The Eric Metaxas Show - Dana Perino

Episode Date: April 1, 2021

Dana Perino from "The Five" on Fox has wonderful advice to take the "scary" out of life and shares it in "Everything Will Be Okay: Life Lessons for Young Women (from a Former Young Woman)."

to the Eric Metaxus show with your host, Eric Metaxus. Folks, Dana Perino is coming up, but guess what? Right now, I really can't believe it. Roma, Downey is my guest. Roma, welcome to this program. It's been a while. How are you? Eric, I'm grand.

Thank you. All things considered, but it's very nice to see you. It's nice to see you. I wish I could see Mark as well, but you're prettier. You're even prettier than Mark. He's very pretty. Let me ask you, we're here to talk about Easter. Of course, today is Thursday, Mondi Thursday.

You and Mark have put something together. Tell my audience about it and where they can find it because it's obviously perfectly appropriate for today and this weekend. Yes, it is. It's something very special. It's a feature film. It's called Resurrection. No spoiler alerts needed.

I should think it's the story of the risen. in Jesus. It's the greatest story of hope ever told. And it's perfect at a time, I think, when we need a story of hope. We've come through this very challenging year with the COVID pandemic. And in a sense, Eric, it's as if we've all been in our tombs. You know, we've all been locked down, locked away, isolated from each other. And I think that we're all probably ready for a kind of a resurrection in our own lives. But we're delighted that we're delighted that the film is as good as it is. It's already getting tremendous reviews and feedback from people who've watched it because it's on Discovery Plus and it's streaming, which means that it's,

it just lives there now. So you could go in at any time and download the Discovery Plus app and maybe make a date with your family over the next few days as we approach Easter and watch this beautiful film together. It's turned out ever so well. And for people who are unfamiliar, Discovery Plus is what? It's obviously a streaming service. Yes, it's a streaming service. It's a fairly new streaming service. And why we're so excited about our new partnership with them is because they've been ready to plant their flag in the faith and family content world and say,

and if this movie does well, they have told us that they will have more programming like this. So, of course, we always have audiences say to, you know, I still have people say to me, We need shows like Touched by an Angel. You know, where are the shows that reflect our values? Why aren't there shows that can talk about Jesus? And, you know, and it's not a swear word. It's like, you know, we just, we embrace that. That's what I do at Lightworkers.

I'm committed to making that kind of content. But there seems to be fewer and fewer places that I can air that content. So to have found a partner in Discovery Plus is great. So I just hope, you know, that the audience turn up en masse for it. And, you know, what better way to celebrate the Easter season, which has been taken over a little bit by the Easter bunny, you know, and while we all love our chocolate eggs, it's like, let's not forget that the resurrection story is the centerpiece of our faith. And, you know, and that Jesus has risen. It's at the end of the film, Eric, we remind the audience that there were just this handful of believers. back then in the first century, but here in the 21st century, there are over 2.2 billion believers.

And we cut to places of worship around the world, Nigeria and Rome and, you know, Protestants and Catholics and everything. And it's like, here we are. We belong to each other. And it's a very triumphant ending. That's wonderful. I have to ask you, just because I know a little bit about it, that, You know, during COVID, it's been difficult to film and to do these kinds of things. So you made a decision. Tell how it was that you did this because it's very interesting. Yes, for sure. You know, if you remember back, if you saw the Bible series,

which aired on the History Channel. And then from that series, we were able to craft and shape a movie about just the life and ministry of Jesus. That movie was called Son of God. So we've kind of done the same here with the series that we shot quite a few years ago called AD. the Bible continues. And we were able to go into that library of footage plus footage that never made it into that series and craft together this beautiful story that starts at the crucifixion of Jesus, but then follows the disciples in those, you know, in the aftermath of his death,

that three days where they're uncertain, is he going to come back? You know, where there's a lot of fear and a lot of grief because they've lost their Lord. and I think we really show the humanity of those early disciples. Now, I know that you used a lot of unnamed, I don't know how to put it, really not famous actors when we watched it. And in some ways, I think that actually helps. But I'm trying to think, are there any actors that we will know in roles, or is it mostly the ones that I'm remembering from the series?

