It's the calm before the storm: open impeachment proceedings begin next week, but this week Dan and Maureen are getting back from trips, catching each other up, and going for a dip in the iguana-infested pool of Trump Doral Miami. Wait, not that one.
Oh, hey there. How have you been? Dan and Maureen have both just gotten off planes. Dan was in Disney World with his family, where his wife ran a race. And Maureen was in Hollywood, going to a movie premiere. So, just another week.
Of course not, SaysWhovia. We kid. This was a special week, the calm before the storm. This week marked the one year mark before the 2020 election, and the week before the start of the televised impeachment hearings. It is only fitting that Dan and Maureen spent the time in La La Land and the Happiest Place on Earth. But Dan is back now and following the news again, and he’s fine with it. He really is. It’s all good. Just going through the depositions that reveal the quid pro quo action where people actually say quid pro quo out loud, in conversation. Rodger Stone is on trial. Don Jr. continues to look for, and be denied, love.
Yes, Dan and Maureen went far away to try to escape it all, just for a second. But they are linked to the news, like one of those paddle balls on an elastic string. The news pulls them back over and over, beating them mercilessly, punishing them for the distance they travel. Best to stay with the news, SaysWhovia.
So come, sit down in the SaysWho town theater and watch Let It Snow. Because next week, we watch hearings. Together.
***
Dan's tracking impeachment news and sending out updates every day. Sign up at impeachment.fyi
Watch Let it Snow, based on the book co-authored by Maureen November 8 on Netflix!
Maureen's new book The Vanishing Stair is OUT NOW. NOW!
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Your Intrepid Hosts: Maureen Johnson and Dan Sinker
Our awesome theme is courtesy of Ted Leo
We love Darth
Dan: This episode of Says Who is brought to you by you. You, you our supporters at patreon.com/sayswho through your dollars and $2 and $5 and $10 and $25 and, all the dollars make this possible every week. Thank you.
Maureen: Thank you, you. Hello, it's me, Maureen of books. Truly Devious? Obviously. However, this episode goes up today, tomorrow, unclear, but-
Dan: Today Maureen.
Maureen: Today? Okay.
Dan: Today.
Maureen: All right. So then tomorrow, October 8th, no, November 8th. I as we will get into, I'm very confused.
Dan: You're doing good.
Maureen: I don't know where or what I am.
Dan: You're killing it right now.
Maureen: Thank you. Let it Snow, is out on Netflix. Do you have Netflix? It is free to watch. Do you not have Netflix? It's also free to watch if you get a free trial, you can watch on a friend's Netflix. You watch on a TV and a best buy. It's out there. It's going to be out there tomorrow. Why not watch? Why not? Let it Snow, it's funny.
Dan: And hello, this is Dan. One last thing to tell you about before the show starts, which is maybe, maybe you are having trouble keeping up with all of the impeachment news that is happening. Well, I am here to help you at impeachment.fyi, where A, you can just go to that website and read about the day's impeachment news in a few short bullet points, or B, you could go to that website and put your email address in and just get it sent to you and then you don't got to worry about nothing ever again.
Maureen: Ever again.
Dan: Impeachment.fyi, never worry about anything ever again.
Maureen: That's a good, good slogan for that.
Dan: Okay. So, all right. So anyway, I've got to get ... There's a new transcript up right now.
Maureen: Hey Dan. Dan, Dan, Dan.
Dan: Yeah, hey Maureen what's up?
Maureen: Hey, it's a world of laughter or what? Hey, how was it?
Dan: Oh, it was great Maureen, but hold on.
Maureen: Happiest place on earth. Come on, come on.
Dan: There's like six new transcripts that just got released by the house investigative committee. Just, yeah. Okay. Oh, Jesus, and there's somebody testifying right now. Oh, and fuck Trump's tweeting. Okay. What? What's up? I'm trying to keep up with everything, Maureen, what's up?
Maureen: Well, obviously I want to know, well how was it? What years did you get?
Dan: It was great. It was great, but hold on just a second. I'm a little bit overwhelmed, hold on. Okay, all right. Hold on, I've just got to copy this URL, all right, paste it in. Okay. Okay, what?
Maureen: How is the world of laughter, a world of tears? Come on, come on, dish.
Dan: Dish, is that the Dish network? I don't follow the Dish Network, Maureen. Is that a thing? I'm not paying attention to that one. I'm paying attention to all the TV networks and a bunch of different websites and it's cool. Okay. What are we doing?
Maureen: Yeah, I was afraid this is what was going to happen. Welcome to Says Who the podcast that isn't a podcast.
Dan: It's a coping strategy. I am Dan Sinker.
Maureen: And I am Maureen Johnson and I just had to reset something on my computer because I am so hot off my flight. I was still running like a Delta window in the background. So, I just wanted to turn that off.
Dan: You and I have been on the move, Maureen. We have been on the move.
Maureen: Dan.
Dan: You just got back what? Late last night?
Maureen: Yup, midnight last night.
Dan: That is-
Maureen: My alarm this morning was my phone ringing to do an interview. So, I went from a sleep to interview. That gap was five seconds.
Dan: The interview is just about your dream state.
Maureen: And then there was a giant hot dog walking around and yeah, I tried to ... I do have a bit of a smoky voice, literally because the air quality was so bad in LA that the whole time I was there I had a flaming sore throat and I'm a little scratchy. But, yeah it-
Dan: You sound like you got a radio voice.
Maureen: Hey, how's it going? Welcome to Says Who on the nines. We're about to do a traffic update that ... What do they do? Traffic on radio, hey. Hey.
Dan: Yeah, you're good. You sound good.
Maureen: I'm so tired.
Dan: Maureen Johnson, you were in Los Angeles, California for a fucking movie premiere.
