All this lethal political formula needed to be activated was the right mix, the perfect plug-and-play components to detonate conspiracy charges: take a toxic, compromised political operative and tie him to a nationally known gure running for president, then connect the candidate to a few nasty rumors from murky sources, and presto! You’ve just created the pretext for a devastating scandal—complete with an explosion of muck for the media to rake over the front-running candidate while also providing the ammunition to fuel partisan politicians’ demands for an investigation.

所有这些致命的政治公式需要激活的是正确的组合，完美的即插即用组件引爆阴谋指控：采取一个有毒的，妥协的政治特工，并把他与一个全国知名的古尔竞选总统，然后连接候选人的一些肮脏的谣言来源不明，普雷斯托！你刚刚制造了一个毁灭性丑闻的借口，伴随着一场爆炸性的丑闻，让媒体搜刮最前面的候选人，同时也为党派政客的调查要求提供了弹药。