Yes, I mean, I think that, you know, Adam Levy is, amazing in the role of Peter is a standout and won, of course, Depache in the role of Jesus. Gradesachi plays Mary the Mother of Jesus. But I think you're right. I think when, you know, big stars come in, sometimes it interrupts the believability of stepping back into the first century. Here we've got no personalities to get in the way,

just really good actors, you know, at the top of. their game. And of course, our sets are, you know, extraordinary. We had guys down in Morocco working around the clock for six weeks to build the Temple of Jerusalem to build those connecting streets. And by the time we put in these beautiful costumes, these great actors, camels and donkeys and goats. And it just is like, it's like an ancient world that we invite you to step back into. And it's a dangerous world. So the film isn't just like, for your sweet little grandmother, although I hope she enjoys it. It's, it's, we've made a movie that our youth should step into.

You know, it's got, it's got action and it's got drama, it's got tension, and of course, it's got some poignancy, and ultimately it's, it's just a great story of inspiration. And it is, of course, important for us to remember this is true. This actually happened. This didn't happen to cartoon figures or mythical figures. It happened to actual people. And I think sometimes we forget because it does it. Of course, it's a mythic story, but to remember that it also happened in history, sometimes we forget.

And I think that's why it's so valuable. I've been doing research for my next book, which will be called Is Atheism Dead? And I've done a lot of research about the temple, Herod's Temple, and how absolutely magnificent it was. And to think of the pilgrims coming to Jerusalem to visit this temple. And then Jesus, of course, prophesying that this. every stone will be taken down. And you think that's the craziest thing. It's like saying the U.S. Capitol will be taken down.

And so the idea that you have this temple in the film, I mean, I'm looking forward just to seeing that. What do you do when you build a set like this? I mean, I can't even imagine to make such an effort to recreate first century Jerusalem. What happens? Do you put it in storage? I mean, I can't. No, I mean, it's still, you know, if you ever are traveling to Wazerset,

and south of the Atlas Mountains still probably sitting there and maybe being used for other, you know, period dramas that they film. It's quite a little film community down there. In Morocco. In Morocco, yeah, that's a event because, you know, it just wasn't safe for us to shoot in the Holy Land.

You know, we had shot the Bible series down there also. It was beautiful. It gave us all those, you know, great desolate. terrain, the same kind of landscape. Yeah. Well, I remember you talking about that, and Mark, your husband always talking about coming back in. With dust in places, I didn't even know existed, but the results are terrific. And, you know, I think, you know, for the next few days, as we reflect on the sacrifice of Jesus, as we reflect on how much he loved us, that as we remember, it wasn't just

nails that kept them to the cross, but love, deep love for us, that, you know, we read scripture, of course, we'll attend church online or however we can. But to see the story come to life on the screen brings a different kind of aliveness to it, I think. And, you know, I'm just hopeful that families will be able to download the Discovery Plus app and the comfort and safety of their own homes and watch this film together over the next day. The Discovery Plus app, that's the key, the resurrection. Roma, a joy to see you. Give my best to Mark.

God bless you. Have a good weekend. Thank you. Eric, have a happy Easter. Hey there, folks. How many years have I been telling you about relief factor? What, like four? The truth is, I know there are millions of people.

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secure video and messaging features. Learn more at squadpod.com slash Eric. That's squadpod.com slash Eric. Let me say it again. Squadpod.com slash Eric. Check it out. Hey there, folks. As promised, Dana Perino.

Dana Perino, welcome to the program. How are you? I'm great. Thanks for having me. I really appreciate it. I love the fact that because you're young and attractive, you're putting it out there in your book. It says, everything will be okay. Life lessons for young women from a former young woman.

