Breathe in. Breathe out. Relax. It's another Says Who. What could possibly go wrong.
It’s Maureen this time. She’s had it. Her brain made like a firework and blew up in New York. She needs to relax, do a little yoga.
Dan’s on it. He wants to talk to her about Disney... and their reopening plans. Or books!... written by Trump family members. Or DoJo being, well, DoJo.
Dan yoga is the worst yoga. Namaste?
Dan:
This episode of Says Who is brought to you by you, through your support of our Patreon at patreon.com/sayswho. All of you support... All of you that support, I should say, because I'm good at the talking thing.
Maureen:
You're doing great. You're doing great.
Dan:
I'm great, I'm doing awesome. You not only help make this happen, but also we give you things including every Sunday of quarantine, which when we made this decision seemed like a bounded timed thing but now is clearly always forever, we create a special quarantine Sunday edition of Says Who exclusively for those that support at the five dollar a month or up level, and it is available to anyone, including all the backlog, of which I think there are 40 episodes now.
Maureen:
Woof. Oh Dan.
Dan:
I know.
Maureen:
Dan, no. Come on.
Dan:
Not just of the quarantine Sunday, but of the-
Maureen:
Oh, I was going to say, that's-
Dan:
No, it hasn't been that long.
Maureen:
Oh Dan, I'm so tired.
Dan:
But 40 Town Watch exclusive episodes. I think are somewhere around 15 or so-
Maureen:
I just want to go to sleep.
Dan:
-Quarantine Sunday episodes at Patreon.com/sayswho.
Maureen:
Dan.
Dan:
Maureen.
Maureen:
I talked to you about books before.
Dan:
No, I don't think so.
Maureen:
Books, Dan. They're a thing. You read them, and then you go somewhere else in your head.
Dan:
It's true.
Maureen:
Which today-
Dan:
It's like when I read the news, except I go nowhere good.
Maureen:
Oh Dan, we're going to have to talk about mental health today, because yours truly is having some issues with it, but books can help with that. Books, say you have a subscription to Kindle Unlimited, you can read Truly Devious on there for free right now. That is confirmed, it's there.
Dan:
Yeah.
Maureen:
So if you happen to have Kindle Unlimited, look up Truly Devious, you can read it for zero dollars and zero cents, but you can also get it at your library or an independent bookstore. And books. Sorry books. Just books and books.
Dan:
And you can get your Says Who merchandise at merch, M-E-R-C-H.SaysWhopodcast.com, including surprise new addition to the Merch store just today. A new mug, a new coffee mug that says, "Do More, Doom Less." On it. I made it yesterday, in part as a reminder to myself to do that, but maybe you need that reminder too in the form of something that you also drink your morning coffee in. Merch.sayswhopodcast.com.
Maureen:
I need to get a yawn out, oh God. Oh God. Ready to do this?
Dan:
No. I mean, yeah.
Maureen:
I mean yeah, too.
Dan:
But also no.
Maureen:
I mean, really. Says who?
Dan:
Just got to crack my back.
Maureen:
Oh God, wish I could. Oh, if I could crack my back that would be so sweet. Welcome to Says Who.
Dan:
Welcome to Says Who, the podcast that is not a podcast.
Maureen:
I'm Maureen Johnson.
Dan:
You didn't even say that coping strategy part, and I am Dan Sinker. You're sounding good, Maureen.
Maureen:
Dan.
Dan:
I can hear that AC going, is it hot there?
Maureen:
I'm always very warm. It's very muggy in this city, and Dan, I guess in the last 24 to 48 hours I hit the wall.
Dan:
Sounds right.
Maureen:
I just hit it. I didn't realize I was coming up to the wall, I was speeding along going, "I"m doing great, I'm doing [inaudible 00:04:33]."
Dan:
I think that's right. I think there are a lot of people, and myself included, that are having that experience this week.
Maureen:
Can I talk about the symptoms and tell me if you relate to any of them?
Dan:
I would love you to.
Maureen:
A restless emotional quality that makes you feel like you're going to start screaming and crying pretty much for no reason at any second.
Dan:
Agreed.
Maureen:
Tight muscles.
Dan:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Maureen:
Inability to focus.
Dan:
Oh, yeah.
Maureen:
Tired and sleepless.
Dan:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Maureen:
Yeah, I mean, those are the contours of the thing.
Dan:
Yeah, that sounds about right. I am fully right in that mix, I would say.
Maureen:
I hadn't been feeling... After we do this I've decided that I have to put some self-care first, and I'm going to shift the old TV over, turn on a video and do an hour and a half of yoga.
Dan:
There you go.
Maureen:
Because frequently that helps release some of the lesser demons, and I may have to just do that every day. I don't think I've had enough of that sort of stuff in my life, because I've been trapped inside. But yeah, I just... It crept up on me, and then I heard a kind of sizzling noise coming from my brain. Then all of a sudden the lights flickered like I was in a haunted house and I mean, it's not bad, I'm just done. I'm hot.
Dan:
Yeah.
Maureen:
Done.
Dan:
I feel like I have had sort of an encroaching sense of doom and dread and stress over the last few weeks. Part of it is watching the numbers go up, part of it is the resignation that summer is just a wash. The idea that summer will somehow look, feel, or act different than what the previous three months was going to feel like is done, other than it just being real hot. And then I think that for me this week, the thing that has really just kicked it all into a whole another level is despite the fact that things are not just looking worse but getting worse in all of the most affected states right now, we suddenly are now nationally shifting once again to bonkers re-opening conversations, even while things have not yet truly emerged at how bad they will get. And that is the thing that, to me, has really just made me feel like I have fallen through the rabbit hole.
