From Tax Rhetoric to Crisis: Interns Self-Deploy
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Will surprises the interns by praising their contributions to the tax plan, then pivots to deliver the hard news about the Red Haven bombing.
The interns, instead of leaving as instructed, spontaneously organize themselves to craft communications for the bombing aftermath.
Will and Elsie share a moment of professional pride as they recognize the interns' initiative.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Calm, quietly proud; protective of the interns with a certainty that they are capable despite exhaustion.
Stands behind Will as he enters smiling knowingly, defends the interns when Will suggests they can go home, returns to the table and quietly rejoins the group's organizing effort, serving as a steady anchor between authority and youth.
- • Shield the interns from a dismissive closing so their work continues
- • Maintain morale and continuity between Will's authority and the bullpen
- • Ensure the interns' competence is recognized and not squandered by fatigue
- • The interns are competent and deserve trust rather than dismissal
- • Institutional crises require rapid, organized communications work
- • Leadership should be tempered with recognition of on-the-ground effort
Pleased and energized; amusement at personal praise quickly replaced by professional focus.
Is identified by Will as the author of a striking line, reacts with amused self-satisfaction, then immediately pivots to action — agreeing they need a minute-by-minute timeline and joining the organization of materials.
- • Contribute usable, clear messaging for an emergent crisis
- • Demonstrate competence under pressure to senior staff
- • Help craft an accurate minute-by-minute account to support communications
- • Good lines can change the shape of a policy argument
- • Crisis response must be immediate and organized
- • Her contributions deserve recognition and practical follow-through
Weary but resolute; exhaustion informs urgency rather than paralysis.
As the most senior intern present she pushes for triage and structure, asking bluntly for a 'bible' of communications material even while admitting fatigue; she immediately begins organizing priorities with a pragmatic, managerial tone.
- • Create a single, authoritative communications reference (the 'bible')
- • Triage tasks so the team can work efficiently overnight
- • Preserve accuracy under deadline pressure
- • Finite staff and time require disciplined prioritization
- • A single, shared reference prevents contradictory messaging
- • Practical organization can temper emotional chaos
Implied relief for the hostages themselves, complicated by the sorrow and consequence their rescue produced for others.
Referenced by Will as having been rescued; their successful extraction is the catalyst for the retaliatory bombing that dominates the room's attention and shifts priorities from tax rhetoric to crisis communications.
- • Survive captivity and return safely (implied)
- • Their rescue will be managed by the administration's operational and communications apparatus
- • Their safety matters politically and personally to families and the administration
- • Military rescues can have unintended, tragic political consequences
Implied malign intent and calculated violence; unrepentant aggression toward U.S. forces.
Mentioned by Will as the perpetrators of a retaliatory suicide bombing in Ghana; their action instantly reframes the interns' work from policy prose to crisis response.
- • Inflict casualties to retaliate for actions against their affiliates
- • Escalate the conflict and intimidate U.S. or local forces
- • Violence is a legitimate response to foreign intervention or perceived affront
- • Spectacular attacks gain political and psychological effect
Not present physically; their loss hovers over the room with grief and operational urgency.
Referenced as the victims of the suicide bombing — 17 U.S. soldiers killed in Ghana — their deaths supply the human cost that shifts the interns' immediate work to memorialization, explanation, and damage control.
- • (As victims) Their deaths demand accounting, explanation, and remembrance
- • Their loss compels the administration to respond publicly and operationally
- • Military presence abroad carries risk and political consequence
- • Casualties will be focal points of domestic and international reaction
Not an emotional presence; serves as a conceptual anchor momentarily invoked to structure a policy argument.
Invoked intellectually by Will as the source of the 'veil of ignorance' concept while he briefly lectures on moral reasoning for tax policy; functions as the abstract frame that is then displaced by breaking news.
- • Provide ethical grounding for the tax argument being drafted
- • Offer a rhetorical tool interns can use to shape persuasive copy
- • Rawlsian impartiality helps designers of public policy think beyond self-interest
- • Philosophical frameworks can be translated into political rhetoric
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Will carries this piece of paper into the room and reads a drafted passage aloud from it, using the copy as the narrative device that sparks praise, identification of authorship, and the emotional beat that precedes the crisis announcement. The paper functions as both literal prop and symbolic proof of the interns' competence.
Named by the interns as the set of profiles they will compile immediately — the object represents the emergent product of their pivot from policy drafting to crisis response, an assemblage of people, facts, and context to inform messaging.
Raised verbally and immediately requested as a concrete deliverable — a minute-by-minute timeline the team will assemble to sequence the rescue and retaliation. It becomes the tactical backbone for accurate public explanation and rapid briefing notes.
The 'communications bible' is requested aloud by Cassie as the single, authoritative binder the interns will assemble to coordinate profiles, timelines, and messaging. Narratively it symbolizes the interns' transition from rhetorical exercise to operational responsibility.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Ghana training camp is referenced as the site of the retaliatory suicide bombing that killed U.S. soldiers. It functions off-screen as the geopolitical location that converts a successful rescue into national tragedy and shapes the communications priorities in the OEOB bullpen.
The OEOB meeting room is the late-night bullpen where interns labor over tax drafts; it's the stage for Will's entrance, the handing of praise, the crushing store-of-news pivot, and the interns' rapid organizational response. The room compresses policy rehearsal and crisis management into a single microcosm of White House work.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Will's lecture on tax policy transitions to his briefing on the bombing, showing his adaptability under pressure."
"Elsie's defense of the interns leads to their later initiative in responding to the bombing."
"The bartender's news of the bombing coincides with Will's briefing to the interns."
"The bartender's news of the bombing coincides with Will's briefing to the interns."
"The bartender's news of the bombing coincides with Will's briefing to the interns."
"Sam and Toby's return to duty mirrors the interns' spontaneous organization to craft communications."
"Sam and Toby's return to duty mirrors the interns' spontaneous organization to craft communications."
"Sam and Toby's return to duty mirrors the interns' spontaneous organization to craft communications."
Key Dialogue
"WILL: "Listen to this. \"Our taxes aren't a penalty, as hard as that is to believe. They are the price we pay for our roads and bridges. And they're the way we look after the least among us. The sign and signal of our obligations to each other and to our own best selves.""
"WILL: "We rescued the hostages, but suicide bombers killed 17 US soldiers in Ghana. This'll be what we're talking about tomorrow, so I'm gonna put the tax plan aside and work on this. You all did well. I'll see you tomorrow.""
"WILL: "Elsie? I don't think they understood. They can go home.""
"ELSIE: "They understood.""