You wouldn't say that unless you still look like a young woman, true or false. No, I said that because who wants to read a book of advice from somebody who hasn't been through some things. However, my colleague, Jesse Waters, he says that he thinks I made that the subtitle so that every time it gets said, someone will say actually Dana you look very young of course but that's but that's true but you look you do and because i can tease you because like your colleague grec gutfeld you're you're small you're not giant you look even younger because of your size not quite childlike but close that's why children like me i think they sort of feel like i'm at their level they're not intimidated by you okay listen uh i like to joke around but let let's start with at least letting you tell

the audience, why did you write this book? So I love mentoring, actually. And it's something I feel an obligation to do to give back. You know, when I was White House Press Secretary, as the first Republican woman to have that job. And with that came a lot of requests from people to get some advice, 10 minutes coffee here. Could I go to lunch?

Could I help give them a plan? Could I tell them exactly how they could become White House Press Secretary? Wait a minute. So you mean you got so sick of this? You said, I'm going to put it in a book? I'm going to put a different way. I know you would because you're professional, but I don't have to. Go ahead.

In a way, I wanted to, yeah, there's a supply and demand problem. Like, I can't keep up. And the demand for advice, the hunger for it is real. And I think that that's been proven. As soon as it came out, four days later, it's like out of stock. So they're printing more because young women today, they're super ambitious. They're talented. They're educated.

But they are also extremely worried. and this thing I call a quarter life crisis, which is like when you're 25 and you think nothing is turning out the way you thought it would or the way you hoped it would. And you start rethinking a lot of things. All of that anxiety is like following young women into their 30s and beyond. So I did three things in this book, day to day, how to improve your day at the office, how to get a better raise or a promotion or a different job, how to become a leader and a manager, but also how to find some balance and serenity so that, people can really try to experience what God intended for us, which I believe is more joy and those glimpses of that total peace. So it's a prosperity gospel you're preaching. Yeah. Yeah. Aren't you ashamed? I can't believe it. I can't believe it. I can't believe it.

No, Dana, seriously, though, it's a normal thing. I mean, if you're successful as you were so early on, and the Bush administration standing at the podium, that's a huge thing. And it, is normal, I think, for young women in particular to say, I want to know what she has to teach me. But I have to ask you, is there anything that you regret that you would say to a 20-year-old or a 25-year-old today at the hoary old age, my goodness, of 48 or 68 or whatever age you claim to be, since you look so great, you can say whatever you want. But there's got to be things that you do regret or things that you would say to a young woman, I, I, I, I, I, I would have done this differently.

God redeemed it, but here's what I would say to you. Because I've got tons of that kind of advice for young men. Yes, and I think that writ large what it is is that I look back and I'm very much a planner, a worrier. I have to really work at that. And I worried away my 20s completely. Really? I don't want young women to feel that way.

Because one of the reasons I say everything will be okay is that if I look back at my career, every time there was an advancement, it was something that I wasn't planning. Now, I was prepared, but I wasn't planning it, and that everything turned out to be okay. A lot of young people today, as hungry as they are for advice, what they want you to do is hand them the plan. And then if you give them the plan that says,

this is how you'll become White House Press Secretary in five years. They'll do all of those things by noon tomorrow. And it's just not how life works. And I make a joke that in order to become White House Press Secretary, first you have to be a country music DJ. Then it will all work out. You weren't really a country music DJ. Yeah, I was.

I would never have guessed that looking at you. I worked overnight for middle of age. Where did you go to college? University of Southern Colorado. Southern Colorado. It's also actually something I talk about in the book because I had a lot of educational inferiority complexes, especially when I moved to Washington, D.C. I imagine I'm at the White House now.

I'm surrounded by everybody who went to Harvard and Yale and Princeton. And they would ask me where I went, and I would say USC. And they thought that I was in Los Angeles as a Trojan. No, we were in Beblow, Colorado. Well, as speaking as somebody who went to Yale, I just can tell you, you dodged a bullet by going to a normal university where you weren't as completely brainwashed as those of us who went to the Ivy League schools. But it's true.