Maureen:
Yeah, and I was just thinking, because normally in the summer we go to see Oscar's family in England. During his summer work holiday we go, it's just what we do. I think it was this time last year that I got... Was it last year that I got ringworm from handling a hot horse?
Dan:
I think that's right.
Maureen:
I think it was, because it was the hottest day on record in England, and I got down to the forest and I was like, "Hey, hey Diamond, how are you?" And I gave him a nice scritch, I was like, "Yeah, Diamond..." I gave him a nice scritch, and then I woke up with ringworm from handling and fondling a hot horse. Then I had to kind of creep around England, whispering over a pharmacy counter, "I think I have a fungal infection from a horse." Man, I miss that.
Dan:
Yeah. It was just last summer that we would be recording episodes of Says Who with me in a hot car and almost passed out.
Maureen:
Yeah, by pyramid.
Dan:
In fact, I think it was exactly a year ago when I was recording in Santa Fe, and really I remember listening back to the episode when I was editing it and I was like, "Oh, I am really slurring my words here."
Maureen:
Yeah, you weren't well.
Dan:
Yeah, no, and it's not good. So I guess I'm not near the brink of death in a car, but I kind of wish that I was. Instead, I'm just stuck here.
Maureen:
Yeah, I feel like I'm going to have to pay a little more attention to the mental health. I do find that doing some yoga or physical... You let it slide when you're inside, if you're me. And also I get a physical condition I have, hot weather is a lot harder for me. Hot weather takes me down, so I get kind of exhausted because I have to walk the dog in the hot weather, and then I just don't have enough energy.
Dan:
Yeah.
Maureen:
Basically Dan, I need to be kept in a freezer compartment like Mr. Freeze.
Dan:
There you go. Like the ice guy for Misfits of Science.
Maureen:
Yes.
Dan:
You just need a little ice cream truck, you can drive around and you can live in the cooler.
Maureen:
But I think it's just good to acknowledge this when it happens and also to kind of say, "Hey, are you having this thing? I'm having this thing." And it's, "All of these things are temporary." It's just that when you're going through, they are like, "This is very unpleasant."
Dan:
Yeah. It's temporary. And also I think that the other thing that makes this moment especially hard is the knowledge that we really shouldn't be in it. This sort of second wave, the second feeling of dread, that second feeling... I mean, I remember back at the end of March, which is very much like what right now feels like to me, when we were like, "This feels a lot like watching September 11th in slow motion and you're just waiting for the towers to fall." And that's what right now feels like, but it feels like it again. And we should not, as a country we should not be here. But-
Maureen:
Here we are.
Dan:
-Mistakes we're made and here we are.
Maureen:
Mistakes were made, Dan, I don't, I have [inaudible 00:11:30]. Dan, I think I saw my downhill slide when I realized that I had been screaming about Disney World for two days online. I was just someone dragging a box round going, "Do you realize they are going to open up Disney World in the beginning of next week. Do you know it? Do you know it?" And then I felt that was when I heard that crack.
Dan:
Yeah.
Maureen:
And I said, "Oh no, that's my brain."
Dan:
Yeah. Well-
Maureen:
I'm really mad about it. I'm mad about it.
Dan:
-We are recording this on the 7th of July. You will be listening to it most likely on the 8th of July. And it is open Maureen cast member previews started today. Cast member previews will be today and tomorrow.
Maureen:
What does that mean?
Dan:
A passholder meaning... So cast members are people that work at Disney World and often before a new ride opens or something like that, they will run cast member previews because one thing that is hard to wrap your head around, but it's very true. And it's especially true at this moment in time, is that 60,000 people work at Disney World. It is a mid-sized city, small to mid-sized city and that is just employees. And so one of the ways that they can test capacity limits and that sort of thing is by holding cast member previews, where people that work there get to go and try things out. And so they are testing all of their social distancing stuff with cast member previews starting right now. Then pass holders will get previews on I believe Thursday and Friday, and then it actually opens to the public Saturday the 11th.
While at the same time Central Florida is seeing hospitals starting to fill, five hit ICU capacity yesterday. It's wild. It is wild, Maureen. I hit a Disney wall yesterday when it was announced that the FC Dallas soccer team, which is one of the soccer teams that are already down in Disney World, right? Because they are doing a bubble there. Theoretical bubble down there to play a big tournament for, I don't know, I guess a cup or something. Anyway-
Maureen:
Just a cup?
Dan:
I don't know. It was announced yesterday that FC Dallas was being pulled from the tournament because 10 players tested positive for COVID. The entire league that is in this tournament is staying at the Swan and Dolphin Resort, which is on Disney property, but it's not actually a Disney owned and operated hotel. The NBA is heading down to Disney for their own bubble this week. They are staying at three of the luxury hotels in Disney World. You have Ron DeSantis, the fucking Governor of Florida yesterday, citing both Disney World and Universal for the good job they've done in their reopening. And the mayor of Orange County, Florida, because he has been asked about the fact that they're in the middle of a fucking outbreak and should you really be opening a theme park, said that he is, "Fairly confident in Disney's reopening plan."
Maureen:
[inaudible 00:15:26].
