Designated Survivor (TV Series)

#thesystemisbroken (2019)

Anthony Edwards: Mars Harper

Quotes 

• DNC Chair : He's gonna siphon votes away from us, which will result in Moss winning, which will result in the end of the progressive agenda as we know it.

  Mars Harper : Know what? If you're worried about vote-spliting, maybe you guys should be the ones to drop out.

  DNC Chair : The Democratic Party? We should drop out?

  Mars Harper : I got the president. What do you got?

• Tom Kirkman : This doesn't make sense. It's good for their states, their constituents, and they don't care? I mean, it's obvious they don't care about a bridge collapse in North Carolina. The bodies are still being pulled out of the rubble.

  Mars Harper : All due respect, Mr. President, I've been in this town a hell of a lot longer than you have, and if there is one constant to which you can set your watch, it's that this, too, shall pass.

  Tom Kirkman : So you're a watch guy, too?

  Mars Harper : Takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'.

  Tom Kirkman : It's becoming the story of my life. What else we got?

  Mars Harper : Priority number one has got to be tapping a first-rate campaign manager. Did you check the list?

  Tom Kirkman : I did. But I wanna talk to someone who's not on it. Lorraine Zimmer.

  Mars Harper : She deputied Moss' run.

  Tom Kirkman : So she'd know the playbook on him. Could be invaluable. I also hear she's party agnostic, and I would like you set up the meet.

  Mars Harper : Will do, sir. Now, you need to lobby some senators, so maybe put on a suit.

• Mars Harper : Seth, we need to change the narrative.

  Seth Wright : Uh, y-yeah. Uh... I, um... I have some ideas to run by Mark.

  Mars Harper : Don't bother.

  Seth Wright : Uh, well, he's my boss.

  Mars Harper : The communications director is no longer in the employ of the United States government.

  Seth Wright : Oh, my god, you fired him.

  Mars Harper : Chiefs of Staff sometimes have to do that, Seth.

• Mars Harper : The news media needs a new story. Steer them on to the infrastructure vote coming up.

  Seth Wright : I don't think that's gonna be enough to distract the press from last night. They're like a dog with a bone.

  Mars Harper : Well, you know how to get a bone away from a dog, don't you?

  Seth Wright : I really hope you're not gonna say "shoot the dog."

  Mars Harper : We're in the barrel here.

  Seth Wright : Yeah, that's another phrase that's always confused me. People say it all the time around here.

  Mars Harper : In the barrel of a gun pointed at you.

  Seth Wright : Yeah, I don't think that's it.

  Mars Harper : Seth, change the narrative. Or you and Mark can meet up at the public library for the résumé-writing workshop. I hear it's very informative.

• Isabel Pardo : I need five minutes with the president.

  Mars Harper : Not happening today.

  Isabel Pardo : When I was hired, I was told he wanted to make the Office of Social Innovation a priority.

  Mars Harper : He does. We all do. Who wouldn't?

  Isabel Pardo : I have a proposal to repurpose some USAID funding for anti-parasitic drugs in Africa. Fifty cents a year per child...

  Aaron Shore : [approaching]  I wanna update you before the principals' meeting.

  Isabel Pardo : I'm talking to him.

  Mars Harper : Thank you, Isabel.

  [leaving with Adam] 

  Mars Harper : She doesn't appear to like you very much.

  Aaron Shore : Appearances can be deceiving.

• Mars Harper : What news from the national security advisor?

  Aaron Shore : Puerto Rico. The hurricane has near incapacitated the saline industry, specifically the production of sodium chloride injection bags.

  Mars Harper : That's pretty specific.

  Aaron Shore : It could put us in a vulnerable position.

  Mars Harper : How so?

  Aaron Shore : Unexpected military conflict arises, we could be left short-handed. We need to find a way to shore up the medical products manufacturing sector.

  Mars Harper : I'll look into it.

• Felix Silva : The chair of the DNC's in the Roosevelt Room. She'd like a word.

  Mars Harper : I can't stand that woman.

  [turning off a nearby TV set] 

  Mars Harper : Why are there so many god damn television sets in this god damn place?

• Mars Harper : Looking for office space? I believe this room is spoken for.

  DNC Chair : It's not too late, Mars.

  Mars Harper : Too late for what, Meg?

  DNC Chair : It's not too late for him to drop out of the race.

  Mars Harper : But we already filled out the statement of candidacy with the FEC, and you know what a pain in the ass those folks can be about giving anything back.