Maureen: I'm so tired, yeah.
Dan: This is like a real thing.
Maureen: It was real. It was a real deal.
Dan: That's your actual life.
Maureen: Yeah. Brought my parents. I spent 90% of the time focusing on where my parents were and if they were comfortable and had something to eat. So I had a job in my head. So if you have a job, it's a lot less nerve wracking when you're just like, I have to make sure my father gets his mac and cheese is a lot less nerve wrecking than look at this movie, so. But it was the real thing Dan. We went out and Netflix sent us all out. So, they put us ... They put us up at the Four Seasons, which is where all ... I know. Yup, I want more of this.
Dan: Oh the Four Seasons.
Maureen: Yup.
Dan: All right, continue.
Maureen: Because that's where they do a lot of press in LA. That hotel was just one giant press junket. At one point I was standing on my little outdoor balcony and I heard an actor giving an interview in the room next to mine. So it was-
Dan: Who was it?
Maureen: I don't know.
Dan: Did you just yell, "Who are you?" From the other side of the balcony?
Maureen: They love that. They love if you just lean over and go are you famous?
Dan: Yeah.
Maureen: So yeah, I flew out on Thursday night. We did a ... I think. Did I fly ... No, I flew out on Friday night I think. And then-
Dan: Yeah, you flew out on Friday because we both flew out the same day.
Maureen: Friday night?
Dan: Yeah.
Maureen: And then I did press on Saturday, and Sunday I had meetings and got my family. And then Monday was the premiere and it was at the Grove. And so, hair and makeup came, shiny dress. There was a red carpet that was actually a snow covered carpet.
Dan: Yeah, I saw a picture on your Instagram, that was a very shiny dress.
Maureen: It was real shiny, right?
Dan: Yeah. You looked good. You looked like you were a movie star.
Maureen: That dress was just a container of snags. If you touch any two sequence together, they just stick. So it's like wearing a belt though. You can also tell when the actual famous people are coming because then they're like move, get them off. They sort of bulldoze you off like, okay, get the authors out there first, they're the least important. And you stand there and there's little markers on the ground where the various outlets are and they ... They call it a step and repeat, they put you up and they say stuff and then they herded us back into the movie theater where everybody got free soda and popcorn.
Maureen: They just laid out soda and popcorn, which is my favorite part. And then, you got assigned seats and then we watched ... There were speeches, then we watched the movie and it was really fun and really good and everyone loved it. And when we came out, everybody got a free hat to let it snow on it.
Dan: Man.
Maureen: And then we were ushered out the back to a bank. So each one of us got our own ... This is terrible, but our own SUV and driver and handler.
Dan: Wow.
Maureen: Yeah. So John had one, Lauren had one and I had one. Because we each had people with us, so I had my family with me. So, they put us ... Five of us, and my agent Kate, the five of us got in our car. So we filled the car and then they drove us to the Swingers diner, which had been converted to this Let it Snow diner with neon signs and Let it Snow carpets and decorations like in the movie.
Dan: Man, this is a real thing.
Maureen: A DJ and a photo booth and yeah, and lots and lots of security standing around looking very tough and beefy. So.
Dan: That is amazing.
Maureen: The food looked great, but I didn't eat any of it, but they had chicken and waffles and sliders and mac and cheese and mini cupcakes. It was all apparently really good food. I didn't eat any of it.
Dan: Are you and Joan Cusak best friends now?
Maureen: She was not there.
Dan: Fuck her.
Maureen: I know. It was really upsetting. Everybody was there except, I think except Joan, but all of the others were there on the first day and then two had to leave. But we were all ... So we did some filming together on Saturday. They built a diner set downstairs and so we all were packed into this diner-
Dan: Downstairs where?
Maureen: In the Four Seasons. So they had a ... Oh I set it off again.
Dan: The Four Seasons.
Maureen: I will tell you this about LA Dan, is that everyone is very like, "Oh we love you so much. Oh you're ..." But, they do that everybody. So, you can tell when the more important ones come because that gets shut down really fast and they go, "Okay, now you have to move over here." So you know not to get attached.
Dan: It's the plebeian corral that you get thrown into.
Maureen: What I did like was that every time ... I ate a lot of room service, because sometimes you just can't get out. So, every time room service came up, they put a little succulent on the tray and I began to collect this little, it's just a little potted succulent like oh.
Dan: Like they do at the Four Seasons.
Maureen: Dan, a succulent costs like 50 cents. Succulents are free, they're self-propagating, but I have a million succulents in this department. And they were all grown from one $3 succulent and another one that I stole from my friend's garden and put in some dirt. So, I would steal the pots and collect them in the room. And then I discovered that I could, if anyone else pushed their tray outside, I started taking it from them. And so I just made it my goal to build a little succulent garden inside. It was my little thing. When Oscar got there on Sunday, I was like, "I've been collecting all these succulents, look at my friends." And he was like, "Why are you like this?" And I was like, "Whoa."
Dan: Oh no.
Maureen: Yeah.
Dan: Oh that sounds awesome.
Maureen: The mantra-
Dan: And the movie comes out tomorrow.
Maureen: Tomorrow. The mantra I repeated to myself was, don't get used to this. And also remember the revolution is coming, because it is and so you see a lot of people that are just working there because it feels like a very industry hotel where publicists and people ... It has that kind of aspect, but then you see people that seem truly helpless like they come downstairs. Somebody that one driver described picking someone up at the Peninsula who came downstairs walking her toy poodle and she goes, "I've locked myself out while waiting for the dog walker and now I don't know what to do."
Maureen: And so, it was delightful. So, LA really is like LA. LA delivers on its promise. And I was like, I want to get back to New York where the dirtbags are. It's true, we're like a dirt bag city. I like it. I feel better here.
Dan: It's not on fire too. You have that going for you.
