We are now in recklessness mode where Frank is going to let it all hang out, knowing that goof up along the way could really be destructive. He does an end run around the UN and instead of trying to appease the Russians who have threatened to arm Iran, he is going to beef up the borders and attack any effort to move arms. Claire is told by the Russian ambassador that she is incompetent. She delivers an ultimatum to him, sitting on the toilet in the lady's room. A really in your face statement. Doug is brought into Dunbar's fold by offering damning evidence of the first lady's lies, counting on Dunbar rejecting the use of this stuff. One of the conditions of the Russian thing is the release of a gay man whose partner is helping the Dunbar campaign. If Claire is given credit for the release, it neutralizes a good deal of the effect of Dunbar's efforts. Her being seen as a hero, as it were. Frank wants a book written and goes to a National Book Award winning author. Nothing ordinary for Frank. Meanwhile, he has fund money for the Washington, D. C. mayor to hire a slew of people to show how his jobs program works. Everything is show and he putting on a good one. Obviously, sustaining this is way too big for the whole country. Frank just wants to get elected and then let the chips fall.