Dan:
Yeah. Fairly confident, but more. This is the thing, right? So not only did the FC Dallas football club get pulled from the tournament, major league soccer players have been testing positive for COVID the entire fucking time they've been down there. You have multiple NBA teams who have been doing practices in their own cities before heading down to Florida. This week multiple teams have had to shut down their practice facilities because of positive tests, right? And these are fucking multimillion, if not billion dollar sports organizations that are actually testing their people really regularly and creating situations that are at least in theory going to keep them protected. And they are popping positives. I don't understand how Disney World keeps their 60,000 employees safe, if you can't keep NBA players from getting it.
Maureen:
Dan, if you go on the Disney World website, you will see a giant ass disclaimer at the bottom of the page. That's basically like, "Sorry, if you get COVID."
Dan:
Right, but that's just for people going, right? That's for the people that are fucking wild enough to be like, "Hey, you know what we really need right now in the middle of a goddamn outbreak, we need some quality time at Disney." Right?
Maureen:
Right.
Dan:
They are being told, "Hey, you know what? Sorry, you're being... If you get COVID, you can't hold us responsible."
Maureen:
Hey, you goddamn maniacs.
Dan:
What is the fucking responsibility that any company has to their employees to keep them healthy? Disney has said they are doing temperature checks on all of their employees when they go into work. But there's already a fair amount of evidence at this point, the temperature checking your employees, if they're coming in super regularly and all of this and living in areas where they're fucking outbreaks, really isn't going to stop shit.
Maureen:
Right.
Dan:
We have established many times on this show that I enjoy professional wrestling. The largest professional Wrestling Federation in the world, World Wrestling Entertainment, which is owned by Trump backer, Vince McMahon. They claimed to be testing all of their employees. But what it turned out they were doing was simply temperature checks. They're recording their wrestling shows in the Orlando area. And the last few weeks they have had to cancel tapings and all of this because people are getting sick.
They are not releasing any numbers. And we'll get to that in a second. But they're not releasing numbers, but the various wrestling rumor sites are out there now saying, is saying that there's an outbreak that at least 40 people. And this is through temperature checking. Now they're actually having to run fucking tests, right? But WWE isn't saying how many people have been sick and anything like that. And that fucking good job that DeSantis cited. There's literally no requirement for reporting infections in the parks or for any company. Right?
So how do we fucking know that they're doing a good job? How do we know that employees aren't getting sick? We don't fucking know anything except for DeSantis who desperately wants this shit to happen just saying it's good.
Maureen:
Dan, I'm not feeling better. This doesn't feel like yoga.
Dan:
It's not, it's not, it's not yoga, Maureen.
Maureen:
Goddamn it.
Dan:
It's not. This is the thing that makes me fucking mad. Right?
Maureen:
Yoga class is terrible.
Dan:
I know I fucking love Disney World. It makes no sense, but I fucking love Disney World. Right. And part of what I love about it is it as a place that repeatedly over the last like five years of mine and my family's life we have gone to when they're sort of like hard moments that we need an escape from. And part of that is just simply the knowledge that when you get there, you going to a place that is customer service is number one, two, and three. And that you are going to be taken care of and that you are going to be safe and everything is going to be fine. And now I don't even know what the fuck that is. It makes no goddamn sense for their longterm reputation to be opening up in the middle of a fucking pandemic. In the middle of a state that is in the upper reaches of everything.
And that we know how this is going to fucking go, right. If Central Florida hospitals are hitting ICU caps, right now, that's reflective of cases from a couple of weeks ago. So the spikes that they've been hitting, we aren't even seeing that in the hospitals yet, by and large.
Maureen:
Hold on Dan. I'm just... Okay. I decided to do that. You know what that was?
Dan:
No.
Maureen:
That was me leaving a Yelp review on your yoga class. It's really bad. Dan's yoga studio. You will be more stressed when you leave. However, he does have a nice spirit. Okay.
Dan:
It's true. I just gave myself a little bit of a trim the other day. I feel like a new man.
Maureen:
Yeah. Our hair here. Oscar looks like a... I've described it variously. I have a pair of those 1970s look in those glasses that are currently very fashionable, the kind of gold frame, aviator reader styles that look from 1970s.
Dan:
Yeah.
Maureen:
I got a pair them and occasionally with his new new grown out hair. And he puts those glasses on and he just looks a background player in Starsky & Hutch or like a lost Hardy Boy, or I don't know, like a low key serial predator in a True Crime Reenactment or... He's got that kind of floppy hair thing going on. And it's-
Dan:
A friend of mine allowed his, I guess, about 10-year-old daughter to give him a perm.
Maureen:
Oh. What? Wait a minute. That wasn't what I was expecting. Wait, what?
Dan:
He said they were just bored. She's really into fashion and stuff. And she really wanted to give him a perm.
Maureen:
Wait, no.
Dan:
And so he was like, "Okay, that's fine. We're all inside. My hair is long." And they posted a photo to Instagram and they were like, "She turned me into Kurt Vonnegut." He had a fucking mustache, he had like... It was amazing.
Maureen:
I was not expecting you to say perm. I didn't think you could even still buy perm kits.
Dan:
I guess so.
Maureen:
Have you ever smelled the perm kit, Dan?
Dan:
It was to me one of the best examples of just the madness that we are all living through now where it's like, "Yeah, fuck it, whatever. Give me a perm."
Maureen:
Give me a perm, ten-year-old, do you ever smell a perm kit Dan?
Dan:
I mean, I'm positive that I did in my youth, but I can't place-
Maureen:
Oh.
