Amuse Me and Run for Office

A Satire

When properly introduced, Bruce and Vanessa have no idea marriage and a political life are in their future.

Both generate such high energy and fun that mutual friends feel they are too much for each other. Vanessa's father, a high-tech executive who invented the mePhone, makes them take compatibility tests.

Two college professors push for Bruce and Vanessa to get together, and a middle-aged couple who recruit for the Democratic Party encourage Bruce to run against Carl Curley, a Republican incumbent with Alzheimers. This set-up leads to humorous misunderstandings in the televised debate.

With Bruce running the race for Congress, serious minds try to dissuade him from the joking and delightful way he charges into the campaign. Nevertheless, Bruce is a practical person. He declines endorsements from both Joe Biden and Donald Trump, although he remains on friendly terms with them both. In fact, he tries to reconcile the two Presidents for the good of the nation at an undercover summit at Camp David. President Joe creates a sensation when he has the Secret Service pull out his exercise trampoline.

Bruce does accept, however, an endorsement from Mr. Boost, a YouTube star. Boost sponsors a rally in a high school gym where Vanessa and Bruce sing a spoofy duet against social media.

At the urging of the owner of a local news outlet, Bruce takes a fictitious ride on Air Force One with Joe Biden and discovers Joe is pretending to have cognitive problems to throw off the Russians. Not to be outdone, Donald Trump invites Bruce to Mar-a-Countro where they discuss an outrageous Super Bowl commercial where Donald would fly a jet pack into the stadium during halftime. The Democrats cry out, "He's Running Again" and the Republicans shout, "It's the Second Coming!"

Because Bruce becomes a serious contender, he and Vanessa pay a visit to Arkansas, where Vanessa's Uncle Davy is the Governor and a moderate Republican. They meet Senator Bill Barley and his wife Emma Kneader. After the niceties and formalities, Governor Davy has the group retire to the back of the Governor's mansion, where they get away from pretending and have a real talk in the Governor's old trailer. They eat corn chips and discuss the fate of the world.

With Vanessa at Bruce's side in this alt-reality story, everything is subject to satire, and this twenty-something couple is on the verge of changing the algorithms forever.