“You’re not ready.”

“Why? I have visibility, name recognition, and a following. People like what I have to say. They’re pleading with me to run.”

“First of all, the timing is off and you’re not ready. You may think you are but you’re not. You still have a lot to learn and I’m going to teach you. We’re going to teach you. We have the knowledge, the tools and the money to make this happen.”

I was wrong. I thought he wanted to meet today because they were ready to take the next step. Finally. I’ve done everything they’ve asked for twenty years.

“You have to sway millions. The key to winning is targeting the majority of people who never vote. Those that are easily swayed, the dull, the obtuse, the undereducated. When you can commandeer a large crowd and turn them on or off with your words then you’ll be ready. Power rests in how you use your words. But you know that you’ve been studying the book of speeches I gave you.

People are hungry for a leader that is overt. A leader that doesn’t try to hide his intentions in a “politically correct” package.”

“Ok, fine. It’s just...four more years seems like a waste of time.”

“We’ve been working toward this goal for a very long time. Long before you were born. Four years is nothing.”