Dan:
I can't place the scent now.
Maureen:
Oh, Dan, it smells like cat food that's been left in a hot car. It smells like cat food, but then it has a real stink. It has a little stinger at the end. Just because it's gone a little rancid, so you're like, "It's that cat food? Whoa!". It kind of zips up your nose, like, "Whoa." It has a little hook gets up there [inaudible 00:24:02] like a three stooge. Are we okay?
Dan:
No, we are not.
Maureen:
I fucking hate your yoga class. You suck. Swami Dan.
Dan:
I didn't even get to all the shit and the notes about the school's reopening. We're not even going to talk about that.
Maureen:
Come on. Come on jackass. We're here now let's finish namaste. Let's go. We're doing downward dog with Dan where he tells you about the school's reopening.
Dan:
So Maureen Johnson.
Maureen:
Goddamn it. Dan what?
Dan:
So major league soccer, the National Basketball Association keep fucking popping positives. Major league baseball, which is not even trying the bubble thing and they are trying to reopen their season by the end of the month, 22 out of the 30 teams have reported players or coaches testing positive over the last year.
Maureen:
That seems fine. That seems like a good number.
Dan:
And this is the thing that, especially as a parent of two fucking kids, I keep marveling at, which is these extremely well-resourced sports organizations cannot keep COVID out. How in the fuck are schools who have none of those resources supposed to reopen in a little more than a goddamn month.
Maureen:
They will be fine.
Dan:
And today, like this week has been every member of the fucking federal government being like, "Well, you got to open schools, come on, schools have to open. Schools are definitely opening." You're the fucking head of health and human services today explaining to reporters that of course schools can reopen because health care workers have been able to keep themselves safe. And so schools can keep that... Can just follow their lead and do what they've done.
Maureen:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Dan:
And two problems with that Maureen-
Maureen:
There are a couple... Go on.
Dan:
One, health workers have not kept themselves safe.
Maureen:
No, no. They die a lot.
Dan:
Yeah. A lot. And they-
Maureen:
Or they get sick.
Dan:
-Don't they get sick. I have multiple friends that are nurses that have been sick in this timeframe.
Maureen:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Dan:
And two, school teachers are not fucking health workers.
Maureen:
No, no. It's not a hospital.
Dan:
Are we equipping every school with full-
Maureen:
Ventilators.
Dan:
-Well, and with full PPE and... What are you even fucking talking about? These are different goddamn things. It's... My yoga class sucks.
Maureen:
It's really not good. And I don't even know what style of yoga this is. It's just you... I didn't know there was a yoga style where I just sat here and a man with a beard told me bad news.
Dan:
Well, I'll say... Can I shift gears?
Maureen:
I mean, you could try.
Dan:
Donald Trump Jr's girlfriend-
Maureen:
All right, I'll start-
Dan:
[inaudible 00:27:17]foil-
Maureen:
I'm liking this a little bit more. Go on.
Dan:
-Tested positive for COVID in South Carolina on Saturday.
Maureen:
No.
Dan:
No, on Friday. On Friday.
Maureen:
It's a real shame.
Dan:
Just prior to the president's speech at Mount Rushmore. How's that?
Maureen:
I mean, you and I-
Dan:
That [inaudible 00:27:41] a sun salutation for you.
Maureen:
-When we saw that news, you and I were DMing each other at the same moment.
Dan:
Yeah.
Maureen:
It was, you-
Dan:
You had replied me and DMed. And it was just [inaudible 00:27:54].
Maureen:
Yeah. It was like-
Dan:
Right? past each other.
Maureen:
An electrical spark passed between us. We were running with contact together.
Dan:
So I have questions, Maureen.
Maureen:
Do you? Alright?
Dan:
Yeah. So first of all, she and Don Jr. did not travel with the president. They were in South Dakota ahead of time doing fundraisers and things like that, including one from the very day earlier where leaked footage showed Kim giving a very loud speech in a very enclosed room with a ceiling fan, dozens of unmask supporters and the Governor of South Dakota.
Maureen:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Dan:
That seems great.
Maureen:
That seems fine.
Dan:
Yeah. So the Mount Rushmore speech was two weeks pretty much to the day after the president's disastrous Tulsa rally, which Kimberly Guilfoyle and Don Jr were both at. And that is the same rally that former Republican presidential candidate and Godfather's pizza founder, Herman Cain was at. And last week just before the South Dakota speech announced that he was in the hospital in Atlanta for being treated for COVID.
Maureen:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Dan:
And it was discovered shortly after the announcement that Kim and Don Jr were both at a party in the Hamptons about four days before. So earlier in the week. Where the New York post reported, "A Hamptons Insider was stunned to arrive at a house in Bridgehampton on Saturday night to find a packed party that looked at, "As if COVID had never happened."
Maureen:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Dan:
When they announce it... What? Huh?
Maureen:
I've lived in New York a long time.
Dan:
Yeah.
Maureen:
I have never been to the Hamptons.
Dan:
Oh, you should go. I've heard it's beautiful this time of year.
Maureen:
Largely, because... I mean, I know lots of people go to the Hamptons and it's fine, but largely because I don't want to deal with the kind of people I am likely to have to deal with in the Hamptons, which includes people like Don Jr. and his girlfriend. Also, there were pictures of Fire Island this last weekend in which it was just giant unmasked pool parties and-
Dan:
Yeah.
Maureen:
- So the Hamptons is in general the worst... But anyway, go on. I didn't mean to derail you [inaudible 00:30:37].
