1 00:00:15,090 --> 00:00:24,410 Speaker 1: Pushkin. Hey, it's Jacob Weisberg from Pushkin Industries. I am 2 00:00:24,410 --> 00:00:27,810 Speaker 1: really excited to introduce you to Pushkin's newest show, The 3 00:00:27,970 --> 00:00:33,290 Speaker 1: Chronicles of Now short fiction. Inspired by the news. As 4 00:00:33,330 --> 00:00:36,170 Speaker 1: I'm sure you can imagine, it's a fruitful time for material, 5 00:00:36,850 --> 00:00:39,930 Speaker 1: and given the news about Michael Cohen getting sprung from prison, 6 00:00:40,210 --> 00:00:43,290 Speaker 1: we couldn't wait to get the first episode out, So 7 00:00:43,370 --> 00:00:46,810 Speaker 1: here's a sneak preview. More episodes will be coming out 8 00:00:46,810 --> 00:00:51,170 Speaker 1: weekly starting Wednesday, June twenty fourth. Make sure you subscribe 9 00:00:51,210 --> 00:00:54,010 Speaker 1: so you don't miss any of them. Here is the 10 00:00:54,170 --> 00:00:59,410 Speaker 1: Chronicles of Now. Secual counsel Robert Mueller. The FBI has 11 00:00:59,410 --> 00:01:02,970 Speaker 1: executed search warrants at the office of Michael Cohen, the 12 00:01:03,010 --> 00:01:08,970 Speaker 1: President's personal lawyer. In a world gone haywire. Sometimes our 13 00:01:09,450 --> 00:01:11,810 Speaker 1: is the only thing that can make sense of it all. 14 00:01:11,930 --> 00:01:14,730 Speaker 1: He was the President's fixer, the man who once said 15 00:01:14,730 --> 00:01:16,850 Speaker 1: he'd take a bullet for Donald Trump. I will do 16 00:01:16,890 --> 00:01:20,450 Speaker 1: anything to protect mister Trump. This is the Chronicles of 17 00:01:20,530 --> 00:01:25,010 Speaker 1: Now short fiction, torn from today's headlines. I'm Ashley Ford. 18 00:01:25,530 --> 00:01:27,850 Speaker 1: I regret the day I said yes to mister Trump. 19 00:01:28,250 --> 00:01:31,450 Speaker 1: This week a story about that guy there, Michael Cohen 20 00:01:31,890 --> 00:01:36,050 Speaker 1: by this guy here, novelist Jess Walter, We all for 21 00:01:36,090 --> 00:01:39,170 Speaker 1: a moment stopped and rooted for the most ridiculous character 22 00:01:39,250 --> 00:01:42,130 Speaker 1: to finally tell the truth and finally be listened to. 23 00:01:45,210 --> 00:01:47,930 Speaker 1: I regret all the help and support I gave him 24 00:01:47,970 --> 00:01:51,650 Speaker 1: along the way. President's longtime lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen 25 00:01:51,730 --> 00:01:54,530 Speaker 1: heading off the prison for three years. This is him 26 00:01:54,610 --> 00:01:57,330 Speaker 1: leaving his New York Michael Cohen is going to head 27 00:01:57,410 --> 00:02:00,130 Speaker 1: up so now seventy five miles northwest of New York 28 00:02:00,170 --> 00:02:04,330 Speaker 1: City to Otisville, New York, where the prison is Donald 29 00:02:04,370 --> 00:02:07,530 Speaker 1: Trump's a former lawyer, Michael Cohen, will be released early 30 00:02:07,610 --> 00:02:12,290 Speaker 1: from prison because of the coronavirus pandemic. When I saw 31 00:02:12,290 --> 00:02:14,610 Speaker 1: that he was being released from prison, I did like 32 00:02:14,650 --> 00:02:18,370 Speaker 1: a Google search and just saw that according to rumors, 33 00:02:18,370 --> 00:02:20,250 Speaker 1: he's writing a book, oh and that he wants to 34 00:02:20,290 --> 00:02:23,330 Speaker 1: come out before the election. Cohen will serve the rest 35 00:02:23,330 --> 00:02:26,570 Speaker 1: of his time in home confinement. Yeah, it just felt 36 00:02:26,570 --> 00:02:45,410 Speaker 1: like the makings of a great, really short story. Here 37 00:02:45,410 --> 00:02:53,810 Speaker 1: in Notisville, everyone betters himself. Gris LSATs Micelli is studying 38 00:02:53,810 --> 00:02:59,250 Speaker 1: for his real estate license, and me, I've lost thirty 39 00:02:59,250 --> 00:03:08,050 Speaker 1: pounds and started writing. I was popular the minute I arrived. 