Hey, everyone, it's Reid.

I want to say thank you so much for the incredible response we've had to our take back the flag campaign.

Please send your stories, your pictures, and your videos of you and all glory to info at linkinproject.us.

Guys, let's keep it going. It's not their flag. It's not his 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.

Welcome back to the linkinproject. I'm your host, Reid Gaillin. Today, I'm joined by Ben Terris,

writer for the Washington Post's style section with a focus on national politics.

His first book, The Big Break, The Gamblers, Party Animals, and True Believers trying to win in

Washington while America loses its 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, DC. Ben, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me.

All right, so as I mentioned before we started recording, I hadn't heard about your book until

I heard your interview with Rick Wilson on his podcast. I have to tell you, there was a lot of

old home week for me in your book. Ian Walters and I, who's featured in the book, go back to the 1996

Republican Convention together, where we ran around as 20-year-old idiots. It things like the

melee for Haley, which was Haley's gigantic birthday party on this beautiful lawn in San Diego.

It was also my first experience with another person briefly featured in the book, Frank Lutz.

I was doing man-on-the-street interviews at the San Diego Zoo of all things,

getting people to sign releases and all this when Frank and his crew of whoever they were showed

up and told us that they were taking over and that we were no longer needed. Again, I was like,

I don't know who this weird guy with the bad hair is, but all right, and I went back to,

you know, whatever van I were, or whatever trailer I was sitting in at the convention center,

...