I mean, I really mean it. And it's part of the reason why, you know, you are who you are and you can relate to middle America because you're not insane. But, not there's anything wrong with being insane, but I just want to ask, I mean, when you say everything will be okay, I know you're a Christian, and we know that what we, I think what we really mean by that, I always think of the scripture, all things work together for good for those that love the Lord and are called according to his purpose. In other words, if you put your whole life in God's hands, he will work out everything and every mistake and, and, and, and, you know,

whatever, but you do have to do that. And I know, you know, you're in your role at Fox, you know, you're in a secular environment, but I know you're a person of faith and that you don't, you don't always believe that everything works out okay necessarily or something like that. I don't know. Yeah, I think that's absolutely true. It's interesting, Eric, and I'm sure you probably get this as well. Sometimes we'll be taken aback by, say, a fan I see in an airport or something.

And sometimes they'll say, thank you for being willing to talk about. your faith. And it's interesting how that requires bravery. But even in the Bible, you know, it says, like you will be criticized, you will, all of these things. What I've learned is that I have to rely on my faith. And also to believe that everything will be okay because ultimately, if you believe, it is going to be okay, right? Well, I mean, that's the whole thing is if you believe. And that's, kind of funny when you said early on your 20s, you had all this anxiety. And one of the things that I would say to myself, if I could go back, I'd say, hey, hey, Eric, do you actually believe what the Bible says? Because if you do, God commands you to be anxious for nothing. He doesn't say that's extra credit.

He commands us to be anxious for nothing, but to bring everything to him in prayer. Take it to daddy and say, here are my problems. Help me. And the older you get, the more you kind of, you look back and you think, why did I waste all that time being so anxious? Yeah, and I have something in the book I call a serenity checklist. I actually started it in college. when I was feeling a little overwhelmed with anxiety. So what I do is I take a piece of paper, make three columns. First column, list of worries and anxieties, concerns. Second column, Mark, whether it's something I have control over or not.

And third column, if it is something I have control over a word or two of an action plan for how I'm going to deal with it. Okay, now that list, the list of three, gives me anxiety. Why? No, it's just hilarious to me that you are so buttoned up. This is why you had anxiety. You're so buttoned up that you come up with the three lists. I'm thinking if I had to do that, I would be anxious about the list.

I'll just blow it off. I'd rather be slightly anxious. Well, but here's one of the things I said in my book, too, is that if you, let's say you have a young lady in your life, whether your daughter, granddaughter, niece, or someone that works for you or someone that you're in love with. And she's very anxious. If you tell her you worry too much, that just adds another worry to the list. Right.

So what I wanted to do with this is to say, I'm not telling you not to worry because I know that that will be your tendency. What I'm telling is you can get on top of it. If you do a few things, and there's lots of it in there, there's prayer, of course, there's meditation, there's exercise, but there's talking to somebody, and then might be a serenity checklist. How do you convert all that anxiety into energy and fuel that will actually work for you?

For public speaking, for example, my speech coach had this great line, I hope you will take it and spread it around. It was that it's okay to have butterflies in your stomach, as long as you make them fly in formation. That seems very difficult to do. That is really crazy. You seem you come across as serene. In other words, you have energy, but you do come across as serene.

Is that just genes or is that something that, has happened over the decades. Interesting question on genes. No one's ever asked me that, but I did an interview a few weeks ago, and they asked me who my biggest influence on my life was. And I immediately thought of my grandfather. He was a rancher from Wyoming,

you know, stoic, controlled, dignified, integrity, joyful. And I also had a, you know, Leo Terrell? Of course. He had a civil rights. Yeah. Leads me a note, and he said, you are so powerfully calm. And you know, Leo, like, he says on TV, he's like, I'm not calm.

Like, how do you stay calm? I think having a rancher grandfather, everybody should have a rancher grandfather. Because the last thing you think of when you think of a rancher is anxiety, right? Absolutely. It just, you know, really, it's like the difference between John Wayne and Woody Allen. We're going to go to a break. Dana, please don't go away because we really enjoy having you. Folks, we'll be right back with Dana.

