Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1445: Deportation without a Green Card

"Oh oh oh!"

Rudy publicly announced on TV that if he was elected mayor of New York, he would make the Staten Island ferry free. This immediately aroused cheers from voters, especially the secretaries living on the north side of Staten Island who took the ferry every day like migratory birds. They happily shouted slogans to their neighbors, such as "I support Rudy"...

"Oh, such a big change overnight?" Ronald also went back to Staten Island the next day and took a ferry. Everyone on the boat was happily talking about this policy. These low-level white-collar workers rarely have a chance to have fun. It can save hundreds of dollars every year.

When we arrived at Staten Island, we saw signs saying "Support Rudy" in front of many houses, stretching out in a row.

"Look, aunt, the former president and a senior senator have written to me to persuade me to go into politics..." Ronald showed his aunt several letters of praise from senior officials that were handed over by the Elephant Party.

"Oh, my Ronnie, this really makes me happy. But you're not really going to run for the president, are you?" Aunt was happy for a while, then helped Ronald put away the letter, and asked this question with some hesitation.

"I'm not yet of legal age to run for president. Besides, current politicians are doing a good job. Although President William is a Donald Trump, he has dealt a heavy blow to crime, and the economy is also on the rise. If there's a day when I really need to step forward, we'll talk about it. Right now, my interest is to serve the public through movies..."

"Yeah, I think so too. You put this photo here with me. I'll be happy looking at it." Auntie took a large photo of Ronald taken by Roger Ailes, which was a typical image of a politician running for election, and carefully placed it on the table. To be honest, Ronnie is really handsome, at least much more handsome than that guy Rudy.

The next step is to deepen the relationship with old acquaintances on Staten Island, such as Doug's uncles, the factory general manager, the union chairman and other people who have some influence on the vote.

When they heard that Ronald had won more policies on behalf of the residents of Stanton Island from Rudy, they all had a sense of honor that "someone is backing me." Staten Island is not the forgotten city, but it clearly has antennas leading to the mayor...as long as Rudy can win.

"Mr. Li, may I ask, should we vote for Rudy?" A short and thin girl boldly asked Ronald in English with a Spanish accent.

Later, Ronald also followed the example of the current President William and went directly to other people's homes to chat with them about their daily lives. Although Ronald's personal charm was not as good as William's, he was the boss of a small number of community residents after all. Everyone still admired this boss with Hollywood gilded edges and spoke to him in a way that catered to Ronald, making him very happy and thinking that his charm was no less than that of the President.

"America is a free place. You can vote for whomever you want. I can only express my own opinion. Rudy cares more about our island than Dinkins, that's for sure." Ronald certainly couldn't say anything that violated America's greatest political correctness, he could only hint at it.

"If you ask me, we'll vote for whoever Ronald says to vote for. Without him, we won't have a job..." A typical blond and bearded white man next to him in the crowd didn't know how to appreciate this high-level courtesy and spoke his mind directly.

"Mr. Li, I also approve of Rudy's care for me. My sister, mother and I can go to Manhattan for free if we want to. But I saw this in my mailbox today, and I'm a little scared..." The girl said as she handed a card to Ronald.

"What's this?" Ronald took the postcard from the girl. It was sent by an organization called the Campaign Integrity Committee, and on the front was a slogan, "If you come to vote, make sure you have a green card, because the immigration department is catching illegal immigrants."

Turning it over, it showed the frontal photos of the politicians who led the two committees, with their names and positions written below. They were Randy Levine, the current president of the New York Yankees, and John Sweeney, a former New York Elephant Party congressman.

Everyone looked at what Ronald held in his hand, and no one dared to speak. In fact, everyone understood that the girl was an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, south of Mexico. The family had experienced ten years of war, and finally made up their minds to cross Central America, run into America from the border, and then jumped on a Greyhound and came to New York. Her family was relatively conservative and did not want to go to Brooklyn and the Bronx where the security was not good. They would rather take the ferry to Staten Island, which was a little more rural, and found a job in a factory.