Maureen: No, it'll just be underwater. It'll be the opposite of that. So, you know.
Dan: Exactly.
Maureen: But Dan, enough about me, tell me about you.
Dan: Maureen Johnson, we went to Disney World and it was great. First I need to just set it up by saying, so we left on Friday the 1st of November. Halloween was the day before. There was a freak snow storm on Halloween. So by the time we ... And we had to get up ass early on Friday to get to the airport, we were at the car by, I think about 5: 15 in the morning or so. And, the passenger side doors were frozen shut. So-
Maureen: Nice.
Dan: Yeah, it was a real transition to 85 and sunny in Florida and it was a welcome one. But yeah, we went as we talked about last time. We went because Disney actually has all of these, they do I think four runs a year like 5K, 10Ks and half marathons. And once a year they actually do a full marathon where you run through all four parks, which is pretty damn cool. My wife Janice, who two years ago was diagnosed with breast cancer and two years ago, almost to the day right now had her first surgery to deal with that.
Dan: Last year was very much about recovering from the trauma, of all of that. And this year she really dedicated to getting her strength and endurance up, and one of that was to say, "You know what? I want to start running and I'm going to set a goal and let's do it. Let's set that goal to be, to run a 10K at Disney World by the end of the year." So we booked it way back in the spring and we went.
Dan: The run, Maureen Johnson, you have to wake up at three in the morning for, because the bus to take you to the start, it leaves at 3: 30. So, that was something. She and the 14 year old who are the two latest risers in the family, they both went. He went to be on the cheer squad as they call it to watch her and she went to run. They got up ass early at 3: 00 AM, I got up and made some coffee and all of that and then went back to bed. But she fucking did it man.
Maureen: Did the baby wake up or did he ...
Dan: He stayed totally asleep right until they walked out the door and then he popped up and he looked very confused and then I was like, you just need to go back down. And then, he did. But yeah, so let me tell you about our Saturday. So, they woke up at 3: 00 AM, Janice ran a 10K, then they came back. They got back from all of that by about 7: 30 in the morning. Got showered and cleaned up, went and got some breakfast. We were at the Magic Kingdom by 10: 30 in the morning, Maureen, and we stayed there until 11: 00 PM at night.
Maureen: Oh my God.
Dan: Yeah. Yeah. Janice and the 14 year old brought the 21 hour day by the time we finally got back and it was epic and amazing. This was the first time we went to the Magic Kingdom where the four year old could ride basically everything. I think the only ride that he was not tall enough for is space mountain. He is fearless. He did splash mountain twice. He did big thunder mountain twice.
Maureen: Okay. I'm going to say this for the record, I am 100% certain that your four year old is much more courageous than I am when it comes to rides.
Dan: Yeah. He did all the roller coasters, but space mountain and that was only based on height and yeah. Then we did Epcot the next day, which was ... Epcot is largely under construction right now. They're basically finally fixing up that park. And then, on Monday we went to Hollywood Studios, Maureen, where Star Wars land has opened. And Holy shit, that was fucking amazing.
Maureen: Was it?
Dan: It really was.
Maureen: I want to know about it.
Dan: So you have been to Harry Potter land, right?
Maureen: Yes.
Dan: And especially Diagon Alley, you know how you walk in and you're like, "Holy shit, I am in the ..." Oh whatever.
Maureen: Oh please, you want me to get killed by my people?
Dan: Anyway in Star Wars land, it's the same feeling of just like, holy shit, I've just walked into a thing that I've thought about my whole life. But what's interesting is it is not a thing out of a movie. They created a new place for it all to be set in and yet you realize just how strong and how much emotional attachment you have to the Star Wars design language. Because it is instantly recognizable even though it is a totally different place from things that you've seen in the movies. And it's super interesting because there's only one ride right now. The other ride is opening I think in December.
Dan: It's a ride where you drive the Millennium Falcon. There is a fucking full-size Millennium Falcon in the park, which is crazy. And mostly you just hang out and it's amazing because every other park, either character meets, right? But in Star Wars land, the characters, there are no go and wait in the line and get your picture taken with characters. They're just fucking people walking around like Chewbacca walks around and goes and fixes a ship. There is a rebel spy who is lurking around corners and shit.
Dan: Storm Trooper is walking around just yelling at people. It's amazing. It was really amazing. It was really amazing. And then we also, we had never seen the Toy Story land, which they opened and the four year old loved beyond belief. He rode that roller coaster too twice.
Maureen: I really liked the Toy Story game ride.
Dan: Yeah. That one was really fun. But man, the roller coaster, the Slinky Dog Dash was fucking fun as hell. That was a great roller coaster.
Maureen: Yeah, the line was too long. We tried to get on that, but.
Dan: Yeah, we fast passed it and then we actually timed it. So, we got on it at the very end of the night. There was only like a 20 minute wait, so we waited. And as we were on it, fireworks were going off. It was just like, this is perfect. But yeah, it was great. The-
Maureen: Well Dan-
Dan: Yes.
Maureen: Dan, I just want to say one thing. It's a good thing that we were both, I was in LA, you were in Disney World and that nothing was going on while we were in these places.
Dan: So chill. I kind of forgot just now that we're supposed to talk about the news. I was busy talking about travel.
Maureen: I know. Well, I didn't mean to interrupt you Dan. It's just that ...
Dan: I don't want to-
Maureen: Dan?
Dan: No. No.
Maureen: Dan.
Dan: No.
Maureen: Dan.
Dan: Nope.
Maureen: You know-
Dan: Dan doesn't live here anymore.
Maureen: Dan is right here. Dan. Do you know what they kept saying the other day?
Dan: Who?
Maureen: The news?
Dan: No.
Maureen: They kept saying, well, today is exactly one year from the 2020 election. One year Dan.