Dan:
I actually didn't realize that Fire Island was in the Hamptons. I was kind of imagined it as being near Cape Cod or something.
Maureen:
Well, I don't actually know where it is. It's not your Cape Cod, but it's somewhere in that area. You take a ferry to get there. I think it's near the Hamptons. It's just like another one of those places that if you're from New York, you go to that I've also never been to for some reason.
Dan:
Got it.
Maureen:
I just don't know why. I just never went.
Dan:
Well, you're not very popular anyway.
Maureen:
Is that it.
Dan:
Yeah, probably.
Maureen:
Oh, man.
Dan:
So here's where the question start, Maureen, when they announced it, Kim was COVID positive. They said that Don Jr. was not. And so you would think at that point that they would immediately isolate Kim from Don Jr. But with him being the president's idiot son and whatnot. Right.
Maureen:
Right. Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Dan:
But instead they announced, and this is a quote, "Out of caution, the couple plans to drive back from South Dakota to the East coast."
Maureen:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Dan:
Okay.
Maureen:
This looks good. Yeah. Okay. Go ahead.
Dan:
I do a lot of road tripping, Maureen.
Maureen:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Dan:
I have gone from Chicago to Mount Rushmore area multiple times over the years. To drive it to Chicago, to Mount Rushmore in a way that doesn't make you feel like death is really a two overnight drive. So like a three day drive. And that only gets you to Chicago. Chicago to the East coast again in a non deathlike way is another overnight. You're talking three overnights in a... It's still a decent clip out a drive that you are really just trying to make the miles, Rapid City to Washington DC is 1,600 miles. If Don Jr did not have COVID when he was tested-
Maureen:
Then this is like a bad math problem.
Dan:
-Why would you stick him and Kim together in a vehicle for a 1,600 mile drive.
Maureen:
Fun. It's fun. It's fun. That's why you do it.
Dan:
Don't. Okay, second 1,600 miles is a solid 24 hours of driving. You can not do. Right.
Maureen:
Right.
Dan:
That is just not possible. That is with no status. That is Google maps 24 hours. That's not counting. Stops that's not doing anything. If they [inaudible 00:33:29], assuming that they had multiple drivers along with them. Right. Which I would assume that they are not traveling without secret service at a bare minimum, right?
Maureen:
Right.
Dan:
You could maybe do it in one overnight, assuming like two 14 plus hour drive days when you're talking about stops and shit like that. Two is probably more realistic. Three is even more within the bounds of reality. So assuming that they left on July 4th, they would be getting home today.
Maureen:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Dan:
Why would you drive out of caution? You are absolutely subjecting, whoever is riding with you, whether it's just Don Jr. or a whole fleet of secret service people, right? At a bare minimum, all of those people are getting an extended COVID exposure in a very small space. It's not like they're driving down I80 with the fucking windows open.
Maureen:
You don't know that.
Dan:
I think I know that.
Maureen:
They might be. All windows and all them lean their heads out.
Dan:
I don't just imagine it. A very wind swept Don Jr. co peels himself out of the car after 24 hours straight. You are going to stop multiple times, right? At overnights absolutely. But also for gas and to pee and for food. And I fucking love a good truck stop or you can get all three of those things done. But I don't see Don Jr and Kim pulling into a flying J to use the fucking restroom and pick up some slim Jim's and some subway.
Maureen:
All right. Possible situation.
Dan:
Yeah.
Maureen:
Maybe they have one of those sweet buses.
Dan:
They could have a procured a tour bus, I guess. But even then, everyone walking out of that tour bus has COVID.
Maureen:
Yeah.
Dan:
And even then it would be multiple days. It would be a two day drive even with the tour bus.
Maureen:
Yeah, because it does have a bathroom on it. But if everybody's using that tiny bathroom, then yes. And I know you might have heard those having dinner on one of those, that back room that they have on those it's huge. It's like a giant, giant master bedroom thing, So there's plenty of room for them and everyone else would be up front. But I still think everybody's getting COVID on that bus.
Dan:
Yeah. I mean there's no way, right? The whole deal with COVID is small enclosed spaces with infected individuals is real, not good.
Maureen:
Yeah.
Dan:
If you meet with them for more than about five minutes, it's not good.
Maureen:
If Don Jr doesn't get this, I'm real mad.
Dan:
I mean, I would assume that he has it.
Maureen:
Right.
Dan:
I would assume that he... There is no logical explanation that I can understand that they would keep him with Kimberly Guilfoyle, unless he also was positive. There's no possible explanation for it. Other than like, "Well, we just want him to get it."
Maureen:
I mean, I could see the Trump family throwing some meat at the problem, like, "Let it have Don Jr." You know what I mean? Maybe he thinks he can keep it away, if he donates a family member. You know what I'm saying? Maybe he thinks he's getting bargain with it. Let it have the boy.
Dan:
I gave you my first born son.
Maureen:
You could have him.
Dan:
It's very biblical.
Maureen:
Yeah.
Dan:
For not very biblical family.
Maureen:
Right. Maybe he's just trying to donate Don Jr to the cause. He also doesn't like Don Jr. so I can see him saying like, "You could stay with her." It's just for shit [inaudible 00:38:02].
Dan:
Or [inaudible 00:38:03], "You stay away from me."
Maureen:
Oh, he's definitely saying that. But I could see him being like, "Fuck you. You're going to tough this out." But soft Dan. The Trump family, I feel like we're about to learn a little bit more about them, whether we want to or not.