"Of course, the volunteers at our polling station are all workers from our factory. Who dares to stop you from voting?" Little Doug and Ronald looked at each other and asked the girl who also worked in the factory to go vote with her whole family.

This girl is already in her early twenties, but she looks like she is only fifteen or sixteen, which is obviously caused by not eating enough during her growth period.

……

"This is not directed at you. This is a trick played by Rudy..."

After receiving the call from Ronald and the other man, Roger Ailes explained the situation to them.

In the last mayoral election, many blacks and Latinos voted for Dinkins in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Harlem and other areas, which was beyond common sense. The figures in many areas did not match the national census three years ago.

After investigation, Rudy found two cheating methods. One is that a large number of black people who receive welfare and use food stamps take buses to several polling stations to vote for some benefits. The other is that Latinos, especially El Salvador and Honduras, two countries that have been in war for more than ten years, many immigrants without green cards also vote at the polling stations. Anyway, New York is like other places in America, and elections do not check identity documents or green cards.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is the main force to catch these people, but they only check at the border. As long as you enter America, in New York or any other open-minded place, have a job, a driver's license, and pay taxes, everyone treats you as the same person. After all, going back a few generations, Americans have always been immigrants, whether legally or illegally.

Because the largest concentration of Latinos is mainly based on welfare and manual labor, they all support the policies of the Democratic Party. Not only can they receive food stamps and housing benefits, but they also have the opportunity to wait for amnesty to become regular residents.

Therefore, Rudy's campaign integrity committee postcards were mainly intended to intimidate illegal immigrants who voted for Democratic candidate Dinkins. It was not intended to intimidate those who supported him on Staten Island.

"Isn't this lying? Is this legal? Uh, never mind..." Ronald asked two stupid questions. Dinkins' bus was not legal in the first place, and isn't it normal for politicians to lie?
"This is walking on the edge of the law, and I advise you not to get involved in these things. Rudy promised something to Staten Island, and you called on voters to support him. This is a very normal and 100% legal election operation. Elections are run on such promises and support.

But the campaign integrity committee, I think there will be investigations and prosecutions later. But Rudy should be able to handle it.”

Roger Ailes answered Ronald's question seriously.

"OK, I appreciate that. We know how to handle this."

I was on vacation at home in Staten Island, and went fishing with little Doug when I had nothing to do. Soon it was time to vote in the New York mayoral election.

Rudy was indeed well prepared. The city's NYPD, firefighters, prison guards, and other powerful people were mobilized to form a campaign supervision team. In areas suspected of election fraud, such as Brooklyn and the Bronx, according to the law, there was an Irish or Italian NYPD officer standing at every polling station.

They have been standing guard at the polling stations, threatening suspected blacks and Latinos with their eyes. After the voting is over, they can also stand at the counting area to supervise the vote counters to ensure that there is no fraud.

In addition to these off-duty NYPD and firefighters, the NYPD commissioner has assigned an additional 3,500 on-duty officers to increase supervision.

Although the volunteer supervisors do not wear uniforms, the LAPD still has a deterrent effect. The order this year is much better than the previous one. These volunteer supervisors are very motivated. Dinkins cut their salaries when he took office, and Rudy was able to tilt the huge amount of New York City funds to these powerful departments, leaving the Environmental Protection Department, which had been happily counting money for the past four years, to starve.

Dinkins voted himself at Gracie House on the Upper East Side, but by noon he was at City Hall, holding a midday news conference in which he accused the Rudy camp of waging a campaign of “outrageous voter intimidation and dirty tricks.”

The charges were based on allegations that Dinkins' poll watchers and campaign workers had posted hundreds of small posters in Spanish calling for a vote for Dinkins in Washington Heights and the Bronx. The posters suggested that if illegal immigrants tried to vote, they would be arrested and deported from the polls.

Rudy, who also voted on 86th Street, a famous upscale residential area on the Upper East Side, immediately accepted an interview to refute, "I can assure you that this has nothing to do with my campaign. This is exactly what I expect their camp to do."