Dan: I was fucking riding Millennium Falcon right then, it didn't matter to me.
Maureen: One year.
Dan: Yeah, that's no good. Let's go back.
Maureen: What's that-
Dan: Lets ... Hmm?
Maureen: Dan, what's this year going to be like? Because everything we've seen so far is just the previews before the movie.
Dan: Yeah, no kidding. It's going to be fucking nuts. We are a week away from the start of public impeachment hearings, so you've got that as the appetizer for the rest of the fucking year.
Maureen: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Dan: It's only going to get more nuts from there. I mean, it is actually remarkable if you think about all of the things that are happening right now at one time. You have the impeachment inquiry, which has been going on for a month behind closed doors is about to shift to open hearings. You have fucking king rat fucker Roger Stone on trial right now for lying to Congress. You have a lawsuit happening, that is on its way to the Supreme court that may result in Donald Trump having to share his tax returns with the state's attorney of New York. You have another lawsuit happening right now that will most likely end up at the Supreme court around whether or not Don McGahn and other people from the administration have to comply with subpoenas from Congress.
Dan: You have all of these different things happening simultaneously right now as we enter the shoot of this year. There's a lot going on, Maureen.
Maureen: Well, Dan, at our hotel, the rooms were small. I think it's an older hotel, but as I collapsed into bed the first night and then-
Dan: Wait, which hotel was that?
Maureen: All right, well you can just stop that right now.
Dan: No, I don't remember what hotel you were at.
Maureen: Is this really going to be like this?
Dan: I don't know.
Maureen: I didn't book a hotel.
Dan: At what hotel?
Maureen: It was the Best Western.
Dan: Oh, those are nice.
Maureen: They are nice.
Dan: They have a free breakfast bar.
Maureen: That is the usual tour hotel that the author's stay in. But, I was asleep in bed and you fly to California, so you wake up at three in the morning and you're like, what? What's happening? And the room's all dark and I look over and I see what looks like the opening of a cave on the other side of the room. And what that was, was the television, which was, it had to be eight feet across. It was the biggest goddamn ... It wasn't eight feet across, it was a big, it was much bigger than the TV we have in our apartment. It was a giant ass TV in a small room. It took up a major portion of one of the walls and the beds pretty close to it.
Maureen: So, when Oscar got there, he had the news on a lot. And so the news was like coming out of the wall at us of like just an enormous ...
Dan: Oh God.
Maureen: It was just like a gaping Stargate had opened up, and the other wall was like, "Did you know that Rudy Giuliani is [inaudible] from the election?" That's what the new sounds like in my head.
Dan: Fuck it's somebody with like a gaping throat wound.
Maureen: Hello? So, all right Dan, what is happening? You're the impeachment guy. You've had to jump back into the-
Dan: I am the impeachment guy.
Maureen: They made you jump into the pool.
Dan: Man, it was jumped in. It really felt like I had-
Maureen: That's some cold water.
Dan: It was. We have talked many a time now on this podcast about says who you where you take a little time for yourself away from the news, 15 minutes a day. Turn off your screens, do something. Do something for yourself. And before we get into this, first of all, I want to say people have been in the Facebook group doing amazing fucking things, Maureen Johnson, like riding a goddamn horse.
Maureen: Yeah.
Dan: Making cookies, making Dole Whip. But also people are starting to do things together.
Maureen: Oh.
Dan: Someone on the Facebook group is coordinating a book club to read the first two of your book, Truly Devious, before the third one comes out.
Maureen: Oh I am sorry. Thank you very much.
Dan: Isn't that amazing?
Maureen: Yeah, it is.
Dan: Yeah. Yeah. And people a little wiggly on the screen thing, but people are playing Stardew Valley and Minecraft together, which is pretty cool.
Maureen: Yeah, that's okay. Yeah, it's good.
Dan: And there's been a bunch of a NaNoWriMo national novel writing month, strategersizing, whatever that word is happening as well.
Maureen: All right, I think that's the word Dan.
Dan: Strategerising? Yeah, that's right.
Maureen: Side note Dan, right now, I found that you can get the Stardew Valley soundtrack on Vinyl.
Dan: On Vinyl. Yeah, a multi Vinyl set.
Maureen: It's a Pesto Vinyl set. I believe that's what they call it, Vinyl.
Dan: We have been playing Stardew Valley solo with the four year old lately where he just watches and tells us to do stuff, and it is adorable Maureen.
Maureen: I can just hear his little voice.
Dan: Yeah, yeah, yeah. He would be like, "That's in the community center." He remembers everything. He's like the community center go to. If you see something on the ground he'll be like, "Oh, we need that on the bulletin board at the community center." It's like, whoa, okay, man. Glad that's in there. Anyway, Maureen Johnson, I got back and I did have to jump into the very deep, very cold water of the pool. But yeah, impeachment wise, it actually was a very good timing to leave. We left the day after the vote to officially move the impeachment inquiry into its new phase. That new phase kicks in next week with public hearings on Wednesday I think there are two and then on Friday there's one currently scheduled.
Dan: And mostly they've just released a bunch of transcripts from the closed door hearings, which are oddly were super demanded by Republicans and are not great for the president at all. There are thousands of pages of transcripts because each of these testimonies was eight hours long. But yeah, they just all corroborate each other. They all look into the quid pro quo between Ukraine and the US, and they are not great for the president of the United States, Maureen Johnson. They are not great. But yeah, they aren't.
Dan: I mean, it's just every single Diplomat's basically like, "Yeah. You know what? At first, I didn't quite realize what was going on. And then I realized that Rudy Giuliani was basically running Ukraine policy and we were holding back on aid for the Ukraine because they wanted the Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden over and over again." So, that seems great.
Maureen: That does seem great.