Perino, the book is Everything will be. Be okay. Hey, there, Georgie girl, there's another Georgie deep inside. Bring out all the love you hide and oh, what a change that be. I'm the tea. Hey, folks, you certainly heard me talk about my pillow and how their products have literally changed my life. Now, have you tried the pillow?

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the My Pillo Mattress Topper and My Pillowel Towers. Folks, you know I use these products and they're fantastic. Call 800-978-3057 and use promo code Eric or call 800-978-3057. Use the promo code Eric. Folks, welcome back to the Eric Metaxus radio show, TV show. I don't know anymore. Whatever. The point is I'm talking to Dana Perino.

And Dana Perino looks so young and attractive that she could write a book implying that she's old enough to give advice to younger women. Dana, welcome back. Seriously, you, one of the things that I like about you is that you can roll with the punches on the five or whatever, especially with Greg Gutfeld, whom I love. Don't tell him. I think my faith makes him nervous and he's just like, get that guy away from me. But so many people love him and the way he teases you and the way you all tease each other. And who knew that Jesse Waters would grow up to be a mature pundit? Did you know that when he was doing that stuff for O'Reilly 10 years ago? Come on. You know, Eric, it's amazing that the five, we're about to have our 10th anniversary this July. And it feels like a family,

you know, and I love my brothers that I never have wanted. But I love them. And I love that we can talk about serious issues, but we don't take ourselves that seriously. And it's really great to do the show. I love it. Well, I mean, I really have all kidding. aside, deeply admired Greg Gutfeld's sticking it out there for Trump and what he sees, that he's not going to play patty cake. I mean, when he sees something, he talks about it. And it's easy to not do that today. And the same thing for Jesse.

Oh, sure. And the other thing is, so, you know, we'll take the political side of things, where I think, like, wow, I love learning from them. We don't script it at all. Well, yeah. That helps. Go ahead. Well, no.

I mean, I think that's why it's fun. it's fun to wash. Have you, as a bushy, you know, somebody who was part of that world, the Trump stuff must have been difficult for you to negotiate on some level, because I love Trump, but I loved W. And it's just fascinating to me that there was kind of that divide among Republicans and stuff. I mean, is there anything that you can help tell us that would help us with that? Well, it's kind of interesting to live through a political realignment, right? And there are times when you think, well, there's a lot that everybody can agree on. But yet there is something going on here.

The Democrats are going through it as well. And I don't remember enough about this, but if you think about the Reagan years in Texas, almost everybody in Texas was a Democrat. And then during the Reagan years, they change and become Republicans. We are living in the middle of a political realignment now, maybe not as stark, maybe not just because of one personality, but it's the issues.

And that happens over time. In fact, I recently just talked to a border mayor, a border city mayor in Texas. He's a Democrat. He's strongly calling out the Biden administration. And he said, you know, there's a reason why my county flipped to President Trump. And he's like, and it's this issue. So issues have a way of turning things. Sometimes personalities can as well, but that's a little bit less long lasting.

For me, I love the fact that here at Fox I can do the news show. in the morning and then I get to talk about what I think about the news in the afternoon. And I've just learned to navigate that and I feel pretty comfortable with it. Well, it's a sweet gig. If you ever get sick, I'd love to leap in for you. I'm not as young. I'm not as attractive, but I don't care. Let me ask you, this book, okay, it is, I mean, there is a frisson of comedy in the idea that you're, pretending to be older, but you really got, had success so young that, um, you have seen things over the course of the last couple of decades that so few, uh, women have seen professionally. I mean, to work in a White House, uh, when you did. When did you start with, with Bush?

Uh, right after 9-11. I mean, it's, it's unbelievable. So I think we can say you were sort of a kid. How did you navigate that? I mean, seriously, that, that's kind of an amazing thing at such a young age. Yeah, well, you know, I'd worked on Capitol Hill, which I still recommend for people because I think it's great training, but it's also a really wonderful way to make friends and build your network, although I don't like the word networking as much as, you know, makes friends along the way. That's how I end up back in Washington after I met my husband on a plane, moved to England, got married. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, you met your husband on a plane? I think we're going to need to dig into that, Dana. Can you help us out? Can you flesh that out?

