Work Text:
1.
"I know what you did at Princeton."
His loss stung hard, but the guilt stings harder. When the governor's face fills the news, accompanied by salacious stories of escorts and affairs, he can't help but let his mind wander in spite of itself, back to the opposition research files stuffed away in a filing cabinet somewhere, their ugly secrets left to rot in silence. It's been nearly 2 decades, and he still can't bring himself to face those damn folders again.
2.
"I know what you do to those women."
When your moral convictions and your personal connections clash with eachother, what do you do? It's an easier question to answer on paper than in the real world. It's also easier to answer when the personal connection isn't with someone who could make or break your career. How many hands too low on a female staffer's back does it take to end a friendship? For him, it seems, only as many as it takes for the behavior to become public, no matter how many times he tells himself to break it off, and he'll live with it for the rest of his life.
3.
"I know you can't win."
Because the person it's addressed to is himself.