Dan: It does seem great. But yeah, you got that, that was a harsh reality to go from Disney to right back into it. But I'm back. I'm back, Maureen. You know who else is back?
Maureen: Who?
Dan: Do Jo. Donald Jr's back in the news because he decided yesterday would be a great day to just tweet out the name, potential name of the whistleblower.
Maureen: Wait, what? He did?
Dan: Yeah. Yeah, he did. And then he spent the whole rest of the day. I do not follow him on Twitter, thank fucking God. But I did wade into his Twitter stream and I left that Twitter stream feeling like I just wanted to go on a very long, very lonely walk because it is a real heart of darkness situation in Do Jo's Twitter stream. But yeah, he just tweeted it out and then tweeted a bunch of links to defend himself. He was all, "Well, the Daily Caller already did it. Well, the blah, blah, blah Breitbart already did it, blah, blah, blah." But yeah, so that's cool. He then also was on Fox and Friends yesterday [crosstalk 00: 30: 46].
Maureen: Dan can I ask ... Wait, just got to pause for a second there, because I didn't know this because I was on a plane.
Dan: Yeah.
Maureen: Who is it?
Dan: I'm not given the name. I'm not a fucking narc. Maureen he's a whistleblower. It's technically a federal crime to reveal the name of a federal whistleblower, but I don't think he's going to get caught. But, he went on Fox and Friends Maureen and he said that his dad calls him to tell him something sometimes Maureen, and I want you to guess what it is because it's really sweet.
Maureen: Oh no. Oh no. Oh, this is the worst timeline, Dan. Oh no. Is it-
Dan: Do Jo, on Fox and Friends he says sometimes he gets a call and it says it's the operator from the White house. Then, he patches his dad through. And what does his dad tell him Maureen? Guess, guess.
Maureen: That he's a huge disappointment.
Dan: Well, close. He calls and he says, "You're getting a little hot on social media." He went on to say-
Maureen: What does that mean?
Dan: I think that it means that he's getting too much attention or that he's swearing too much. It seems that digging through the cesspool that is Do Jo's Twitter feed, he has really latched onto bullshit as his catchphrase. So, that could be it. But he was on Fox and Friends and he said, this is a quote, "I realized it took me 41 years to realize that I was probably a lot more like him than we ever thought. And backed into a corner, we fight. But every once in a while I get that call like, hey, you're getting a little hot on social."
Maureen: Can you imagine?
Dan: Can you imagine the call that he got after saying that he and his father were at all alike?
Maureen: Oh no Dan, hug your kids. I mean.
Dan: Yeah. Maureen, I want to take us away from all of this hell.
Maureen: All right.
Dan: I don't want to talk about it. I'm done with these fuckers.
Maureen: No, you're not.
Dan: I deal with these fuckers every night Maureen, I want to take us somewhere warm somewhere nice.
Maureen: All right. Disney World?
Dan: Well, close.
Maureen: Okay.
Dan: I want to take us-
Maureen: Universal Studios.
Dan: Close as well.
Maureen: At Animal Kingdom.
Dan: I mean, that's technically part of Disney World Maureen.
Maureen: One of those Gator tours on a fan boat or something.
Dan: No. I want us to travel to Trump's golf club outside Miami, Trump National Doral Miami, Maureen.
Maureen: I don't want to go there.
Dan: I want us to travel there with the Daily Mail reporters that went and stayed for three days, because Maureen, it sounds really nice.
Maureen: No thank you.
Dan: Come with me, Maureen.
Maureen: Nope.
Dan: President Donald Trump did America a favor when he ended his push to hold the G7 meeting at his Trump National Doral Miami golf resort. This is all from the Daily Mail. It's a very long story, we're not reading the whole thing. Dignitaries from some of the world's most beautiful countries and vacation destinations would have been stuck for four days on a property far from the beach and deep in Miami suburban sprawl, a property that Trump bought at a deep discount in bankruptcy proceedings.
Dan: To take the full measure of the resort, Trump has called one of the most exceptional in the world DailyMail.com went undercover to experience the vacation spot first hand for three days at the end of October. Visitors need only to sit by the aquarium windows of the resort's BLT Prime restaurant, which that name makes me laugh every time, to understand fully why it was ridiculous to even consider hosting an auspicious gathering like the G7 here. They can munch on $106 porterhouse steak while enjoying the views of not just one but two county garbage dumps rising high above the golf course's palm-tree line, and getting higher by the day.
Maureen: All right.
Dan: If French president Emmanuel Macron was digging into a $38 Dover sole at a different window, he'd be able to spot just to the West, the smokestacks and silos from a garbage burning plant towering over the 12th hole of the resort's famed Blue Monster golf course.
Maureen: I don't hate it.
Dan: There's worse. To freshly arrived guests, it becomes clear in mere minutes that Trump National Doral is smack dab in the middle of two landing paths at Miami International Airport, one of the country's busiest and the resort's neighbor to the East. Trump claimed that's why he proposed the location for the event. But on a late afternoon, recently, guests lounging by the two pools were treated to the thunderous landings of one minute apart, of European airliners ending their cross Atlantic jaunts. The planes were so low that bikini-clad floaters could get a whiff of kerosene fumes and see clearly the airline logos on the cabins.
Dan: Swissair flew overhead at 5: 55 PM on the dot, both evenings in true Swiss fashion. I don't read the Daily Mail a lot Maureen because it's fucking trash. But man, they can write when they want to. We checked out the Trump spa where guests can get a $300 massage with an anti-aging serum and organic oils that leaves your skin feeling like silk. Silky skin however, doesn't feel so silky if it touches the rim of the toilet in the men's gold-and-marble bathroom caked in what appeared to be feces, which we witnessed on the afternoon when we visited.
