Lioness

Okay, so, your head goes back first,

then your shoulders,

then just bring your feet up and around.

Okay.

Sam, go inside before you get hurt.

Mom, Taylan said to go back inside,

but she was supposed to...

I'm never having children.

Okay, so this is what you're gonna do.

Just, like, start it off with something simple like...

that.

And then just, like, go off

from there into, like, a back handspring.

I saw that.

Quite a talent.

Guess you'll be cheering for the Commanders, eh?

Commanders suck.

Aha. Ravens fan.

- How'd you know? - Oh.

I can spot you guys a mile away.

- Denise. - Mr. Secretary.

- Byron here? - Yes, yes,

- please come in. - Thank you.

Kids are growing like weeds.

More like a fungus.

Well, soon that fungus will all be gone,

and you'll only remember the flowers.

Why would a journalist be offended...

- Byron. - when I won't simply

take your word for it...

- Ah, thank you. - Mm-hmm.

- Sit. - to corroborate an assertion?

Let me know if I can

- get you anything. - Thanks, hon.

is an embarrassment to the nation...

Ah, leave it on. Leave it on.

I haven't listened to the pundits today.

There are 64 million Latinos in America.

"Latino"? Do you think that's an appropriate term

in our current climate, Dan?

So, what should I say? Should I say Latinx?

I should just invent a term...

Oh, hell, I stand corrected. Turn that shit off.

to satisfy your aversion

- to being disagreed with? - It's not about...

How the fuck are we supposed

to seek solutions when we can't agree on what language

to use to discuss the problem?

If you want my opinion, sir,

news stopped being news when they started

- doing it 24 hours a day. - You got it.

It became entertainment and a poor form at that.

Court jesters who have fallen out of favor with the king.

Now they're mocking

the court itself.

Before long, the court's gonna start chanting,

"Off with their heads."

And they know it.

In a decade no pillar of journalism will exist

in its current form.

New York Times, Washington Post,

Wall Street Journal,

they stopped reporting the news

and started telling us what they think the news is

and what our opinion of that news should be.

Americans have always been gullible,

but they're not stupid.

Lie to them enough,

and they won't trust you to tell them the sun's rising.

We have a problem, Byron.

We're trying to contain it, sir.

We've isolated all the elements that risk our exposure.

It seem to me that when our strike team gets

ambushed on U.S. soil,

the exposure is already beyond containment.

Agreed.

And explain this to me.

Explain suicide bombers along the border.

Well, it certainly doesn't benefit the cartels.

Right? It's likely they had no knowledge of it.

The drone strikes reek of Russian

or Iranian counterintelligence,

and the fact that the bomber himself shouted out in prayer

prior to detonation...

We believe it's Iranian counterintelligence

through a proxy at the behest of Chinese intelligence.

To what end?

I mean, there's stirring the hornet's nest,

and then there's kicking it.

We believe it serves two purposes.

One is to continue

the destabilization of the border

in order to influence the election.

The other's a mask

to shift our intelligence focus stateside.

The American people are so completely

lacking in intellect that they need you, the media,

to tell them how to think and feel...

We have information from both Jordanian intelligence

and Mossad that two Chinese nuclear scientists are

stationed in Hakkâri, Turkey

with plans to transport into Tehran sometime next week.

and TV...

Where were you on 9/11?

I, uh...

I was a junior case officer in Islamabad.

In the middle of it from the start, huh?

Yes, I was.

Huh.

I was in my third term in the House.

You will recall that there was some question

about the legitimacy of the election

of our 43rd president.

So much so that we decided that his first term

would be his only term.

So, to that end we stonewalled every appointment.

And I'm not just talking about the cabinet.

I'm talking about bench appointments,

U.S. attorney appointments.

If he tried to get a kid into the Naval Academy,

we figured out a way to block it.

Petty as that is.

Then 9/11.

And instantly, Congress, the press,

and everybody in the United States turned to him

as our commander in chief.

We relied on him to lead us,

to speak and act

on our behalf, and he did.

When he spoke to Congress September the 20th,

he scared the shit out of every leader in the world.

Terrified them into behaving for a decade.

Say what you want about what he did after, but...

you can't say anything about a man

who stood before Congress and emboldened the nation

to come together.

We needed a leader.

And a leader arose.

We trusted him to rise.

What eroded that trust?

What got us to where we are today?

I don't know all the ingredients in that soup,

but I know some.

And nobody's innocent.

Not one president, not one member of Congress,

not the press, nobody.

2,977 people

died on 9/11.

And I'm not including

the fucking hijackers in my count.

And we came together.

Over a million died in COVID.

Almost tore us apart.

The difference in leaders.

And right now we don't have one.

The enemy is at the gate and...

we left it wide open.

Slamming it shut now would end careers.

Could end yours, could end mine.

But we have to do it.

They found a way in.

And I'm not talking about starving families

from Guatemala.

The cartels earned $13 billion dollars

last year on human trafficking.

Starving families don't have 13 billion to spend.

I'm aware.

Mm.

Well, we're not the only country with open borders.

Maybe it's time we reminded

our adversaries of that.

We can do that.

Good.

Okay.

You, uh...

you keep us informed, okay?

But only after the mission has begun.

What, you don't...

I mean, the committee doesn't need to give approval, sir?

Oh, hell.

It will absolutely need approval.

That's how we'll stop you.

So don't ask.

Sir, I have a family.

You can't ask me to jump on that grenade.

No, no, no.

I'm only asking you to throw it.

I'll jump on it.

Look at me. Look at me.

Okay, you're in recovery. You're safe.

Get off. Get off!

I need help! Come on.

You're-you're out of surgery. Lay back.

I need five milligrams of Haldol.

Come on, get her down!

I need five milligrams Haldol.

- Quickly, quickly. - No, no, no.

You're gonna feel better in a couple seconds.

Hey.

I got some ice.