Hey, everyone, it's read. Before we get started, think about this. As you're listening to this,

we are 53 weeks away from the 2024 general election. I can't believe it, and you probably can

either. But all I want to say is thank you so much for listening. Thank you so much for participating

in the pro-democracy coalition.

And please go to join the union.us and Lincolnproject.us and sign up for our updates,

how you can get involved.

Be big, everybody.

Be your own bullhorn.

And now on with the show.

Welcome back to the Lincoln Project. I'm your host, Reed Galen. Today, I'm joined by McKay Coppins,

an award-winning author and staff writer for The Atlantic, where he covers politics,

religion, and national affairs. His latest book is Romney, a reckoning, biography of Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, which is available wherever fine books are sold. He normally hails from Washington,

D.C., but today he's coming to us from what it looks like cloudy and cold Boston, Massachusetts.

McKay, welcome.

Hey, thanks for having me.

Let me start here.

You begin the book by describing the townhouse that Mitt Romney lives in.

And it sounds like a very nice home, but also a very lonely place.

You note that he's set up basically a dining

table or a table, I should say, in the dining room where he's got a giant television

strapped to the wall and he eats ketchup-covered salmon sandwiches, which sounds unappetizing, to say the least.

But for a man who's been married to his high school sweetheart for as many years as he has,

...