Maureen: Uh-oh, I'm upset.
Dan: There's mold growing alongside a ceiling AC vent in the lobby and on nearly every chaise lounge by the pools.
Maureen: Oh mo.
Dan: There are black stains in the large aging carpets by the lobby bar. During our stay, we found other malfunctioning equipment and questionable sanitary conditions at the resort where the average room goes for about $350 a night. There were dozens of blackbirds frolicking in the balmy water alongside swimmers, no doubt dropping bacteria into the water that they could have picked up at the nearby county dumps. European tourists seemed to enjoy the dog-sized iguanas defecating near the pool grill tables.
Maureen: To be honest, I do like those iguanas.
Dan: Although comfortable with their gold leaf, Spanish revival style, 500 square feet of space and aromatic pillows on the bed, the guest rooms were hit or miss too. In one of ours, the telephone was missing its wall cord, making it impossible to call the front desk and one of the elevators was out of order creating lines for guests from the upper floors. In the other rooms, two light bulbs over the shower sink were out. Both rooms featured walls that allowed for unavoidable 5: 00 AM eavesdropping on the neighbors. One guest named Billy woke us up when he told the other guy to get the fuck up for their crack of dawn round of golf. Doesn't it sound nice?
Maureen: There's a lot in there Dan.
Dan: It's dense. It's dense. The article itself has dozens of photos and they are not joking about the mold on the chaise lounges. It is gross.
Maureen: Everything this guy touches is so gross.
Dan: Yeah, there's a lot of gross. There is a lot of gross.
Maureen: He really is the human embodiment of American rot. It is ...
Dan: Yeah.
Maureen: It's the worst of our culture in a person.
Dan: Yeah. Anyway, happy vacation return. I want to go back. I want to go back to Disney World Maureen.
Maureen: We're going Dan. We're going soon.
Dan: We are going.
Maureen: But I mean, first, obviously next week we'll be watching impeachment hearings.
Dan: We sure will. Town watch.
Maureen: Live impeachment hearings.
Dan: I would guess that we will have a reaction episode up for Town Watch probably next Thursday.
Maureen: How many do we get next week?
Dan: We get three. Two on Wednesday, one on Friday.
Maureen: Jesus.
Dan: Yeah, it's for real. Shit's for real now. The thing that's interesting to me is obviously, a lot about Watergate and Town Watch. We have a special Watergate with Maureen episode coming up.
Maureen: Part one.
Dan: For Town Watch subscribers, part one. More about Town Watch episodes in a second. But, the thing about Watergate as you've talked about and as we've talked about is the idea of impeachment was not particularly popular before they began televised impeachment hearings. And now we're about to move into that same stage. Impeachment is actually far more popular than it was at that point in Watergate. But, I have big question marks in my head because in 1973 you had three television stations that aired the hearings and then just had Walter Cronkite type folks. You did not have Fox News spinning and MSNBC spinning. I don't know if they are going to move the ball in the same way.
Maureen: Yeah. They just showed it and had a very different ... And because it was a less performative time, less of the camera ready grandstanding. It was more just a hearing. And yeah, without the commentary. I mean there was ... It was not that it was commentary free. There was commentary but in no way like what we have now, which is very pregame, post-game.
Dan: Yeah.
Maureen: Hours and hours and deadline. Little tickers countdown to ... But, it did move the needle when people ... Because there were also surprises that came out.
Dan: Right.
Maureen: There was stuff that people didn't have and see and know in advance, but when people actually heard the stories, it did change. But, they're already trying to ... See, because we already know what the stories are, they're already trying to shape the narrative about what it is you should think about what you're about to hear.
Dan: Right.
Maureen: Having said that, I still think that having hearings will do something in terms of changing ... At least showing people a little bit more about the reality of what's going on.
Dan: Yeah. I mean like the three people that are going to testify next week or at least that are currently scheduled for next week, all testified already. Their transcripts are either released or about to be released, but like I said, they are hundreds of pages long each person. They are very dense. They are incredibly boring. That will be very different to watch live than to read the transcript. But you are already seeing Republicans basically being like, "There's no new information. We already know all this." It's like, what? Like, yeah, we know. But that's the problem. We know.
Maureen: Yeah. Also, I saw that, a lesser boyfriend of mine, Roger Stone was on the news.
Dan: Yeah. Roger Stone's trial for lying to Congress has begun opening statements yesterday, Maureen. The prosecutor, "Roger Stone lied to the house intelligence committee because the truth looked bad for the Trump campaign and the truth looked bad for Donald Trump." They are very much tying all of this back to Trump.
Dan: Stone's attorney's opening statement seems to basically try to use as a defense the idea that he is a fabulist, that he went into the house intelligence committee. This is POLITICO's summary, Stone's attorneys tried to tell the story of a fabulous who walked into the house intelligence committee not fully realizing what they wanted to ask him about. If stone wasn't forthcoming or overstated his knowledge, they argued, it was not intentional or malicious and perhaps just for show.
Maureen: So, their defense is that our client is a liar?
Dan: Their defense is that he is a liar and a showboat, and you shouldn't believe anything he says. In the opening statement, prosecutors played a bunch of clips of Roger Stone on TV shows being like, "I'm talking to WikiLeaks." Because you need to remember this is all about he told investigators, congressional investigators that he had no direct contacts with WikiLeaks. And then the Muller investigators proved that he did. So, they played all of these clips of him on TV being like, "Well, I'm talking to WikiLeaks and you can expect to see this, this and this. Oh yeah, I'm in direct contact with Julian Assange."
Dan: That was when they were like, "Well listen, the guy's a liar. He makes things up. That was all just him telling a story."
Maureen: Is this where we're at Dan? Is this where we're at?
Dan: Oh, this is where we're at Maureen. Steve Bannon is going to be a witness for the prosecution.