Dan:
I'm going to go with not, but I think Maureen, you are setting up a little something that I have in the notes called Book Watch.
Maureen:
Indeed Book Watch, there is yet another on this relentless, relentless stream of goddamn books about goddamn Trumps. We have another one coming out this week, but one that I don't hate as much as the others.
Dan:
Yeah. I don't hate it.
Maureen:
I don't hate this [inaudible 00:38:58].
Dan:
I don't hate it.
Maureen:
This isn't from someone who capitulated and was part of the game and compromise themselves. This is from a Trump family member who has written a big fuck you.
Dan:
Yeah. Mary Trump, who is the niece of Donald Trump. Book called Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man.
Maureen:
I mean that's pretty direct.
Dan:
Yeah. Yeah. It was supposed to come out at the end of the month, but Simon & Schuster today actually announced that they were speeding it up and is going to come out I believe in 10 days. I think it's coming out on the 17th or something like that.
Maureen:
No, the 14th.
Dan:
Oh, is it?
Maureen:
Seven days-
Dan:
There you go.
Maureen:
Tuesday. Books come out on Tuesdays or it'll come on next Tuesday.
Dan:
There you go. Yeah. So Robert Trump, I would assume Mary's father tried to stop the book from coming out by saying that the book violates a confidentiality agreement put in place nearly 20 years ago, after a family struggle over Fred Trump's will.
Maureen:
Fun.
Dan:
And in fact for a moment there was an injunction against publishing put out, but then an appeals court basically found that while Mary is bound to that confidentiality agreement, Simon & Schuster is not. And so they can put the book out because they weren't there for the signing. The judge in deciding that basically sort of said, "Even the Mary thing, I'm not totally sure about, but I need to think about a little bit more." "The legitimate interest in preserving family secrets, maybe one thing for the family of a real estate developer, no matter how successful. It is another matter for the family of the President of the United States." And so he is supposed to make a final decision on whether or not Mary can talk about it, but Simon & Schuster is able to and so they are basically like, "Cool, let's get it out, quick."
Maureen:
Yup. I mean, Simon & Schuster also published John Bolton, Simon & Schuster have not covered themselves in glory.
Dan:
No.
Maureen:
They have been the publisher of record of a number of these dirt bag books. So what? It's some copies of it are out right now. A couple of reporters have read it.
Dan:
Yeah.
Maureen:
I mean, I don't know what it's going to say that is anything we couldn't guess or don't know.
Dan:
Yeah. Yeah, but I bet it's going to be a little spicy.
Maureen:
I bet it'll be spicy. I mean, Trump is already... I say already. I say already like it's new. I say already like it's a new thing. It's a new thing, Dan, but he is definitely... He's fully gone now. There's nobody in the building.
Dan:
No.
Maureen:
The whole thing is... And as we get closer to November his faculties will continue to diminish. I mean, the fact is, is more or less calling for civil war stuff at this point, it's not surprising. And that he'll just continue to do so. Polls are not good in terms of his favor. He is just absolutely shitting the bed. And his behavior is only going to get worse. And I don't know, maybe the dude will just dropped dead Dan. I don't know. It's between COVID and stress. He's not looking well.
Dan:
I mean, the reality is, is that he is playing a real dangerous game when it comes to COVID.
Maureen:
Yes, yes.
Dan:
His Brazilian counterpart, the President of Brazil today, it was announced, has COVID. This is a very [crosstalk 00:43:42]. Yeah, yeah. He is a very Trumpian president. He has actively downplayed and denied the threat posed by COVID. Brazil is the number two country in the world with the most cases and the most deaths, second only to us.
Maureen:
USA.
Dan:
Yeah. And yeah, today, officially it has been announced that he has Covid. It had been rumored all day yesterday because apparently he has been exhibiting symptoms, including a high fever and I guess was taken and had a lung x-ray at some point. So it does feel like the COVID circle keeps getting closer and closer and closer to Trump.
Maureen:
Boris Johnson, a lot of the UK government.
Dan:
I had forgotten about Boris Johnson, this point. I forgot that he had it like months ago now. Fuck.
Maureen:
Yeah. It's now taken down two of the leaders who are closest to Trump.
Dan:
Yeah. And two that have adopted Trump's approach to dealing with it. So maybe it's only a matter of time.
Maureen:
Yeah. I didn't mean to sound quite as glib as I did, but I mean, it quite literally, he's playing very fast and loose with it and it keeps getting closer to him. And even just the numbers in Oklahoma today are way up-
Dan:
Yeah, way, way up.
Maureen:
As we're coming out of this sort of 14 day period after the Tulsa rally. And he continues to have these no distancing events where... Like at Mount Rushmore they did a zip tie. They zip-tied the chairs together.
Dan:
Yeah, they sure did.
Maureen:
So, if you continue to do that, I guess the only thing that's really working on his favor is the fact that he has been this lifelong germaphobe.
Dan:
Right.
Maureen:
Who doesn't... Is compulsive about that. But-
Dan:
It does.
Maureen:
-I don't know what to tell you Dan.
Dan:
[inaudible 00:46:06].
Maureen:
Disney World.
Dan:
Yeah Disney World. Meanwhile, fucking Don. Jr and Kim Guilfoyle just driving across the... This is what I don't get, Maureen. Why would you not put them on a fucking private jet?
