Dana Perino's new book is called Purple State. It's a political romance novel set in a gerrymandered Wisconsin district, about three young women who discover that love and friendship don't stop at party lines.

Coming from the 26th White House Press Secretary and co-host of The Five on Fox News (the most-watched show on cable news!), it's a book worth paying attention to. Especially as we find ourselves more divided than any time in recent history.

Dana talks about the personal story behind the book: The time a dear friend said, "Do not pass up the chance to be loved." She almost didn't listen.

Dana tells the story of sitting in the Oval Office with President Bush just before walking out to face a press corps hungry over a tell-all memoir from her predecessor. She was furious on his behalf. He told her something about forgiveness that changed her.

Purple State is out now. Pick it up today here:* https://amzn.to/4tRzGcZ

CHAPTER MARKERS

0:00:00 Welcome to the Treehouse Studio

0:01:13 The 2007 Phone Call

0:02:35 Life After the White House

0:04:58 Purple State: The Book

0:06:59 Why I Wrote a Novel

0:10:42 Wearing Your Politics Lightly

0:12:57 The Oval Office and the Forgiveness Lesson

0:15:52 68% of Young People Won't Date Across Party Lines

0:17:29 Do Not Pass Up the Chance to Be Loved

0:19:00 Peter, the Proposal, and the Open-Ended Ticket

0:20:05 Dinner With the Queen's Staff

0:21:46 There Is Freedom in Being Disciplined

0:23:41 Closing Thoughts on Purple State

0:24:49 Outro

KEYWORDS / TAGS

Dana Perino, Purple State, leadership, Fox News, The Five, White House Press Secretary, forgiveness, discipline, political fiction, women in leadership, Minute Mentoring, President Bush, Jonathan Block, Stumbling Blocks, career resilience, love, faith

*Amazon affiliates receive a small commission from Amazon for purchases made through this link. Commissions do not impact editorial decisions.

My parents were visiting me the day I interviewed Sue Gordon, former Deputy Director of National Intelligence. So they joined me in the Treehouse Studio to say a quick hello to her.

Here's their conversation.

Sue Gordon once oversaw 100,000 women and men of the U.S. intelligence community as Deputy Director of National Intelligence, the number two role in American spycraft.

She briefed Presidents Reagan, HW Bush, Clinton, W Bush, Obama, and Trump. She managed a $100 billion budget.

And in August 2019, she handed Vice President Pence her resignation letter with a handwritten note: "I offer this letter as an act of respect and patriotism, not preference. You should have your team. Godspeed, Sue."

Since then, life has come at her hard. Both parents died. Her husband Jim, the love of her life for 43 years, died unexpectedly. She has faced two rounds with cancer, the second one far more deadly than the first.

And she says she's the most blessed woman in the world.

In this conversation, Sue goes deep on:

• The U.S. strikes on Iran and what she sees that most Americans don't
• What the Epstein files actually reveal about how power protects itself
• Why she almost ran for President
• Why she quit the CIA with two weeks' notice to be a better mom
• How the Trump administration publicly excoriated a 40-year career civil servant, and what she chose to do instead of fighting back
• Why she thinks America needs to fix a system the Founders never designed for this much speed
• What she wants every woman in a man's world to know, and what she wants the good men to finally do about it
• The doorways of grief, and how to move through them
  

This is Sue Gordon in full: the spy, the mom, the widow, the patient, the patriot. Unfiltered. Funny. Occasionally heartbreaking. Always worth your time.

Find her podcast, Understandable Insights here:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/understandable-insights-information-to-intelligence/id1827249845

Books and Works Mentioned:

A Severe Mercy

The Price We Pay

An Immense Journey

Sue's Resignation Letter

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