The celebrities and stars in Hollywood were like the villagers by Lake Weishan to the railroad guerrillas. The whole of Hollywood had always been a stronghold of the Democratic Party. Therefore, Spielberg attached great importance to Kerry's request. He also hoped that after meeting Kerry, Li Mu could establish a good relationship with him and give Kerry enough help in the upcoming election next year. If Kerry could become the next president of the United States, it would be a great blessing for him.
In order to ensure that Kerry could meet with Li Mu before he left, Spielberg deliberately confirmed the time with Li Mu repeatedly. Li Mu, who was eager to return home, suddenly became an even more powerful big shot. He thought about it again and again and did not want to stay in the United States for another day for Kerry, so he gave Spielberg his final reply. "Steven, if Mr. Kerry really wants to meet me, then please ask him to meet me here at five o 'clock tomorrow afternoon. The meeting cannot exceed two hours, because my plane will take off tomorrow night to return home."
Spielberg tentatively suggested, "Can you postpone the departure time for a few hours? If we can have dinner together, that would be great. "
Li Mu shook his head and refused apologetically. "I'm sorry, Steven. You know, I'm very pressed for time. I've been in the United States for many days, and there are still many things waiting for me to deal with at home. And, you know, I'm not interested in politics, and my attitude has always been to stay away from politics. This time, if it weren't for you, I would not have agreed to meet."
Spielberg nodded gently and did not try to persuade him anymore. He was already very grateful that Li Mu was willing to meet Kerry.
The reason why he was grateful was that Spielberg knew very well in his heart that the gap between Kerry and Li Mu was not just one level. If the two of them were to be measured by their current strength, Li Mu would get 100 points, and Kerry would not even get 10 points.
Generally speaking, the United States presidential election was not like the Olympic Games. The second place in the Olympic Games would at least get a silver medal and the reputation of the second place in the world. But if one lost the presidential election, it was basically the same in the United States politics. In other words, the presidential election was a game of the winner. The winner set foot on the throne, and the loser went home to farm.
Take Trump for example. If he won, he would be the president of the United States. If he lost, he would lose his family business. Billions of dollars in assets were very rare in the history of the United States presidential election. If he was compared with Li Mu, unless he won the election, his assets would only be one-tenth of Li Mu's. In the future, it might not even be one-hundredth of Li Mu's. Naturally, there was a huge gap between him and Li Mu.
Spielberg was also very clear about Kerry's social influence. Although Kerry was the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party, the probability of him winning the next election was not very high. After all, in most cases, the president who sought re-election had more advantages than his competitors. So, Kerry's influence was not big enough, and the power in his hands was not big enough. In front of a multinational entrepreneur like Li Mu, or even a world-class billionaire, he was really not a big shot.
On the contrary, in front of Kerry, a real big shot like Li Mu was a big shot, a real big shot. Li Mu had money, resources, and influence. For presidential candidates, these were the targets that they would desperately fight for.
In fact, before many presidential candidates ran for office, they had to constantly rope in big shots like Li Mu to help them, asking them to give them enough campaign funds and campaign resources. For such political investment, the candidate would also clearly promise political returns, stating how he would repay the other party if he was elected. This was a well-known rule in American politics.
After Spielberg left the hotel where Li Mu stayed, the first thing he did was call Kerry from his car.
The other party was anxiously waiting for his call back in Washington, DC.
He knew that Spielberg went to see Li Mu more than two hours ago, and he also knew that Spielberg would mention his meeting request in this meeting with Li Mu. What he was most worried about now was that Li Mu was not willing to meet him, because he had done his homework before this. Li Mu did not seem to be a person who liked to be close to politics.
Although most entrepreneurs liked to be close to politics, and in the process of being close to politics, they could get more benefits and convenience, entrepreneurs like Li Mu, who were not close to politics and drew a clear line with politics, still had his unique advantages.
Take entrepreneurs in the United States for example. After every presidential election, the value of American entrepreneurs skyrocketed or plummeted. These were undoubtedly people who were close to politics. They had a strong gambling mentality, and most of them existed in traditional and oligarchic industries. However, for those entrepreneurs who were not close to politics, no matter who was elected president, their business and their value would not be affected.