Maureen:
Yeah. I don't understand it either Dan. I know-
Dan:
I literally there... I cannot get. And then why would you fucking lie? The chances that that is not what happened seemed really low. Right?
Maureen:
Right.
Dan:
Yes, you are putting the pilots in a potential case of being exposure, but it is measured in hours not days. [inaudible 00:46:50] the fuck?
Maureen:
And presumably, you could-
Dan:
Why would you lie.
Maureen:
-Have a jet with a door that keeps the pilots away, so that you have no exposure to the pilots if they're completely sealed off.
Dan:
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it just... None of it makes any sense whatsoever, but either there is a fucking COVID car Cannonball running its way across America right now or someone's lying.
Maureen:
Dan.
Dan:
Right. Maybe they'll drive through the White House. Just [inaudible 00:47:28].
Maureen:
I don't know if I'm ever really... I feel like when I look back on this, for whatever reason that Disney World thing might be one of the things that really gets me.
Dan:
Oh yeah. Oh, absolutely.
Maureen:
Because it certainly feels like it's... We're not at the beginning of the movie, but we're at that weird twist place where they're like, "It's fine. We're going to go ahead with the reopening of something lands. The scientist is still running around. Well, no."
Dan:
I think that the movie that you're trying to remember is Jurassic Park, Maureen.
Maureen:
Is it? Yeah, that's right? Yeah.
Dan:
That's literally the movie that we are fucking living through right now. Every scientist is all, "Well, you were so busy asking if you could reopen Disney World, you didn't stop to ask if you should."
Maureen:
Is that a line from Jurassic Park?
Dan:
Not the Disney World part, but yeah. That's the Jeff Goldblum line, "Too busy asking if you could, you didn't ask if you should."
Maureen:
[inaudible 00:48:45].
Dan:
Malcolm, what's his character's name, Malcolm something.
Maureen:
I only saw that movie for the first time fairly recently, within the last year.
Dan:
Really?
Maureen:
Yeah.
Dan:
What were you doing in the 1990s?
Maureen:
Is that when it came out?
Dan:
Didn't it? No, maybe early 2000s. I don't know [inaudible 00:49:04].
Maureen:
I know. Whatever reason never saw it.
Dan:
Wow. That's [inaudible 00:49:10] holds up.
Maureen:
Yeah. I mean, I watched it, I was like, "All right." That's a movie about dinosaurs.
Dan:
Yeah, sure is a movie about dinosaurs, but now we're living it without the fun of dinosaurs.
Maureen:
Yeah. I mean, you know what? Then it's pretty... Oh, it's not good. Is it Dan? It's not good.
Dan:
No. If I've got to live through a fucking greed based apocalypse scenario, give me a fucking dinosaur to gawk at for a minute.
Maureen:
There's a T-Rex in South Dakota. Isn't there?
Dan:
There are a lot of T Rexes in South Dakota.
Maureen:
Will that do?
Dan:
Well, there's mammoths too. Ah, man. Have I ever told you about the mammoth site in South Dakota?
Maureen:
No.
Dan:
It is amazing. If you drive South from the Black Hills toward Colorado, you pass a... I think the town is called Mammoth actually. And then in the seventies they were clearing the way for, I think a housing development and they uncovered a big bone and they called in a guy from, I think one of the university in Rapid City. And he was like, "Oh, this is a mammoth bone." Or whatever. And then they just started digging and they were like, "Oh, here's another one." Then they started digging, they're like, "Whoa, here's another one."
And then they realized that they had uncovered what had at one point been a watering hole that apparently just got too steep and animals kept falling in it. And it is just full. Is like football field sized. They have now covered it up. And it's not a national park. It's not like Dinosaur National Park in Colorado. And you get to walk through these channels that they have like fucking chiseled down and you're just surrounded by fucking fossil bones everywhere. It's amazing.
Maureen:
Wow.
Dan:
Anyway, bring that shit to life and at least let me see it before it kills me.
Maureen:
Dan. Again, I really have to say this yoga class is not what I expected. I brought my mat. I wanted to just stretch and hear. You're just this man yelling about mammoths and COVID like that angry dad's thing you did over the weekend. Where you're just insisting that we're going to have fun and relax.
Dan:
Goddam it! We got to have fun morning.
Maureen:
Wait, is this... Oh no. Is this yoga class time?
Dan:
[inaudible 00:52:00].
Maureen:
All right.
Dan:
[inaudible 00:52:04] relax.
Maureen:
What am I doing?
Dan:
Just fucking namaste all ready. Come on.
Maureen:
[inaudible 00:52:11].
Dan:
Be relaxed.
Maureen:
I'm going to breath.
Dan:
Just pull [inaudible 00:52:14] your goddamn mat.
Maureen:
I rolled it out. Now, what?
Dan:
[inaudible 00:52:17] just fucking sun salutation already. You're [inaudible 00:52:21] enjoy it.
Maureen:
I'm doing it. [inaudible 00:52:25] please.
Dan:
Maureen Johnson. Says Who is made possible by you through your support of our patrion at patrion.com/sayswho where every Sunday you can hear episodes special for the quarantine. Last Sunday is what we were just referring to where we began to talk about Disney reopening and we have a whole special, Yay! Disney Reopened episode already recorded and ready to go for this Sunday.
Maureen:
Dan, it was last Sunday the one where I was just basically bleeding all over the place.
Dan:
Yes.
Maureen:
Okay.
Dan:
Maureen cut her foot just prior to.
Maureen:
Spine, by the way.