I was 25 years old. I was flying from Denver to Chicago to D.C., well, Denver to D.C., but through Chicago. I had been back in Denver working on editorial boards, is what we used to call them, when I worked for the congressman. And I got to the airport. I almost missed the flight. My husband, future husband, almost took an earlier flight, but we were assigned seats next to each other on American Airlines going from Denver to Chicago. and then we got married eight months later. Okay, that is really, that is a really awesome.

That's amazing. You were assigned seats next to each other. You call it what? Love at first flight. Oh, that's pretty good. I think you're going to have to use that for a chapter title or possibly a book title. I think you might need to do that because people are going to say, Dana, you've told us what to do professionally. What about romance?

How do you do this? But I mean, that's kind of incredible because I guess anytime anything like that happens, it sort of plays with your head because you think, what if we hadn't been assigned seats next to each other? What if? What if? It's kind of crazy, isn't it? I think, I actually feel like I have that thought once a day because so much of my life would have been different. And when I finished doing the audio book for this one, I realized at the end, I'm like, wow, there is a lot of my husband Peter in this book. And one of my favorite pieces of advice in the book is that choosing to be loved is not a career limiting decision.

A lot of people are putting off romance or they're saying, you know, I'll meet somebody in a few years when my career is more established. Or I'm not ready to make a move because, you know, I'm hoping to get a promotion. None of that stuff works. Okay. That is hugely important. When we come back, I want to dig into that because that's really important. Speaking of somebody almost a decade older than you, I can say, man. And that is absolutely true.

We'll be right back with Dana Perino. Hey there, folks. Welcome back. I'm talking to Dana Perino. So why am I even talking? Dana, you just shared something really, it's just really beautiful and moving. And people don't get to hear much about this on the five because you're talking about stuff. But, I mean, you talk about your husband, Peter.

You talk about meeting him. And you just said something really huge, I think, because people don't say it enough. People always say, I want to get married and I want to have. this, you know, we don't have enough money. And I just think, what are you talking about? Get married, trust God, and go with it. And, you know, if you trust God, you know that he just wants you to do what's right and he'll take care of it. But people are so calculating and they really act as though I'm not ready for this. I'm not ready to have a kid. I'm not ready to, and they sort of take, they plan things so tightly that can crowd out a lot of the best of life. I guess that's my interpretation of what

you said, but tell us more about that. People try to make their own plan, and then you look back. And I do think I'm older, older enough now to look back and say, here's some things that I think can work for you, young ladies, as long as they're still willing to listen to me. And my worry for them is that, especially from a career standpoint, young women or men even, so they're ambitious, they have a plan. They have a career goals that they want to get. And so along the way, though, they're like, okay, in their late 20s, now they're like, okay, well, I'll meet somebody when I'm 32. And that person will be the perfect person. And then we'll have two children by the time I'm 34.

And then none of that is actually going to work out the way that you think. So some people I see, you know, punt. And they're like, well, I don't want to move to North Carolina where my long distance boyfriend is because my career is going so well. Or he doesn't want to move up here for me. Well, look, if you want to have a marriage, that someone's going to have to move. And it will work out. And I strongly believe that my career has been enhanced every step of the way because of Peter. I remember when we got asked to do the five, we were living in D.C.

We had a lovely home. And I was sort of like, oh, I'm to New York. And I kind of had a sour thought about it. And Peter's, when I told him, he said, congratulations. This is what you always wanted. And I was worried about the move. and he said, leave the move to me. That's the kind of husband I'm looking for it.

That's unbelievable. That sounds pretty sweet. Now, do you say what Peter does? Can you say like what business he's in? Sure, yeah. So he's international sales and marketing for surgical devices. He's a CEO of a company now that they're working on something called a trow car. And that's about as far as I get because when I start talking about surgery, I will faint.