They were more stable and had a stronger ability to resist shocks. This was the advantage of not being close to politics.
The moment Spielberg's call was connected, Kerry could not help but ask anxiously, "Steven, did Li Mu agree to meet?"
Spielberg said, "Li Mu agreed. The time is set for five o 'clock tomorrow afternoon, but he only has two hours at most to meet you. Is that enough time?"
"Enough, enough!" Kerry said excitedly, "I'll get ready. I'll fly there tomorrow morning."
Spielberg said, "Okay, Mr. Kerry, I'll wait for you in Hollywood."
"Thank you so much, Steven!"
"It's my honor."
After hanging up the phone, Kerry immediately called his whip and told him excitedly, "Mr. Andrew, Li Mu has agreed to meet me. I will fly to Los Angeles tomorrow morning!"
"Oh? Li Mu agreed? I'm glad to hear that. How are you going to go to Los Angeles? "
Kerry said, "I'll ask my secretary to book a ticket for tomorrow morning."
"Don't!" The whip said, "It's a sensitive period before the election. The CIA is watching our every move. The Bush administration is most concerned about who we meet, who we talk to, and who we ask for help. If you take a commercial flight to Los Angeles, they will immediately know that you are going to see Li Mu. If they also start to ask for Li Mu's help, we will be too passive. So you must not let anyone else know that you are going to see Li Mu, not even your secretary."
Kerry's heart skipped a beat. The whip was indeed the whip. He was much more cautious than he was.
So, Kerry asked him, "Mr. Andrew, what should I do?"
The whip said, "Besides Spielberg, only the two of us and your wife can know about this. You go back tonight and tell your wife to cooperate with you. Tomorrow morning, ask your wife to call your secretary and say that you are not feeling well. You need to rest at home all day. You will not be doing any work or accepting any visits. I will arrange a car to pick you up at your home and a private plane to take you to Los Angeles!"
"OK!" Kerry said without hesitation, "I'll listen to you."
The whip nodded and said, "You know, our chances of winning this election are not high, far less than 50%. So, Li Mu is very important to our election. His influence is too strong, and his ability to spread information is too strong. If we can get him to support you, our chances of winning this time will be much higher than 50%. So, you must communicate with Li Mu well. As long as he is willing to help, after you are elected, we can provide him with sufficient policy convenience."
Speaking up to this point, the whip reminded, "Li Mu is a very patriotic person. You must convey your good impression of Hua Xia appropriately. Promise that if you are elected in the future, you will definitely introduce various policies to promote trade, exchange, education, and tourism between Hua Xia and the US. Use these to move him. I think it should be very effective."
"OK, I'll remember it!"
…
When Elon Musk came to the hotel to see Li Mu, Spielberg and the others had already left for about half an hour.
When he saw Li Mu, Elon Musk was particularly friendly. After many handshakes and hugs, he sat across from Li Mu and talked about the recent development of PayPal.
Li Mu didn't care about PayPal. What he cared about was when this guy was going to seriously start X-Space and Tesla. So, Li Mu asked him, "Oh yeah, how's your X-Space going?"
"Ah ha …" Elon Musk scratched his head embarrassedly and said, "You know, that's just for fun. I did want to invest some money in it, but this thing, if I want to make it work properly, I need at least one or two hundred million USD in cash. I originally wanted to sell my PayPal shares and cash out to do this, but PayPal's market value is rising, so I want to wait and see."
Li Mu pursed his lips and deliberately teased, "I thought you were the aggressive type, I didn't expect you to be trapped by PayPal shares."
"Boss." Elon Musk said with an innocent face, "I really wanted to sell PayPal. Weren't you the one who persuaded me to keep PayPal shares and continue to stay in PayPal?"
Li Mu laughed. "It was a good opportunity for PayPal at that time. But now, it seems that the period of rapid growth is over. What's next is a slow climb. It's no longer possible to grow quickly. So, you can consider withdrawing and doing something else."
"Really?" Elon Musk couldn't help but ask Li Mu, "Boss, are you interested in investing in X-Space? I'll take out some of my shares, then we can invest in this project together, what do you think? "
Li Mu smiled and said, "I don't know anything about aerospace, I don't have any confidence in investing."
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