40 00:03:08,810 --> 00:03:11,810 Speaker 1: Most guys wanted to know if mister Trump was as 41 00:03:11,930 --> 00:03:17,170 Speaker 1: terrible as he seemed. Yes, especially the Black and Spanish guys. 42 00:03:18,010 --> 00:03:22,370 Speaker 1: They hate him. They'd ask, is it true he wears 43 00:03:22,370 --> 00:03:27,050 Speaker 1: adult diapers? No comment? Did he do that thing with 44 00:03:27,130 --> 00:03:34,090 Speaker 1: the Russian hookers? No comment? But duh. Some guys wanted 45 00:03:34,210 --> 00:03:39,290 Speaker 1: legal advice. I had to confess my areas of expertise 46 00:03:39,650 --> 00:03:50,130 Speaker 1: were more taxicab, medallions and foreign policy. My wife was 47 00:03:50,170 --> 00:03:53,410 Speaker 1: worried that prison would be like law and order, but 48 00:03:53,490 --> 00:03:58,770 Speaker 1: I told her everyone here is nice, well almost everyone. 49 00:04:00,170 --> 00:04:04,530 Speaker 1: The fat Man has his fans here too, fox fox 50 00:04:04,850 --> 00:04:10,130 Speaker 1: and psychopaths. Mostly the fox Fox admire him because he 51 00:04:10,250 --> 00:04:14,730 Speaker 1: tells smart people to pound sand. The psychos like him 52 00:04:14,770 --> 00:04:22,610 Speaker 1: because he gets away with everything. Otisville is medium security, 53 00:04:23,410 --> 00:04:27,090 Speaker 1: like a middle school with razor wire. There are tennis 54 00:04:27,130 --> 00:04:31,210 Speaker 1: courts and kosher food. And I was the biggest star here. 55 00:04:31,850 --> 00:04:37,970 Speaker 1: Once Mike the situation from Jersey Shore got released. That's 56 00:04:38,010 --> 00:04:41,570 Speaker 1: when I knew it was going to be okay, that 57 00:04:41,730 --> 00:04:45,970 Speaker 1: life inside wasn't so different from life outside the day 58 00:04:46,010 --> 00:04:51,610 Speaker 1: I saw the situation outside the Rabbi's office, Michael Cohen, 59 00:04:52,370 --> 00:04:59,810 Speaker 1: He said, Sitch, I said, back, we pro hugged. Celebrity 60 00:05:00,490 --> 00:05:09,290 Speaker 1: is the great equalizer. Now that I write that, I 61 00:05:09,330 --> 00:05:13,490 Speaker 1: guess it's the opposite of an equalizer, because it makes 62 00:05:13,530 --> 00:05:18,770 Speaker 1: you unequalm. This is going to be harder than I 63 00:05:18,850 --> 00:05:24,450 Speaker 1: thought writing a book. My lawyer says they'll hire a 64 00:05:24,490 --> 00:05:28,250 Speaker 1: ghost writer, but I kind of want to do it myself, 65 00:05:29,410 --> 00:05:40,610 Speaker 1: more betterment. But the words equalizer, situation, stormy, fixer, rat, 66 00:05:42,250 --> 00:05:58,770 Speaker 1: it really makes you think I have only one enemy 67 00:05:58,810 --> 00:06:03,290 Speaker 1: in here, this gray haired guy doing eight years for fraud. 