Like literally faint. Right. If I talk. Okay. Okay. Then we won't talk about surgery. But that, what you said, it's so counterintuitive for a lot of people. And I do think that it is vital that, I mean, look, this is why whenever people ask me for advice, the first thing I say is, listen, I didn't plan anything.

God planned everything. And yet you really, you have to leave room for that because you don't know what is coming around the corner. You cannot, you can't figure it out. And by the way, you don't know that you're going to get on a plane and meet your husband. You don't know that. And you can't plan that. And when you meet them, whether you're ready or not, there it goes. So I still think, how many years have you two been married now?

23. 23 years. Unbelievable. But it is incredible because you, you know, you were obviously ready to get married at that point. But the idea that God's going to throw your, you were not. Really? No, so I was working on Capitol Hill. I was doing very well.

In fact, I just did a talk with Speaker Gingrich the other day. and he remembers me from that time, although he says he does. I don't know if he really does, but I was on a pretty good career trajectory. And when I met Peter, he lived in England. He's 18 years older than me. He'd been married before.

And I remember looking at the window on the plane and saying, Lord, I know I asked you to help me to meet somebody, but he lives in England. He's 18 years older than me. Did I mention he lives in England? And I had all these reasons why it wouldn't work out. And I was, I'm not embarrassed to say this, but I look back and think that this was just not a good thought to have. I was really concerned about what people would think about me if I were to leave my career and move to England that maybe I would never get to work in politics or media again.

Obviously, that's not true. And there was a, there was a woman in my family that took me aside that Christmas. She knew I was struggling with this. And she said, don't give up on this opportunity to be loved. It may never happen again. And she said, don't worry what other people are thinking about. Nobody's thinking about you. Everybody just thinks about themselves, which is true.

And I don't know. As soon as I let that go and just like trusted God just followed my heart, everything worked out. So 23 years into it, do you think this is going to last? What do you think? I think we're going to make it. You're clinging to this. Now, that's just really amazing. Now, why was Peter in England?

Is he English? He's British, yeah. Well, he's American citizen now. He loves America, but yes, his dad was in the Royal Air Force, and he was born in England and lived around the world, but he's British. Got a great accent. I was going to say the English accent helps. It helps.

But that's just beautiful. I'm glad you share. that because people do need to hear that they have these ideas in their head i mean we all do i did too i mean my story is sort of uh similar to yours but it is really interesting and i think that when you're talking about career advice you don't want to give people the impression it's all about career it's about life uh so i'm i'm very glad you shared that this don't help me a lot because i got kicked out of the oval office ones but it wasn't my fault anyway i was so mortified so i called him and i was very tearful i had just started at the white house and he said well

just think for the rest of your life, you can be kicked out of better places than this. That is hilarious. Now it's been a thousand years. Can you tell why you were kicked out of the Oval Office? Yes, because it was a miscommunity. I was helping out the communications director. There was a miscommunications between the president and the communications director about an interview. So the president thought he had just agreed to talk to a reporter. When Dan Bartlett took that to mean he's going to do an interview with the reporter. So they had a miscommunication. So I was there, I showed up to help conduct the interview. And when the president put his foot down and says, I'm not doing an interview with him.

And therefore, she doesn't need to be here. And then he went like this. You know, like tilted his head. It's like showing me the door. The president did that to you? W did that to you. Man. That was in 2005.

And in 2010, I was doing his book tour with him. And we're on the plane. And I said, Mr. President, do you remember when you kicked me? out of the Oval Office. He said, I never kicked you out of the Oval Office. I said, no, sir, don't you remember? And I can remember Eric, every single thing that happened to me that day, what I was wearing, what he said. And he had no recollection about it at all. And he said, are you still upset? I said, yes. Well, you know, look, he's the President of the United States. He's doing a million things. He has no clue. It's like that was a moment. And for you,

okay, we're going to, we're going to be right back, folks. I get to continue talking to Dana. Perino, why would you go away? We'll be right back. Hey there, folks. Remember me? I'm Eric. I'm the host. I have a guest.

