Parallel Universe • Episode 1  
Jeb Gets His Moment

Network debate stage. Spotlights rake a packed hall. Lower-third of TV screens crawl with poll %’s.

[2016 GOP PRIMARY DEBATE -- NIGHT 2]

CAMERA: Wide on podium row. Republican frontrunner RONALD STRIKE in center. JEB BRUSH beside him. The room hums like a beehive in a lunchbox.

NARRATOR/LUNDY (bone-dry):
Some nights history changes on a comma. Other nights it settles for a smirk.

RONALD STRIKE (on-stage):
Low-Energy Jeb. He doesn’t have it. He doesn’t have what it takes…

JEB BRUSH (measured):
Ronald, if telling insults is what you call ‘energy,’ then America’s already tired.
I came here to talk policy — not play recess with a bully.

RONALD STRIKE:
Recess? Jeb, you are recess.
You’re nap time in the middle of the day!

JEB BRUSH:
America doesn’t need a stand-up comic.
It needs a stand-up president.
And tonight, you just proved which one you are.

A beat—then a ripple of applause. Moderators glance at each other.

NARRATOR/LUNDY (Voice-Over):
Mark the time. Not a knockout.
More like a paper cut.
But paper cuts do sting.

CUTAWAY: Audience member mouthing wow.
Lower-third (FIX News scroll): “WHOLE NEW JEB?”

DEBATE MODERATOR:
Governor Brush, a follow-up—

* * * * *

[MONTAGE — Between Debates]

GRAPHICS: Poll line for Jeb nudges from 7% → 11%.

FIX NEWS NETWORK: “LOW ENERGY? OR LOW DRAMA?”

CLINTON NEWS SERVICE (CNS): “CAN ‘BORING BUT SOLID’ SURVIVE?”

B-roll of donors texting, consultants whispering, a sweat-dab replay that won’t die.

NARRATOR/LUNDY (V-O):
America loves a bully… right up until the sweat shows.

* * * * *

[GOP PRIMARY DEBATE -- NIGHT 3]

New venue, same gladiator pit. Ronald Strike leans in the center. Jeb Brush looks like a librarian who found the fire alarm.

RONALD STRIKE (sneering):
Your brother gave us the worst foreign policy in history.
He lied about weapons of mass destruction.
He destabilized the Middle East.

JEB BRUSH (steady):
I’ve heard you insult my family, and that’s fine.
But if this campaign’s about re-litigating Iraq, tell us your plan for ISIS.
Tell us your plan for Syria.
Americans don’t need a finger-pointer.
They need a leader.

RONALD STRIKE:
ISIS? Jeb, you couldn’t lead a two-car funeral. Low energy!

JEB BRUSH (offhand):
Funny thing, Ronald — if I’m so low energy, why are you sweating?

CAMERA: Tight on the dab. A smirk that won’t quite land.

Laughter breaks bigger this time. One moderator bites a smile, then kills it.

NARRATOR/LUNDY (V-O):
That’s not momentum. That’s gravity remembering how to work.

Cut to — 
Split-screen: instant poll dial ticks upward for Jeb Brush, down for Ronald Strike.

FIX News lower-third: “BORING BUT SOLID?”

Clinton News Service lower-third: “A LOW-ENERGY COUNTERPUNCH?”

Wide shot of the stage—Trump still in the center, but the camera lingers half a beat longer on Jeb.

NARRATOR/LUNDY (V-O):
He didn’t win the room. He won the pause.
Sometimes the pause pays dividends.

[SMASH TO BLACK]

* * * * *
A dark studio corridor. A red “RECORDING” light blinks.
Somewhere, a microphone is still hot.

NARRATOR/LUNDY (V-O):
Last week’s front-runner was a punchline.
This week the punchline leaked the punch.

CNS Alert banner: “STUDIO HOT-MIC TAPE SURFACES”
We hear Ronald Strike’s voice—unedited, unmistakable --
chatting with Billy Brush.
The room gasps.

Cut to — [FIX NEWS CONTROL ROOM]
Caffeine, panic, deodorant.

FIX ANCHOR CARLSON WATTERS (urgent whisper):
Get graphics — no, get DNA charts!
We’re hearing Billy Brush might be… related to Jeb Brush? 

INTERN (off-camera):
Like cousins?

WATTERS:
Doesn’t matter — spin it!

* * * * *
CNS ANCHOR RACHEL RUHLE (on-air): 
This … is not the story we expected to cover tonight.
The Republican front-runner -- Ronald Strike -- caught on tape.
Sources suggest the leak came from inside the Bush—sorry—Brush family.

FIX Chyron: “BRUSH DYNASTY BACKSTAB?”

Tweet crawl: #BillyBrushBrotherGate #LowEnergyHighDrama

Call-in show voice: 
It’s right there in the name, folks! Brush!
If you don’t see the connection, then you’re just not paying attention!
Open your eyes!

* * * * *
[RONALD STRIKE RALLY — INDOOR ARENA — NIGHT]
Strike is sweating under klieg lights.
Supporters shout over him:

“Billy is Jeb’s brother!”
“It’s a setup!”
“They planned it since day one!”

Ronald Strike points at the crowd, bewildered.

RONALD STRIKE:
Billy who? What are you talking about?

NARRATOR/LUNDY (V-O):
And just like that, the firebrand drowned in his own echo chamber.

Cut to — [JEB BRUSH CAMPAIGN HEADQUARTERS]
Dim, calm, coffee-breath optimism.
Jeb leans to his communications director:

JEB BRUSH:
So… we just don’t say anything, right?

COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR:
Exactly, sir. Low energy wins by default.

NARRATOR/LUNDY (V-O):
Sometimes you don’t throw the punch.
You just watch the other guy punch a mirror.

* * * * * 

FADE IN:
A wrinkled American flag backdrop. Banjo noodling somewhere off-mic.

NARRATOR/LUNDY (V-O):
Our boy Jeb Brush is giving his first post-debate town-hall speech—
half pep rally, half nap.
Guy talks like he’s apologizing for interrupting his own funeral.

Camera: politely clapping audience — retirees, church ladies,
one guy asleep in a “Please Clap” hoodie.

CARLSON WATTERS (on-air):
Ratings are up three points since the Tape Leak.
Three!
I’m telling you, America loves a comeback story—
especially when they don’t have to read it.

Meanwhile over at CNS, Rachel Ruhle is fact-checking herself in real time. 
Rachel’s arguing with her teleprompter.

RACHEL RUHLE (on-air):
Was this a coordinated release from inside the Brush family?
The timing is suspicious, folks.
Some are calling this the greatest inside job in political history.
A Brush takes out Trump -- with another Brush.
Are they related? … Stay with us.

NARRATOR/LUNDY (on screen):
FIX News couldn’t kill it. Not this time.
They spun, they flinched, they gagged.
From that moment, the base didn’t care about Trump’s hands.

(ambles across stage, takes a quick drag off a cigar)

And that’s how the low-energy man with the high-powered family name stumbled into destiny.
Not with a roar.
Not even with a clap.
Just by being boring enough to survive the spin cycle.  

***MUSICAL NUMBER***
“The Ballad of Jeb!”

* * * * *
FADE IN:
Presidential seal backdrop. A podium. An apology.

NARRATOR/LUNDY (on screen):
Month four, following President Jeb Brush landslide victory over Democrat challenger Billy Hillary.
Presidential Approval rating at 38 and dropping like a cell signal in Kansas. So, President Jeb Brush does what any man of honor and mediocre timing would do — he launches an Apology Tour.

[PRESIDENTIAL PRESS CONFERENCE]

PRES. JEB BRUSH:
I didn’t mean to say ‘Dang it!’ in front of the Girl Scouts.
My shoelace had just broke.
But that’s on me.

REPORTER 1:
Mr. President, is ‘dang it’ a gateway cuss word?

REPORTER 2:
Are you anti-Girl Scout or just anti-cookies?

NARRATOR/LUNDY (V-O):
He was sorry for saying sorry before he finished saying sorry. A feedback loop of contrition.

FIX Chyron: “DANG-GATE DEEPENS.”
CNS Chyron: “BRUSH CUSS STORM ROILS CAPITOL.”

NARRATOR/LUNDY (V-O):
Meanwhile in the White House residence, the President attempted a few televised couch-side chats. Problem was, the couch kept eating him.

Camera shows: Jeb Brush slowly sinking mid-sentence.

* * * * *
NARRATOR/LUNDY (on screen):
Jeb Brush Administration cabinet meetings are filled with polite disasters.
Foreign Policy is handled with shrugs and awkward chuckles.
Well, there was the scandal of Jeb’s cat refusing to leave the Situation Room.
(deep drag on another cigarette butt)
Yes, America is divided … but not by rage.
More by confusion.

CNS HOST RACHEL RUHLE (on-air):
Tonight on CNS: President Brush orders oat milk latte —
is Big Dairy crying foul?

FIX HOST CARLSON WATTERS (on-air):
Oat milk? Globalist plot to weaken American bones!

* * * * *
Cut to — [OVAL OFFICE]
President Jeb Brush is alone at his desk, signing a bill by lamplight.

NARRATOR/LUNDY (on screen):
During the Brush-era Covid-19 pandemic, hand-santizer comes in a surprisingly pretty bottle.
And the masks even have a exclamation point stitched on the side: Jeb!

Vanilla leadership in a crisis. Half-competent, half-boring.
Which likely saved lives.
People panic less when the president sounds like oatmeal.

Sometimes history’s hinge is boring.
The drama is in what it prevents.
Jeb Brush kept the lights on for four years.
But Ronald Strike came back with a flamethrower —
and Americans learned the hard way:
Bland doesn’t beat crazy. It just stalls it.
And then you’ve wasted four years on instant oatmeal.

MONTAGE — Late-term Jeb Brush presidency:
Quiet streets; less performative brinkmanship; muted headlines; 
Cable & social-media outrage dips significantly;
Clocks ticking instead of people shouting; 
News anchors talk slower; protest footage replaced by weather reports.

NARRATOR/LUNDY:
Four years of peace and half the country mistook it for boredom.
Turns out silence is only golden when you’re buying time.
The stillness feels almost sacred — but fragile.

* * * * *
Cut to — [WAREHOUSE RALLY]
Ronald Strike’s voice thunders through cheap speakers.

RONALD STRIKE: 
They tried oatmeal — now they want fire!

NARRATOR/LUNDY (V-O):
And there it was —
the comeback nobody asked for but everybody tuned in to watch.

Camera: pans a sea of red caps and phone screens; faith and fandom blur.

[END OF EPISODE 1] 

Ronald Strike

“Billy who? What are you talking about?”

President Jeb Brush kept the lights on for four years. But Ronald Strike came back with a flamethrower — and Americans learned the hard way:”

Narrator

Phil Lundy