Object

Leo's Imagined Snakes

Leo jokes about hiding snakes in Mike the goat handler's car during the West Wing driveway standoff over Ron the Heifer International goat. C.J. registers the menace amid her push to delay the photo-op until after the 10:30 vote. The First Lady stands by as Leo's quip sharpens the playful logistics into a pressure point, blending humor with protective edge.

2 appearances

Appearances in the Narrative

When this object appears and how it's used

2 moments

S4E12 · Guns Not Butter

Goat on the Driveway — C.J.'s Optics Crisis and Leo's Menacing Tease

Leo's imagined snakes function as a verbal object — a menacing, comic threat flung at the goat handler to dramatize the gravity of a bad photograph. The 'snakes' are rhetorical tools that escalate stakes and expose C.J.'s vulnerability.

Before: Exist only as a spoken, hypothetical threat in Leo's quip.

After: Remain a rhetorical device — unacted upon and left as a strained joke that underlines pressure.

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S4E12 · Guns Not Butter

Ron the Goat — Optics and Oats

Leo's imagined snakes are a jokey, menacing rhetorical prop used to amplify the stakes of a bad photograph — a comic threat aimed at the goat handler’s car and glove compartment that makes the political risk feel personal.

Before: Imagined/conceptual in Leo's banter.

After: Left as a dark joke; no real snakes involved.

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