Sure enough, Rudy made a small change to reduce the risk. On the poster, he asked these voters to vote for Dinkins. But the words were very small, and the note below that illegal immigrants who voted would be deported was more conspicuous than the title.

By the evening, exit polls clearly indicated that Rudy had won an unexpected victory. Dinkins, who won 51% of the votes last time, only got 48.3% this time, and Rudy was expected to win by more than votes.

This margin is even larger than the margin by which Dinkins won the previous election. It is also the first time since 1965 that an Elephant Party candidate has been elected mayor of New York City.

At night, Dinkins could no longer support the election and prepared to go to the core black community to give a speech about his defeat. As the first black mayor of New York, he also set an embarrassing record. After one term, he was driven out of City Hall because of his partiality to blacks and public outrage.

"We must admit defeat, admit the results, and not take to the streets, not take to the streets..."

"Boo, get back here, you white man's running dog!"

Dinkins' call was opposed by voters of his own ethnicity. They didn't expect that this black mayor was a softie. He didn't dare to take to the streets to express his demands after his failure. What's the point of saying that Rudy's supervision is unfair?
Eventually the protest escalated and voters began to attack Dinkins, forcing the incumbent mayor to quickly leave the market under the protection of bodyguards.

These people had no one to lead them, and the hundreds of NYPD officers on the scene also made them afraid to move, so the worrying thing finally did not happen. Soon, Rudy also gave a victory speech at his campaign headquarters.

"I came to New York when I was seven years old. I went to school in Brooklyn, Manhattan, the Bronx, and Queens. The only thing missing is Staten Island. Of course, I am not unfamiliar with that place. I have also been to the home of my good friend, Hollywood director Ronald Lee... I would see myself as the mayor of New Yorkers, not the mayor of a certain ethnic group, nor the mayor of a certain district, but the mayor of everyone..."

The TV was still replaying Rudy's speech as "The Mayor of New York for New Yorkers". Rudy had already called Ronald and Doug Jr. to thank him.

"Ronald, I thank you. I was able to win this time because Staten Island made the greatest contribution..."

"Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The voters of Staten Island appreciate your proposal to waive ferry fees..."

Ronald didn't have any personal demands, but he had to keep Rudy's promise, so he had to remind him on the spot.

……

"Is it actually useful to play like this?"

The next day, the election results came out, and Ronald was surprised even when he was sitting at home. Compared with the previous election, the difference in votes between the two districts was the most obvious.

With the incentive of free ferry service on Staten Island, the difference in votes between Rudy and Dinkins was more than 28,000 votes more than in the previous election.

The second largest increase in votes was in Brooklyn, Dinkins' stronghold, which was basically the same as Staten Island, with more than 27,000 votes added.

This poster, which ostensibly called for support to vote for Dinkins but was actually intended to intimidate illegal immigrants, coupled with tens of thousands of NYPD "supervisors" on and off duty, really worked wonders in Brooklyn and Manhattan, where there are many Latinos.

"Yeah, playing like this can actually be useful..."

Ronald and Doug both felt the power of Rudy's move. Not only was this propaganda strategy of saying one thing on the surface and another behind the scenes effective, but such a controversial poster was also shown on television on the morning of the election.

The law originally stipulates that canvassing activities are not allowed on the voting day. The hands and feet of both parties are tied on the voting day when marketing is most effective.

However, the rumor that people without green cards will be kicked out of the country as news reports can play a very strong propaganda role in Dinkins' protest. The Spanish posters on the screen can be understood by Latinos, and what's even better is that Dinkins can't refute the rumor.

"Ronald, the massive promotion of The Philadelphia Story is about to begin. When will you return to Los Angeles?"

The distributor of Philadelphia Story, Mike McDavoy of TriStar Pictures, called and urged Ronald to go back to discuss additional marketing expenses. The film performed amazingly in external previews, and the most common feedback was that I cried...

"Well, I'll go back. We still need to discuss this. This New York mayoral election has given me a lot of inspiration..."