Donna Presses Josh for Retiring Teacher's Proclamation
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Donna confronts Josh about honoring her retiring English teacher, Molly Morello, with a proclamation.
Josh refuses Donna's request, citing fairness among retiring teachers.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Resistant yet fond during banter, shifting to conspiratorial urgency laced with defensiveness over secrecy.
Enters his impeccably tidied office, thanks Donna warmly, deftly resists her proclamation request with fairness rationale amid witty repartee, then exits to catch Sam in hallway, confirms legislative win, and reveals VP replacement meeting's gravity while naming prospects en route to Roosevelt Room.
- • Uphold impartial White House protocols against personal favoritism
- • Brief Sam on Hoynes replacement strategy to align him before Roosevelt Room entry
- • Selective proclamations breed unfairness and invite trouble
- • Electoral math necessitates exploring VP alternatives despite loyalties
Neutral historical invocation.
Weaponized by Donna as historical precedent for proclamations, contrasting Molly Morello's valor against Revolutionary War heroics in office sparring.
- • Justify modern educator tribute
- • Presidents honor diverse figures selectively
Humorous deflection of gravity.
Jokingly pitched by Josh as absurd VP replacement to Sam, echoing Roosevelt Room debates on flawed leaders' electoral utility.
- • Testify to vice tolerance
- • Victory excuses personal demons
Implied concession signaling pragmatic retreat.
Referenced as target of Sam's successful negotiation to remove his name from Internet Education Act and central to the clandestine Roosevelt Room agenda of potential replacement due to electoral liabilities.
- • Mitigate legislative liabilities
- • Ticket viability hinges on his polling strength despite flaws
Confident in task completion, escalating to confused incredulity at bombshell disclosure.
Encounters Josh in hallway while walking to Roosevelt Room, reports success in extracting Hoynes' name from legislation without prompting, expresses surprise and probing skepticism at VP replacement reveal, then proceeds to enter the meeting room.
- • Confirm progress on Hoynes assignment for team alignment
- • Uncover true purpose of secretive Roosevelt Room meeting
- • Hoynes yielded voluntarily on legislation without coercion
- • VP replacement discussions demand full staff transparency
Implied ruthlessness in crisis calculus.
Cited by Josh as the strategist pushing the team to consider dumping Hoynes amid brutal electoral math.
- • Force reelection pivots via VP replacement
- • Texas loss to Ritchie dooms Hoynes' viability
Hopeful and playfully aggressive, yielding to respectful concession masking mild disappointment.
Stands at Josh's freshly cleaned desk, ambushes him post-tidying with earnest plea for Molly Morello's proclamation, cites wheat gluten decree and Pulaski as precedents in sharp banter, ultimately concedes his point with graceful acknowledgment.
- • Secure presidential honor for cherished teacher Molly Morello
- • Leverage precedents to breach Josh's procedural resistance
- • Molly's 41-year dedication merits recognition akin to historical figures
- • Rare personal asks from her justify bending selective protocols
Hypothetical wildcard amid hypocrisy echoes.
Floated by Josh as improbable yet audacious VP replacement option in tense hallway exchange.
- • Anchor Bartlet amid running-mate chaos
- • Sobriety history parallels Grant's tolerances
Spectral potential in electoral fantasy.
Named by Josh as prime VP replacement candidate alongside others in hallway disclosure to Sam.
- • Bolster ticket in Northeast and beyond
- • Military stature offsets Hoynes' weaknesses
Off-screen reverence projected through Donna's advocacy.
Invoked passionately by Donna as the centerpiece of her proclamation request, her 41-year teaching legacy humanizing the debate over White House honors amid policy banter.
- • Receive presidential recognition for career dedication
- • Everyday heroes like teachers deserve institutional acknowledgment
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Donna discovers the proclamation on Josh's tidied desk and thrusts it forward as Exhibit A—a trivial regulatory decree on wheat gluten imports—contrasting its bureaucratic banality against Molly Morello's human achievement, fueling her argument for selective presidential honors and underscoring White House priorities' absurdities amid banter.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Serves as the tense destination for Josh and Sam's hallway stride, looming as the nexus of clandestine VP replacement calculus where loyalties fracture under Bruno's math; its impending threshold amplifies revelation's stakes, bridging personal respite to political maelstrom.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Donna's persistent lobbying for a proclamation for her retiring teacher and her later confrontation with Josh about the same request show her determination and the personal stakes involved."
Themes This Exemplifies
Thematic resonance and meaning
Key Dialogue
"DONNA: When was the last time I asked you for anything? By the way I found this."
"JOSH: She's not less worthy. But neither is she more worthy than the other 90 000 public school teachers who are retiring this year."
"DONNA: Who would find out? JOSH: "Who would find out" is also where we frequently find trouble."