>>> BETO O’ROURKE IS GOING TO IOWA TOMORROW, AND TONIGHT
"VANITY FAIR" IS OUT WITH A
COVER STORY TO ACCOMPANY BETO
O’ROURKE ON HIS FIRST TRIP TO
IOWA ON WHAT ALREADY SEEMS LIKE
A PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN.
AUTHOR AND REPORTER JOE HAGAN
PAINTED THIS PROFILE OF BETO
O’ROURKE IN VANITY FAIR THAT
COVERS HIS LIFE STORY AND HIS
POLITICAL CAREER AND ENDS WITH
BETO O’ROURKE TELLING JOE HAGAN,
"YOU CAN PROBABLY TELL THAT I
WANT TO RUN," HE FINALLY
CONFIDES.
CONFIDES. SMILING I DO.
I THINK I’D BE GOOD AT IT.
THIS IS THE FIGHT OF OUR LIVES,
HE CONTINUES.
HE CONTINUES. NOT THE FIGHT OF MY POLITICAL
LIFE KIND OF CRAP, BUT, LIKE,
THIS IS THE FIGHT OF OUR LIVES
AS AMERICANS AND AS HUMANS.
I WANT TO BE IN IT, HE SAYS.
NOW LEANING FORWARD.
MAN, I’M JUST BORN TO BE IN IT
AND WANT TO DO EVERYTHING I
HUMANLY CAN FOR THIS COUNTRY AT
THIS MOMENT.
THIS MOMENT. JOINING OUR DISCUSSION NOW BY
PHONE IS JOE HAGAN, A SPECIAL
CORRESPONDENT FOR "VANITY FAIR."
HE INTERVIEWED BETO O’ROURKE FOR
THE APRIL ISSUE OF THE MAGAZINE
THAT’S OUT TONIGHT.
JOE, HE IN YOUR PIECE SAYS
EVERYTHING BUT I AM A CANDIDATE
FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED
STATES.
STATES. WHAT DO YOU THINK HE’S GOING TO
SAY TOMORROW?
SAY TOMORROW? >> WELL, YOU KNOW, MY EDUCATED
GUESS, BASED ON ALL THE FACTS
THAT ARE COMING IN THIS EVENING
AND THE FACT THAT HE DID THIS
STORY, OBVIOUSLY, IS THAT HE’S
GOING TO RUN, THAT HE FEELS
COMPELLED TO RUN.
HE SPENT SOME TIME IN THE
WILDERNESS, YOU KNOW, AFTER HIS
LOSS TO TED CRUZ AND HE GAVE IT
A LOT OF, YOU KNOW, THOUGHT AND
HE CONFIDED WITH HIS WIFE AND
FAMILY AND CAME OUT THE OTHER
SIDE OF THAT AND DECIDED THIS IS
IT.
IT. I GOT TO DO THIS.
>> JOE, AS USUAL, AS I’VE COME
TO EXPECT FROM YOU, BEAUTIFUL
WRITING, IMPORTANT INSIGHTS THAT
YOU PICK UP, YOUR AUTHOR’S EYE
PICKS UP, AND ALL THE TIME YOU
CLEARLY SPENT WITH BETO O’ROURKE
AND HIS WIFE.
AND THERE IS A PASSAGE IN THE
MIDDLE OF YOUR PIECE WHERE
THEY’RE ON THEIR WAY BACK TO
TEXAS FROM TAPING THE OPRAH
INTERVIEW AND BETO O’ROURKE’S
WIFE AMY STARTS TO REALIZE THAT
WHAT HE DID ON THAT SHOW, SHE
BELIEVES, IS DECIDE RIGHT THERE
THAT HE’S GOING TO RUN.
AND AT THE END OF THAT
PARAGRAPH, YOU END IT WITH HER
SAYING "SHE KNEW HE WAS
RUNNING."
RUNNING." >> THAT’S RIGHT.
>> THAT’S PRETTY POWERFUL STUFF.
>> YEAH.
>> YEAH. AND, YOU KNOW, IT WAS ONLY THE
WEEK BEFORE THAT THEY HAD HAD
SOME KIND OF BREAKTHROUGH IN
THEIR KIND OF MARITAL
CONVERSATION IN WHICH HE -- THEY
DECIDED, OKAY, WE’RE GOING TO DO
THIS AND HE KIND OF STAYS UP
HALF THE NIGHT THINKING ABOUT
HOW HE’S GOING TO DO IT.
HE CAN’T SLEEP.
HE GETS UP NEXT MORNING AND GOES
ON THIS RUN.
