so grand, his vision for the moon and Mars so good, execution so strong, completely disregarding traditional bureaucracy—these are of course good, but to me, to Indian descent, these have no meaning.
Especially Musk, this guy is too bad; he’d rather have Chinese descent engineers than Indian descent engineers. Haven’t you seen the all-Chinese descent engineers in XAI?” Ingmar said: “Wang, I’m not targeting Chinese people; I’m just targeting Musk’s discriminatory behavior.
He is an even worse answer than other Silicon Valley founders.”
November’s cold wind howled through Washington’s streets, with television screens flashing news report images.
Jonathan and his wife Anna sat on the living room sofa, also following this presidential election’s results.
“Tonight’s results are still unclear; the two sides are in fierce battle, and in key swing states, the vote gap is very narrow.”
Jonathan stared unblinkingly at the screen, his fingers constantly swiping on the phone screen, refreshing the latest vote statistics data.
He could feel his heartbeat pounding.
This election is not just about the election results themselves, but about the possible direction of his future career.
“Are you really so concerned about Big T being elected? I remember you have no special feelings for him.” Anna asked.
Jonathan took a deep breath, put down the phone, turned around to look at his wife: “No, I don’t care who wins.
But if he wins, Musk’s plans might be put into action.
You know, he has always wanted to control NASA, and if he succeeds, it means many things will change, especially our future work.”
Jonathan didn’t tell his wife about the Sharvin recommendation letter matter.
Before everything is settled, it would only add unnecessary worry to his wife, and if she told her friends, it might cause unnecessary trouble.
Jonathan really didn’t dare trust his wife’s secrecy.
Jonathan turned back to the television screen.
The vote gap began to narrow; he felt his heartbeat accelerating.
“Big T elected”
When Big T’s photo appeared on the television screen, Jonathan felt he wasn’t as excited as expected; instead, it gave him a heavy sense of pressure.
The future is about to enter an uncertain new phase.