Maureen: Okay.
Dan: That is where we're at.
Maureen: All right. Sure. I mean, sure, sure. Sure. It's going to be, Dan one year. We're at the now officially under the one year mark.
Dan: We're here for you SaysWhovia.
Maureen: Less than a year, Dan. Less than a year. By the end of this year, are we going to be recording seven days a week?
Dan: I hope not. I already have one six day a week job that I accidentally made for myself. Anyway, SaysWhovians, Says Who is made possible by you through your support of our Patreon at patreon.com/sayswho and Town Watch. That is everyone who supports at the $5 a month or above level. You get bonus content, and tomorrow in honor of the release of Let it Snow, we have a special Town Watch episode about Let it Snow and what it's like to have something that you made turned into a fucking movie. That will drop either very late tonight or very early tomorrow, but Town Watch it is there for you. There are more Town Watches already recorded, let alone ones that are reacting to the news we talked about.
Dan: Watergate, that'll come soon. We talked about planning our post-Trump trip to Disney. That one will be out in a little bit. We got plans, sign up at patreon.com/sayswho if you are not yet a Town Watch member. Shit is about to start coming for you.
Maureen: [crosstalk 00: 48: 13].
Dan: I know that was a real sigh. That was a sigh. That was a sigh of someone who got in at midnight last night.
Maureen: It was the sigh of someone who got in at midnight, but a sigh who someone the phrase under a year just went through her head again and just went, man.
Dan: I really wish you would not put that in my head.
Maureen: No, no, no.
Dan: I'm like The Fast and the Furious Maureen. I fucking live my life a quarter mile at a time. I don't think about a year ahead, come on.
Maureen: Is that how The Fast and the Furious works?
Dan: Is that how The Fast and the Furious works? What?
Maureen: I've never seen it.
Dan: What?
Maureen: I've never seen any of them.
Dan: How? What is going on Maureen Johnson? How have you never seen The Fast and the Furious movie? They are the best movies.
Maureen: How many are there? Two?
Dan: They are eight plus one official spinoff plus a couple of additional materials if you're a completist.
Maureen: I know people really like them. I'm sure it's great, but I have never seen any of them.
Dan: They are amazing. You, Maureen Johnson, come on. You love Point Break, right?
Maureen: I've never seen Point Break.
Dan: What the fuck is going on right now.? You have not ever seen Keanu Reeves, Patrick Swayze, Point Break, you've never seen it?
Maureen: No.
Dan: Oh my God.
Maureen: I know people talk about it all.
Dan: Well, the original The Fast and the Furious is essentially Point Break with cars, and then it just goes bananas. But it is great. It is all about found family. It's all about loyalty to your family.
Maureen: Well, you know what? Oscar is-
Dan: It's all about living your life a quarter mile at a time.
Maureen: Oscar is going to be leaving me for a couple of days in two hours. So maybe I should watch The Fast and the Furious. He's nodding. He thinks I ... Do you think I should watch it? He's nodding. He says I should watch The Fast and the Furious. He likes The Fast and the Furious.
Dan: I think there's like 18 hours of movies you can watch. So, you're good to go.
Maureen: And they're good?
Dan: No, they're great. They're great, Maureen, the Rock is in them. Halfway through the Rock shows up and it becomes a whole different set of movies.
Maureen: All right.
Dan: Never seen The Fast and Furious, come on. God, our theme music is performed by Ted Leo.
Maureen: Does he like The Fast and the Furious?
Dan: Our logo was designed by Darth. What? Do you seem like a Fast and the Furious person?
Maureen: Ted, do you think Ted has seen The Fast and the Furious?
Dan: Oh, I'm sure Ted has seen The Fast and the Furious without a doubt. That dude lives his life a quarter mile at a time. For sure. Darth, Darth is living their life a quarter mile at a time.
Maureen: Darth lives their life one container of french fries-
Dan: [crosstalk] at a time.
Maureen: At a time, yeah.
Dan: You can contact us @sayswho podcast on Twitter. You can email at Hey, that is H-E-Y@sayswhopodcast.com. You can join the discussion on Facebook, which I cannot emphasize enough is blowing up over there at slash groups. Slash Says Whovians. Our Facebook group is moderated by run Disney 10K winner, Janice Dillard.
Maureen: What was her time?
Dan: One hour, five minutes and she got ... Last night, she looked in, they give you all this data because they are actually tracking you and it turns out she ended up something like 600th in the women's division, which had 8,000 runners.
Maureen: Damn!
Dan: Yeah, it was amazing. She fucking did it. She lived her life a quarter mile at a time is what she did.
Maureen: It was a 10K?
Dan: Yes. So 6.1 miles, I think it was, and now she's already like, maybe I should do the half marathon next year.
Maureen: Damn!
Dan: She's on it, quarter mile at a time. Spread the word, subscribe, and please leave stars and reviews on Apple podcasts or wherever you listen.
Maureen: Do they have a 1k race?
Dan: I meant to go and grab people's names that left reviews this week and I didn't. I apologize, but thank you for leaving reviews because it is amazing.
Maureen: I could do the 1K.
Dan: Yeah, they have kids' races that are 1K, you could just do it on your knees.
Maureen: Oh no. Believe me, no I would do it fully standing, knocking those children out of the way as I went going, I win.
Dan: They have a 5K though, three miles.
Maureen: I don't know.
Dan: The 5K medal was like a jungle book themed medal. It was pretty cool.
Maureen: I want that, but I'm not a good runner. Like I said, I'm just not a good runner.
Dan: But that's all about training. When Janice started this training for it, this early spring, I remember she went out for her first run. She came back and she was like, "I ran for 10 minutes without stopping." And she just ran for six miles without stopping. That was one of her goals. She had two goals that she had set for herself. One was to do it within an hour and 15 she ended an hour and five, the other was to do it without stopping and she did.
