As Sonya predicted, the REJOIN referendum failed, with 88% of Ukrainians voting against being absorbed by Russia. The defeat alone was a huge blow to Prime Minister Kolschonski who had invested enormous political capital in the referendum, the margin of defeat made it an embarrassment that he had to respond to. In the Russian ministry of defense, preparations for invading Ukraine were proceeding at full speed. Instructions were given for 100 000 troops to be readied for deployment, along with tanks, personnel carriers and long range artillery. Naval maneuvers were taking place in the Blacks Sea, and the Air Force was moving aircraft to western bases. Sonya estimated that the invasion would commence in six weeks, she just hoped that the goose and the others would be ready to make their move in time. Since arriving back in Moscow from New York Sonya had been making moves of her own, using the connections that she'd made during her time in government--and her wealth--to gain assurances from individuals in positions of influence that if the invasion went pear shaped and Kolschonski's political demise looked inevitable then they would throw their support behind her. If, however, Kolschonski was able to hold onto power and he became aware of Sonya's scheme to usurp him then they would deny their involvement and Sonya would be left to face the consequences all on her own, those consequences being certain death. Sonya wasn't afraid of the risk that she was taking, Prime Minister Kolschonski was taking Russia down a dangerous road and for the sake of her country she had to do what needed to be done to stop him. She was also, after meeting with the guardians in New York and formulating a plan with them, confident of her chances. What also boosted her confidence was the performances of Tom Groff and Jim Balmer in the US election. Both candidates had been officially nominated by their delegates at their conventions, but whereas Tom Groff's convention was an exercise in supreme synchronicity with all of the speakers reading from the same script, Jim Balmer's convention was a parade of controversial figures making controversial speeches that conformed to no core message, and Jim Balmer's acceptance speech on the final night of the convention was a disappointing appeal to the nation for them to remember the unity that had once made America great and for them to get back to that so as to make America great again! What made Jim's speech such a disappointment was that it came after Chris Dixon had brought the house down the previous night with a speech about how the United States needed to be relentless in the pursuit of its enemies like illegal immigrants and unforgiving in its punishment of them. Chris had completely overshadowed Jim and as a result Jim came out of the convention without the momentum that candidates traditionally get from their convention. The next major event in the election was the first debate. Tom prepared assiduously for the debate, focusing mostly on Russia as the main story on the news was Russia's seemingly imminent invasion of Ukraine. Jim Balmer also spent a lot of time preparing for the debate, but his preparations were blown to bits by Chris Dixon making the following statement on his show the night before the debate:

"It would be absolutely ludicrous for us here in the United States to side with Ukraine in the event of a war between Ukraine and Russia. If we are going to side with anyone in this conflict it should be with the Russians who are an energy powerhouse and a military heavyweight. Jim Balmer is smart enough to know which side we should be on which is why, if I were the Russians, I would wait. I would hold off on launching this invasion until after Jim Balmer has won the election because then they would be dealing with an American president who's smart enough to keep us out of a conflict that we have no business being involved in."

Because of Chris Dixon delivering this monologue at the beginning of his show and Jim Balmer having to avoid saying anything that offended Chris's fans he spent almost the entirety of the first debate doing his best to evade the question of what the United States under his command would do in the event of a Russian invasion of Ukraine and whether Chris Dixon, a senior adviser to his campaign, was openly coordinating with the Russians through his show. Jim Balmer's debate performance was branded by everybody outside of conservative media as a disaster, and things didn't get any better for him. On the eve of the second debate the news broke that David Huntsman had quietly liquidated 85% of Prism Capital's holdings, sending the markets into a tailspin. The market sell-off was triggered by speculation that David Huntsman knew something about weaknesses in the economy that he wanted to insulate himself from. Having received the bulk of his campaign financing from David Huntsman it fell to Jim to explain why David was keeping what he knew secret and if it was right for a presidential candidate to be so indebted to such an individual, an individual who also had significant business interests in Russia. Jim didn't have answers for these questions, and his performance in the second debate was branded an even bigger disaster than his performance in the first debate. His campaign was crumbling too fast for him to save it, which only deepened Jim's conviction that he was the victim of divine retribution, causing him to succumb to his crisis of faith. He participated in the third debate no longer caring about the election and it showed in his performance, which was lazy and disengaged. Only at the end of the debate did he come to life. With it being the final debate, the moderators decided to close it out by asking each candidate why he wanted to be president, a question that Jim Balmer had long since forgotten the answer to, further proof of how far he had fallen.

"Congressman Balmer?" The moderator asked after Jim's failure to ask the question.

"Yes?"

"The question was why should you be president?"

"I shouldn't be president."

His answer stunned everybody in the room and produced more than a few loud gasps.

"I shouldn't be president because I am a vessel of Satan! I sold my soul to an emissary of the dark one and now I am being made to pay the price for it! Just like Cain was made to wander the earth with the mark of sin upon him, I have been condemned to live out my days with everybody knowing that I was forsaken by God because I put my own selfish ambitions before my faith in God! There is nothing left for me to do but repent and hope that God can find it somewhere in his heart to forgive me, though I don't know if he will after I let myself be seduced by that talking bird. But I'm still going to try, I have to believe that I can redeem myself in the eyes of God, because if I don't have that then I have nothing."