IT WAS JUST AS EASY AS THAT.
I BELIEVE THE DATE WAS FEBRUARY
1st.
1st. IT WAS RIGHT BEFORE OPRAH.
I THINK THAT OPRAH INTERVIEW WAS
DEFINITELY SORT OF LIKE, WELL,
THIS IS REAL, A CATALYZEDING
EVENT.
EVENT. FLYING BACK FROM EL PASO HAVING
SPOKEN WITH OPRAH.
TWO INTERESTING THINGS HAPPENED,
ONE, THEY LEARNED THAT DONALD
TRUMP WAS COMING TO EL PASO TO
DO A RALLY, RIGHT?
WHO COULD -- YOU KNOW, THERE IT
IS IN BLACK AND WHITE.
YOU’RE ABOUT TO BE CONFRONTED
WITH OUR OSYOUR OPPONENT.
YOU KNOW, THEY WERE ABSORBING IT
RIGHT THERE IN REAL TIME.
>> YEAH, YOUR DESCRIPTION OF IT
IS MUCH MORE CLEVERLY THANOLORFU
THERE IS A LITTLE BIT OF
PROFANITY IN IT IN THEIR
DISCUSSIONS ABOUT IT.
YOU ALSO REVEAL THAT HE TOLD YOU
IN THE OPRAH INTERVIEW WHICH HE
SAID, WHICH WAS A MONTH AGO, AND
HE SAID HE WAS GOING TO DECIDE
BEFORE THE END OF THE MONTH AND
WE’RE NOW TWO WEEKS INTO
OVERTIME.
OVERTIME. HE SAID IN THAT INTERVIEW HE
WOULD DECIDE BEFORE THE END OF
THE MONTH.
THE MONTH. HE TOLD YOU, I DID NOT INTEND TO
SAY THAT.
SAY THAT. >> THAT’S RIGHT.
>> HE JUST SAID IT IN THE
INTERVIEW.
INTERVIEW. AND THROUGHOUT YOUR PIECE IS A
CHARACTER WHO IS CAPABLE OF
THOSE KINDS OF MOMENTS.
YOU CAN SEE WHERE THOSE KINDS OF
MOMENTS COME FROM IN THE WAY
YOU’VE REPORTED HIS LIFE.
>> WELL, LISTEN, THAT’S WHAT
MADE HIM SO COMPELLING IN HIS
RACE AGAINST TED CRUZ LAST YEAR,
WAS A SENSE THAT YOU WERE OUT ON
THE PERIMETER WITH THIS GUY WHO
IS MAKING DECISIONS ON THE FLY
AND HAS -- HE’S A GUT PLAYER,
RIGHT?
RIGHT? HE’S SOMEBODY WHO KIND OF ACTS
OUT OF INTUITION, AND EVEN IF AT
THE BEGINNING OF THE ARTICLE YOU
READ ABOUT HOW HE, YOU KNOW, IN
THE THIRD STOP OF HIS CAMPAIGN
KIND OF DOESN’T EVEN HAVE A
SPEECH PREPARED AND FEELS LIKE
HE’S JUST WINGING IT AND HAS
THIS KIND OF, YOU KNOW, SEMI
MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE WITH
CONNECTING WITH AN AUDIENCE.
AND I THINK HIS ABILITY TO
CONNECT WITH PEOPLE, THIS KIND
OF PURE RETAIL POLITICIAN THAT
HE IS, IS SOMETHING THAT HE
DISCOVERED LAST YEAR, IN THE
LAST TWO YEARS, AND THAT HE
FEELS LIKE HE HAS TO DO
SOMETHING WITH IT.
IT’S LIKE A PURPOSE THAT HE
SEEMS TO HAVE, RIGHT?
NOW, YOU KNOW, WHETHER THAT’S
GOING TO HOLD UP IN A DEMOCRATIC
PRIMARY ON A NATIONAL STAGE IS
YET TO BE SEEN.
>> JOE, I WAS AT ONE OF THE
SPEECHES YOU DESCRIBE IN YOUR
PIECE.
PIECE. I HAVE TO SAY, THIS IS REALLY
BEAUTIFUL WRITING AND
BEAUTIFULLY OBSERVED.
BEAUTIFULLY OBSERVED. IT REALLY MAKES THE READER FEEL
LIKE YOU WERE THERE.
ESPECIALLY THE WAY BETO O’ROURKE
NARRATIVES WHAT I WAS SEEING UP
ON THE STAGE AND WHAT HE WAS
DOING UP ON THAT STAGE.