• Tom Kirkman : You'd think I was Khrushchev at the UN, when the real story should be the Senate putting political expedience above doing anything virtuous. Hell, doing anything at all. Not to mention what nobody's mentioning, is that absolutely everything I said last night...

  [yelling at the TV] 

  Tom Kirkman : ...was the truth!

  Mars Harper : Maybe it's not what you said, Mr. President, so much as how you said it.

  Tom Kirkman : Oh, please. So I offended their delicate sensibilities? These sons of bitches are gonna use this to bring down the infrastructure bill, I know it.

  Mars Harper : Last check, OLA says that we've got the numbers to pass the bill.

  Tom Kirkman : Was that last check before last night? We need to get the vice president here. She has the ear of the Democratic caucus. We need her to start whipping support for the vote now.

• Tom Kirkman : How's the whip count?

  Mars Harper : Closer than we'd like.

  Tom Kirkman : Is this Darby? Are people getting cold feet because of her?

  Mars Harper : It's possible. We could go back to Haskell or Carlin, repack the suitcase with their pet projects.

  Tom Kirkman : There's too much pork in the bill as it is.

• Tom Kirkman : Emily, I didn't know you were coming in today.

  Mars Harper : Neither did I. Didn't see her name on the schedule.

  Seth Wright : Oh, uh, it was a last-minute addition.

• Mars Harper : Lorraine Zimmer's here.

  Tom Kirkman : Right. Bring me up to speed on what she's been doing since she got Moss elected president.

  Mars Harper : She started her own PR and crisis management firm. Mainly corporate clients. They just helped a new app go public, something called Enjoy My Wheels. They're disrupting the car rental biz the way Uber killed the taxi. Apparently, folks can just rent out their own cars. Stock's going through the roof.

• Mars Harper : In the future, I'd appreciate a heads-up when former staff come to the building. Especially when former staff happened to previously hold the job that I currently possess.

  Seth Wright : Yes, of course. Uh, it won't happen again.

  Mars Harper : [glancing at the waiting press corps]  They're smelling blood, so cut their fucking noses off.

• Tom Kirkman : Remind me why I'm taking this trip to Iowa now.

  Mars Harper : Caucuses are big two-party platforms. It can't hurt to get there and steal some of their oxygen. Consider it a campaign-launcher.

  Tom Kirkman : And you don't think it's more important that I stay here and twist some arms?

  Mars Harper : We have twisted everything that is twistable. It's in God's hands now. I will let you know when the vote is in. In the meantime, stay part of the story.

• Mars Harper : Hey, buddy. I'm just as disappointed as you.

  Aaron Shore : Yeah, but what happened? I thought we had the votes, man.

  Mars Harper : I thought so, too. But legislation does get unpredictable in election years. Best I can tell, Darby took a couple of Democrats with her.

  Aaron Shore : Shit.

  Mars Harper : On a positive note, I did find a workaround for your saline situation. FDA is gonna let us import medical product from Ireland.

  Aaron Shore : Yeah, how is that supposed to help Puerto Ricans?

  Mars Harper : It doesn't, but it helps us. So, you're welcome.

  Aaron Shore : Mars, the whole point of this was...

  Mars Harper : Listen. Don't go behind my back to the president.

  Aaron Shore : Mars, I didn't go behind your back.

  Mars Harper : Asking for humanitarian aid is not your bailiwick. We have a history, yeah. But that doesn't mean that you get to cut the line. Everything goes through me.

• Mars Harper : Congratulations on Iowa, sir. You took a chance there.

  Tom Kirkman : And we'll be taking a lot more. Oh, and by the way, Lorraine Zimmer decided to join our campaign.

  Mars Harper : Well, you made the most of a tough day.

  Tom Kirkman : We're not done yet. I wanna go around the Congress. I want you to start spitballing an executive action on infrastructure. Reach out to the National Economic Council, put Legal and DPC together. Let's start hammering this out.

  Mars Harper : Uh, will do. You heading up to the residence?

  Tom Kirkman : One more stop. Mars, go home. I'm starting to worry that your wife won't remember what you look like.

• Mars Harper : I heard you, uh, came up with the whole mall idea.

  Seth Wright : [stammering]  Um, well, it... it was sort of...

  Mars Harper : I asked for a new strategy. It seems I got one. Oh, and by the way, I Googled that, uh, "in the barrel" thing. It turns out it was a form of punishment for petty criminals in the 19th century. They'd get put in a barrel, holes were cut at different heights, and then men would come by and insert their, uh... their manhoods into the holes for various reasons. So, turns out I was wrong. Oh, and I forgot, you're the new communications director. So, I guess, report to yourself.