Gosling left foreign policy to the end. ‘Recently you advocated sinking Chinese ships in the South China Sea,’ she said. ‘How do you imagine the Chinese government would react to that? What action would they take in retaliation?’
‘None at all,’ Moore said boldly. ‘The last thing the Chinese want is a war with the US.’
‘But how could they overlook the deliberate sinking of one of their ships?’
‘What else can they do? If they attack us, China will be turned into a nuclear wasteland within hours.’
‘And in those hours, what damage would be done to us?’
‘None, because it isn’t going to happen. They won’t attack us while I’m president, because they know for gosh-darn certain that I’ll wipe them out.’
‘That’s your judgement, is it?’
‘For sure.’
‘And you’re willing to gamble the lives of millions of Americans on your judgement.’
‘It’s what the president does.’
It was almost unbelievable – until Pauline recalled the words of a previous president: If we have nuclear weapons, why can’t we use them?
Gosling said: ‘For our last question, tell us what you would do today, about the anti-government rebels in Korea who have nuclear weapons.’
‘I see that the president of China is sending the North Koreans some rice and pork. President Green seems to think that’s going to solve the problem. I’m sceptical.’
‘The president raised the alert level today.’
‘From five to four. That’s not enough.’
‘So what would you do?’
‘I would take simple and decisive action. A single nuclear bomb would destroy that entire North Korean base and all the weapons in it. And the world would give the US a great big round of applause for getting rid of a menace.’
‘And what do you think the North Korean government would do in response?’
‘Thank me.’
‘Suppose they regarded the bombing as an attack on their sovereign territory?’
‘What are they going to do? I’ve wiped out their nukes.’
‘They may well have nuclear arms launchers underground somewhere that we don’t know about.’
‘They know that if they fire them at us, their country will be a radioactive desert for the next hundred years. They’re not going to risk that.’
‘You’re quite sure of that.’
‘I’m sure.’
‘Could we sum up your approach to foreign policy by saying that America can always get its own way simply by threatening nuclear war?’
‘Isn’t that what the nukes are for?’
‘James Moore, hopeful candidate in the Republican primaries and next year’s presidential election, thank you for being with us tonight.’
Pauline switched off the TV. Moore had done better than she expected. He had never seemed weak or uncertain, despite the utter rubbish he was talking.
‘I have homework,’ Pippa said, and she left.
Pauline returned to the West Wing. ‘Ask Sandip to drop by, please,’ she said to Lizzie. ‘I’ll be in the Study.’
‘Yes, ma’am.’
She turned on CNN for a discussion of Moore’s performance. The pundits were full of scorn, quite reasonably, but Pauline felt they should pay more attention to his strengths.
She muted the sound when Sandip arrived. ‘What did you think?’ she asked him.
‘The guy is crazy,’ Sandip said. ‘Some voters will see that. Others won’t.’
‘I agree.’
‘So no further action by us?’
‘Not tonight.’ Pauline smiled. ‘Go home and sleep well.’
‘Thank you, Madam President.’
As usual, Pauline spent these quiet hours catching up on briefings that required her to concentrate without interruption for at least a few minutes. Just after 11 p.m. Gus showed up, wearing the blue cashmere sweater she liked. ‘The Japanese are going ballistic about Sangnam-ni,’ he said.
‘I’m not surprised,’ Pauline said. ‘They’re close neighbours.’
‘Three hours on the ferry from Fukuoka to Busan. Longer to North Korea, but still very close bombing range.’
Pauline left the desk and they sat on the two armchairs. In the small room their knees were close together. Pauline said: ‘Japan and Korea have a bad history.’
‘In Japan there’s a lot of hatred of Koreans. The social media are full of racist attacks.’