68 00:06:04,770 --> 00:06:08,250 Speaker 1: It's his second stint to notice Phil. He's like the 69 00:06:08,330 --> 00:06:16,970 Speaker 1: yard ball. He calls me rat, fixer Snitch. Everyone calls 70 00:06:17,090 --> 00:06:22,250 Speaker 1: him the Ponds because he specialized in Ponzi schemes, and 71 00:06:22,490 --> 00:06:28,930 Speaker 1: because of the Ponds from Happy Days. Once we were 72 00:06:28,970 --> 00:06:32,650 Speaker 1: in the activity room watching the news and Giuliani was 73 00:06:32,730 --> 00:06:36,570 Speaker 1: tripping on his own dick, and the Pond said he 74 00:06:36,690 --> 00:06:39,610 Speaker 1: looked like one of those balls he squeezed for stress 75 00:06:40,170 --> 00:06:45,530 Speaker 1: where the eyes pop out. Even you were a better 76 00:06:45,610 --> 00:06:50,250 Speaker 1: lawyer than that, guy, said the Ponds. Thanks, I said, 77 00:06:51,330 --> 00:07:00,490 Speaker 1: but it wasn't a compliment that even words. Then the 78 00:07:00,570 --> 00:07:06,770 Speaker 1: Pond said, you miss it, don't you? Rat I ignored 79 00:07:06,810 --> 00:07:11,410 Speaker 1: the rat part, not at all. I said, I've lost 80 00:07:11,450 --> 00:07:17,050 Speaker 1: thirty pounds, my conscience is free. Come on, he said, 81 00:07:17,930 --> 00:07:22,370 Speaker 1: you miss it. You fucked up by talking. You could 82 00:07:22,370 --> 00:07:27,570 Speaker 1: have gotten a pardon instead. You know what snitches get right. 83 00:07:31,290 --> 00:07:37,130 Speaker 1: That's when I got scared. There aren't actual gangs here, 84 00:07:37,650 --> 00:07:41,930 Speaker 1: no Larassa or Aryan brotherhood. But it doesn't mean you 85 00:07:41,970 --> 00:07:47,130 Speaker 1: don't have to watch your back. For instance, the Ponds 86 00:07:47,250 --> 00:07:51,690 Speaker 1: is in a book club, the wc OG white collar 87 00:07:51,730 --> 00:07:55,850 Speaker 1: original gangsters. To get in, you have to be doing 88 00:07:55,890 --> 00:08:00,610 Speaker 1: at least a nickel for tax evasion, fraud or insider trading. 89 00:08:01,650 --> 00:08:05,490 Speaker 1: They meet in the quad to talk about CEO autobiographies. 90 00:08:06,330 --> 00:08:10,330 Speaker 1: Sometimes they mix in a Michael Lewis or Malcolm Gladwell book, 91 00:08:11,370 --> 00:08:23,250 Speaker 1: but only to trash it. I didn't sleep well after 92 00:08:23,330 --> 00:08:29,490 Speaker 1: the Pond said that was he right? Did I miss it? 93 00:08:30,770 --> 00:08:36,010 Speaker 1: I mean on my phone he was just tea. I 94 00:08:36,090 --> 00:08:40,730 Speaker 1: can't tell you how that felt, the President calling me 95 00:08:42,970 --> 00:08:46,570 Speaker 1: and now would I ever be more than a joke 96 00:08:46,650 --> 00:08:51,570 Speaker 1: to the MSNBC lame streamers but traitorous racked to the 97 00:08:51,690 --> 00:08:59,170 Speaker 1: Fox Fox. I felt so alone. For a while. There 98 00:08:59,250 --> 00:09:02,890 Speaker 1: was a rumor that Martin Screlly was getting transferred to Odisville. 99 00:09:03,810 --> 00:09:07,890 Speaker 1: I imagined roaming the halls with another celeb, showing the 100 00:09:07,890 --> 00:09:12,130 Speaker 1: farmer row around. There's the weight room, and here's the 101 00:09:12,210 --> 00:09:19,050 Speaker 1: basketball courts, and there's the pharmacy. We'd laugh the pharmacy. 102 00:09:20,890 --> 00:09:25,210 Speaker 1: Then the Ponds would see us and I'd say, hey, Ponds, 103 00:09:26,130 --> 00:09:31,730 Speaker 1: you stole millions. This dude stole billions. Suck on that. 104 00:09:36,410 --> 00:09:40,450 Speaker 1: They ended up sending Strelly to a different prison, and 105 00:09:40,570 --> 00:09:44,490 Speaker 1: I was truly alone, the only celebrity on my block. 