Dan:
I believe you described it as being wrapped like a civil war bandage.
Maureen:
Yeah.
Dan:
Has your foot gotten gangrenous yet?
Maureen:
No. No, it's fine. I keep that shit clean. And then I think that in the next weeks we're going to hear you sing the songs, Show Us Your Balls.
Dan:
Oh, yeah. From a Splash Mountain.
Maureen:
That famous Disney classic.
Dan:
Yeah.
Maureen:
Can I just hear how that[inaudible 00:53:46].
Dan:
(Singing).
Amy Carter's Shoe:
(Singing).
Dan:
Oh, man. You set that up.
Amy Carter's Shoe:
Hey, it's me.
Dan:
Amy Carter's Shoe.
Amy Carter's Shoe:
If I knew Disney was like that, I would be there right now.
Dan:
Well, it's not open to the public till Saturday.
Amy Carter's Shoe:
I'm not the public.
Dan:
That's true. That's true.
Amy Carter's Shoe:
And I can't catch Covid. Because I'm a shoe.
Dan:
Oh man.
Amy Carter's Shoe:
Yeah.
Dan:
Maybe just you should go back and hang out at the White House for a bit. You may be in the line of succession.
Amy Carter's Shoe:
I have... They call it shoe-munity.
Dan:
Boy.
Amy Carter's Shoe:
We don't catch diseases.
Dan:
Oh, what about fungal stuff?
Amy Carter's Shoe:
We don't catch it. We just spread it.
Dan:
Oh no. Oh no.
Amy Carter's Shoe:
Yes [inaudible 00:54:37].
Dan:
I just had to take my headphones off for a second.
Amy Carter's Shoe:
We just spread it.
Dan:
Oh man.
Amy Carter's Shoe:
Come on show us your balls. Namaste.
Dan:
You can hear that episode at patrion.com/sayswho, if you are a $5 a month or up supporter, our theme music is performed by Ted Leo. Our logo was designed by Darth. You can contact us @Sayswhopodcast on Twitter. You can email it. Hey, that is H-E-Y@sayswhopodcast.com. And join the discussion on Facebook, it's /groups/sayswhovians. Our Facebook group is moderated by Janice Stiller and if you have COVID related stresses and things that whole group has been pretty remarkable in supporting each other through the many twists and turns that this fucking thing is taking.
So thank you all for being such good people over there on the Facebook group. And thanks to the many people that spread the word, subscribe and have left stars and reviews on Apple podcasts or wherever you listen. Maureen Johnson, you made the mistake last week of mentioning that somebody had reviewed your book on Amazon. It had mentioned that the copy of the book that they received was sticky in the review. And now we have a lot of podcast reviews that talk about how sticky the podcast is. So thank you
Maureen:
I don't know if that's going to help us. But it's pretty funny.
Dan:
I was like, "Oh look, the [inaudible 00:56:23]. Oh, boy."
Maureen:
Oh, geez.
Dan:
That was how it went. That's how it went. But we do appreciate all reviews. And so even if they say sticky, that's fine.
Maureen:
You know what? What if we-
Dan:
The public shouldn't say, "Come on, show us your balls." Because I think those will get edited out.
Maureen:
-What if we did a special quarantine episode? Let's just say Says Who Yoga Routine that you can follow along with.
Dan:
That seems like bad idea, but maybe it's a good idea.
Maureen:
It's a great idea.
Dan:
Okay, we'll be setting up the record again next week I think for that, maybe we'll do it. Maybe we will do it. You can join us probably for a non-yoga related episode on July 15th. That is next Wednesday for our next episode. And of course you can find us on Patrion again. Patrion.Com/sayswho every Sunday of a never ending quarantine. It amuses me. And I use the word amuse broadly, Maureen, that this podcast, which was supposed to last eight episodes and has now lasted 145-
Maureen:
Goddam it.
Dan:
-Has now spawned a second Patrion only podcast Quarantine Sunday. That was only supposed to last as long as quarantine, but we managed to create a puzzle box inside our puzzle box and we are double trapped now.
Amy Carter's Shoe:
Come on, show us your balls.
Dan:
For my basement in Chicago. I just lost it. A rubber band just went twang in my brain.
Maureen:
We're fine. Let me do yoga.
Dan:
From basement in Chicago, I am Dan Sinker.
Amy Carter's Shoe:
We're from where your balls are. [inaudible 00:58:42].Remember we don't get it. We just spread.
Dan:
Gross.
Maureen:
It's gross. Isn't it?
Dan:
It's really gross.
Maureen:
Yeah, it sure is.
Dan:
It's a really gross sad thing to say.
Maureen:
It's not my fault.
Dan:
I mean, it's sort of.
Maureen:
It's not.
Dan:
Okay, maybe.
Maureen:
It's just not my fault.
Dan:
You could finish with your sign off.
Maureen:
Could I?
Dan:
I mean, Yeah. You could. Are you going to?
Maureen:
I'm Maureen Johnson.
Dan:
This has been Says Who.
Maureen:
See that is a little anticipation thing. A little... Is a meditative kind of thing where you had [crosstalk 00:59:55] to sort of just stop and take a breath and go, "This fucking show going to end [inaudible 00:59:59]".
Dan:
People love listening to awkward silences. So, perfect.
Maureen:
I think I need need to take a nap for a week.
Dan:
Only a week?
Maureen:
Yeah. Just short one, then I'll get sleep after that.
Dan:
All right.
Maureen:
Show us your balls.