249: The Big Break with Ben Terris
The Lincoln Project
The Lincoln Project
4.6 • 9.1K Ratings
🗓️ 9 June 2023
⏱️ 45 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Host Reed Galen is joined by Ben Terris, a writer for The Washington Post's Style section with a focus on national politics. They discuss the inside-the-beltway culture of Washington DC, how Donald Trump effected that culture when he entered the political stage, and how that culture in many ways has warped the belief of so many that have entered. Be sure to pick up Ben’s new book, The Big Break, wherever fine books are sold. If you’d like to connect with The Lincoln Project, send an email to podcast@lincolnproject.us.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, everyone, it's Reid. I want to say thank you so much for the incredible response we've had to our |
| 0:04.7 | Take Back the Flag campaign. Please send your stories, your pictures, and your videos of you and old |
| 0:10.6 | glory to info at Lincolnproject.us. Guys, let's keep it going. It's not their flag. It's not his |
| 0:17.2 | flag. It's our flag. It belongs to all of us, and we are going to take it back. Take back the flag. Thanks, everyone. |
| 0:28.2 | Welcome back to the Lincoln Project. I'm your host, Reid Galen. Today, I'm joined by Ben Terrace, writer for the |
| 0:39.2 | Washington Post's style section with a focus on national politics. His first book, The Big Break, |
| 0:45.3 | The Gamblers, Party Animals, and True Believers trying to win in Washington while America |
| 0:49.7 | loses his mind, is now out and available wherever fine books are sold. He's a graduate of Brandeis University and is coming to us live in studio today from Washington, |
| 0:58.6 | DC. |
| 0:59.6 | Ben, welcome to the show. |
| 1:01.1 | Thanks for having me. |
| 1:02.1 | All right, so as I mentioned before we started recording, I hadn't heard about your book |
| 1:06.3 | until I heard your interview with Rick Wilson on his podcast. |
| 1:10.6 | I have to tell you, there was a lot of old home week for me in your book. |
| 1:14.9 | Ian Walters and I, who's featured in the book, go back to the 1996 Republican Convention |
| 1:20.1 | together. |
| 1:20.6 | No kidding. |
| 1:21.1 | Where we ran around as 20-year-old idiots at things like the melee for Haley, which was Haley's |
| 1:27.2 | gigantic birthday party on this |
| 1:29.7 | beautiful lawn in San Diego. It was also my first experience with another person briefly featured |
| 1:36.2 | in the book Frank Luntz. I was doing man on the street interviews at the San Diego Zoo of all |
| 1:42.2 | things, getting people to sign releases and all this when Frank |
... |
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