Maureen: That's amazing.
Dan: It's good.
Maureen: I bet she felt great.
Dan: She did. She did feel great. Even waking up at three in the morning.
Maureen: I saw the picture, she was glowing.
Dan: She was, she was, she did it. I'm very proud of her.
Maureen: She really did. Really good going. And good going to all of you guys for all the things you're doing and you're making and I want to join one of these group projects. Maybe we should do a-
Dan: We should.
Maureen: Maybe we can do something where ... Hey, you know what we should do Dan? I've had another little brainstorm.
Dan: What? I like it.
Maureen: Well, the holidays are coming.
Dan: They are.
Maureen: Maybe we can brainstorm a group project where we help bring some holiday cheer to people like making something for someone or.
Dan: I have a great idea from your idea.
Maureen: Okay.
Dan: Last week you talked about how you love to bake and that you want to make a bunch of cookies but you don't know where to bring them. And somebody on Twitter said, bring them to librarians, they love cookies, and maybe that's what we should do.
Maureen: Bake for librarians?
Dan: SaysWhovia librarian bake.
Maureen: I don't hate it. I don't hate that at all.
Dan: I don't hate it. I don't hate that one bit. In fact, I like it.
Maureen: We need to think about this.
Dan: We're going to plan this out. We'll be back next week SayWhovians the holidays are still a far a bit, but I think there's something here.
Maureen: And also any other group that you can think of where we could distribute our baked goods.
Dan: Yeah. Yeah. But we'll think about this and we will be back next week, November 13th. You know what November 13 is one day before Maureen?
Maureen: The 14th.
Dan: Which is?
Maureen: Your birthday.
Dan: My birthday.
Maureen: Ah, happy birthday Dan. We're going to also have to make a project for Dan's birthday.
Dan: No you aren't. But you can join us next week, November 13th for our next episode. And just a week or a little bit after that you can join Maureen Johnson in balmy Miami, Florida for the Miami fair.
Maureen: I will be staying at the Trump Doral.
Dan: You'll be there with a petri dish collecting mold samples.
Maureen: I will be there with the CDC.
Dan: You can join her for the Miami book fair, November 22nd through 24th. But before all of that, watch Let it Snow on Netflix based on the novel co written by Maureen and two other people whose names I don't remember.
Maureen: John Green and Lauren Myracle.
Dan: There we are. I should have written that down.
Maureen: That's all right.
Dan: That comes out tomorrow, November eight on your Netflix. I'm really excited. We're going to watch it tomorrow night.
Maureen: That's tomorrow I guess because I had nothing planned past-
Dan: Literary tomorrow.
Maureen: I have to figure out something to do for it.
Dan: Tomorrow.
Maureen: Oh boy. All right. I should really-
Dan: Tomorrow.
Maureen: That means it's actually probably going to go-
Dan: It's tomorrow.
Maureen: Within about 12 hours.
Dan: Yeah. Yeah. Who knows what time zone Netflix starts rolling shit out at. Maybe it's already out. Maybe they go by Australian time.
Maureen: Might be out in Australia.
Dan: Maybe people in Australia can already see it.
Maureen: It's possible. I don't know.
Dan: Maybe there's a time traveler. They've rewatched it and the sequel.
Maureen: Well I've seen it.
Dan: Let it snow more.
Maureen: Let it ... Yeah, let it-
Dan: Keep snowing.
Maureen: More too fast to snow.
Dan: There you go. There you go. You'll even get that joke by the end of the day today when you finish watching. You could just watch all The Fast and Furious movies and then roll up right into the Let it Snow.
Maureen: I do need a day off, so maybe what I will do is just sit with the dog and ... Oh, who am I kidding? I'm not going to do that. I'm going to clean the house or something.
Dan: You know what dogs love? The Fast and the Furious.
Maureen: All right.
Dan: Anyway, from my basement in Chicago, I am Dan Sinker.
Maureen: And from a place of deep gratitude and-
Dan: Oh, you're talking about the Four Seasons again.
Maureen: From my chair in New York, I'm more ... You know what? You have to just, you have to really be like ... Really? Dan, really? Really? I'm Maureen Johnson.
Dan: Four Seasons [crosstalk 00: 58: 52].
Maureen: I ate a taco. I ate a taco by the pool Dan.
Dan: Yum. What was it?
Maureen: It was a vegan taco with roasted squash and roasted mushrooms with like a herb crema and fresh avocados.
Dan: That sounds great.
Maureen: Yeah, it was.
Dan: I had a vegan taco at Disney World.
Maureen: Oh.
Dan: At the Pecos Bill Cafe.
Maureen: Tasty?
Dan: It was breaded cauliflower with a pineapple salsa and a five spice yogurt and it was fucking great.
Maureen: That sounds amazing.
Dan: It was really, really good. This is the exciting thing about our post Trump trip to Disney World Maureen. You went in like February, right? They have introduced, I believe, 200 meatless items to their menu since then.
Maureen: I love that.
Dan: Yeah, every restaurant now has multiple plant-based options. But yeah, those tacos were fucking good. And that place has a toppings bar, so you can just load that shit up.
Maureen: Oh, I'm all about a topping bar. And if these things aren't accessible to you, then maybe what you can do is join saysbluewhoapron/sayswho and we will send you a photo of a taco that's hidden.
Dan: We were having a great time talking about tacos.
Maureen: And it's like in a scavenger hunt for a taco. But it's also, there's a time thing like, oh, if you don't find the taco time, it'll explode. So it's like speed, but for tacos, but not really on a bus. Anyways, Who Apron.
Dan: This has been Says Who.
Maureen: We'll send you a potato.