Nucky returns to his office at the Ritz, where assembled are: Mayor Bader, stooge extraordinatire; Damian Flemng, who has assumed Nucky's old role as treasurer; Harry Daugherty, Nucky's corrupt pal at the Justice Department; and Jess Smith, you know, that other Washington bureaucrat. There's a tone of general dissatisfaction at the beating the administration is taking in the press. What good are Washington connections on the eve of 1923 if the whole Harding administration is poised to get thrown out on its ear in 1924? Bader scoffs that Harding has a "snowball's chance," and not to be all Johnny Hindsight about it, but re-election is going to be the least of Harding's problems in 1923 (historical spoiler alert).

Nucky asks Bader and Fleming to leave, and Eddie shows Jess to the cigar stand, so it's just Nucky and Harry. Nucky continues to blast Harry for all the investigations the Harding administration is attracting, which doesn't seem to be a great return on the $40,000 in monthly protection Nucky offers up. Harry fires back that Nucky's not exactly one to talk, with his own investigation not 18 months behind him. "I'm a philanthropist now," Nucky says with a straight face. "You're a gangster," Harry shoots back, telling him he runs an "open-air bazaar," selling liquor to the highest bidder. He produces a newspaper which has a headline about the murder of a man on the road in broad daylight in Tabor Heights. Nucky says that's 60 miles from here, but Harry's point remains: Nucky's in a glass house and should not be throwing stones. Calming down, Harry also says from now on, he'll be accepting his payoffs in cash, through an intermediary to be named later. He picks up the paper again and sees an article about Aviatrix Carrie Duncan and her cross-country flight. He asks Nucky what he thinks of her. Nucky: "She should spread her legs and leave spreading her wings to her husband." There's that old suffragette we know! Sounds like Nucky's soured on the concept of women spreading their wings. Whatever could have changed his mind like that?