Her name's Dana Perino. The book is Everything Will Be Okay, but the subtitle, Life Lessons for Young Women from a former young woman. Isn't it sad? Dana, I'm so sorry. You've aged terribly. And yet you're willing to walk it out there. You're not ashamed.

You were just talking about the time. you say President Bush threw you out of the Oval Office, and he looked at you like, what are you talking about? Because he didn't really throw you out of the Oval Office. But obviously, if you're the president of the United States, every little thing you do will be remembered by everyone because you're the president. So when I went to visit him in Dallas in his office right after the presidency, you know, I remember every detail of that, including the way he kind of threw me out of there after an hour. He goes, well, I got another interview. He goes, I guess I got to kick you out, you know.

Very good imitation. very much. And so he, you know, he said, I guess it's got to kick you out. And I thought, kick me out, Mr. President. But anyway, you know, he's like, what are you talking about? So you, you had that experience of being right there in the White House for quite a while. It's hard for most people to imagine. At what point did it cease to become, you know, sort of absurd for you in the moment that you can't believe you're there, you can't believe you there, but when you're just there doing what you do? I would say every, well, I had a good recommendation from Andy Card.

Remember, he was the first chief of staff. And when you would go in for your interview before you're commissioned, you would have to do a talk with Andy. And we were in his office in the West Wing. And he recommended saying something of gratitude every single day when you walked into the West Wing. So I started a tradition where whenever I went into those doors, just, to the, you know, the ones where the Marine is standing, and when the Marine would open the door for me, I would say a prayer of thanks to God, thanking him for allowing me this opportunity to work for the American people and for the protection of the Marine that was at the door. And I did that every day,

and I felt like that was a good way to just remind myself every time I walked in that it was such a privilege to be there. And it was honor of a lifetime. I loved it. It was hard work, but it was joyous work as well. I don't think I'd never do it again, but I loved it at the time. Well, I mean, I have to say President Bush, W., he was a fun person and was a jokester. And so I think it's fun to be around somebody who has a sense of humor like that. I imagine that there are other presidents for whom it wouldn't be so much fun. I think Trump is a jokester too. And it's fun to be around that. They make it easy. I'm not going to mention presidents that I don't think of as jokesters like Vice President Biden, for example. I would never even mention that in the year.

I don't want to get political. So, Dana, are you traveling around the country now doing a book tour, anything like that, or is everything virtual? Most of it is virtual. I did have a chance to go to three in-person events. I went to the Bush Center and President and Mrs. Bush came to my book event there. That was in-person. I went to San Antonio and then to Jacksonville, Florida. But that's all I've got on the books right now. So just trying to get through on virtual book tour. But I can feel in the country, things feel a little bit better. You know, the vaccinations, people feel like they're a little bit more confident to get out there. I'm not going to get that vaccination.

I'm not an anti-vaxxer, but I just think like, it's not the black death. Like if I get COVID, so what? That's my attitude. You can't even say that. You're going to get it? Really? Because especially like Johnson and Johnson, 100 percent no death, no hospitalization. So I get the flu shot too.

I'm pretty open to it. I think, well, I'm open to getting the flu shot, I guess. I don't know. I think, but one of the side effects of some of these vaccines is death. Did you know that? Death? Well, also ringing in the ears, which I don't want. That was a joke.

Well, there are some weird, I don't know. I guess I just think everybody's kind of like sort of overly freaked out about it, but whatever. Final piece of advice. A young woman comes to you, says, what do I do? And you have 20 seconds. What do you say to somebody? Don't worry your life away, but work really hard to set yourself apart. because you're in a competitive situation.

Don't worry your life away. Dana, it's just, it's very enjoyable to talk to you. You put me at ease, which is very difficult to do. Thank you very much. Congratulations on the book. Everything will be okay. And God bless you. We'll talk to you soon.