106 00:09:46,250 --> 00:09:49,770 Speaker 1: One day, I was in the activity room and a 107 00:09:49,850 --> 00:09:54,250 Speaker 1: guy tripped on my laptop chord and unplugged it. I 108 00:09:54,370 --> 00:10:00,090 Speaker 1: looked up. It was one of them, a WCOG book clubber. 109 00:10:02,050 --> 00:10:08,530 Speaker 1: He apologized, but I got the message. I wasn't safe anywhere. 110 00:10:10,850 --> 00:10:14,210 Speaker 1: If this was a TV jail, I'd carve a spoon 111 00:10:14,290 --> 00:10:18,810 Speaker 1: into a knife or fill a pillowcase with soap. But 112 00:10:18,970 --> 00:10:22,010 Speaker 1: here at Otisville, there was nothing to do but tell 113 00:10:22,090 --> 00:10:26,370 Speaker 1: my counselor, and he was a gestalt therapist who tried 114 00:10:26,410 --> 00:10:28,930 Speaker 1: to frame the whole thing as a patterned reaction. I 115 00:10:29,050 --> 00:10:34,130 Speaker 1: have the feelings of rejection. It was my lowest point, 116 00:10:38,850 --> 00:10:45,850 Speaker 1: but that's when the virus arrived and everything changed. No 117 00:10:45,930 --> 00:10:50,490 Speaker 1: more activities, no more book club, and without his boys, 118 00:10:51,330 --> 00:10:56,490 Speaker 1: the Ponds was just another old fraud. Then came even 119 00:10:56,770 --> 00:11:00,450 Speaker 1: better news. They were sending some of us home early, 120 00:11:01,490 --> 00:11:06,050 Speaker 1: and I was one of the lucky ones. Honestly, I 121 00:11:06,090 --> 00:11:08,970 Speaker 1: hadn't wanted to admit how much I missed my family, 122 00:11:09,930 --> 00:11:13,930 Speaker 1: even to my therapist. It hurt too much to think about. 123 00:11:15,850 --> 00:11:22,250 Speaker 1: But this virus, it put everything in perspective life, death. 124 00:11:23,330 --> 00:11:27,450 Speaker 1: What did the Ponds matter now? The virus didn't see you, 125 00:11:27,650 --> 00:11:32,610 Speaker 1: lame streamers and Fox Fox. To the virus, We're all 126 00:11:32,650 --> 00:11:41,130 Speaker 1: just meat. The virus. That is the great equalizer. So 127 00:11:42,090 --> 00:11:45,170 Speaker 1: on the last day of my two week quarantine, before 128 00:11:45,210 --> 00:11:48,450 Speaker 1: I went home, I wrote a note to the Ponds. 129 00:11:49,970 --> 00:11:53,090 Speaker 1: I paid a trustee to deliver it to him, tucked 130 00:11:53,130 --> 00:12:00,450 Speaker 1: inside his National Review, Hey Pons, I wrote, you want 131 00:12:00,490 --> 00:12:08,090 Speaker 1: to know what else snitches get book deals? Motherfucker fixer? 132 00:12:18,850 --> 00:12:23,410 Speaker 1: That was The Ponds by Jess Walter. That is the 133 00:12:23,490 --> 00:12:27,090 Speaker 1: first time I've read anything about Michael Cohen that made 134 00:12:27,090 --> 00:12:31,330 Speaker 1: me laugh a little. Why are you thinking about Michael Cohen? 135 00:12:32,370 --> 00:12:36,050 Speaker 1: Why is he a worthy protagonist for you? Right now? 136 00:12:36,690 --> 00:12:39,810 Speaker 1: I can honestly say I'm usually not thinking about Michael Cohen, 137 00:12:39,890 --> 00:12:43,210 Speaker 1: but there are so many of these Trump characters that 138 00:12:43,250 --> 00:12:47,050 Speaker 1: I wish I'd never heard of. But there's something weird 139 00:12:47,130 --> 00:12:50,610 Speaker 1: and poignant and needy about him, this sort of broken, 140 00:12:50,770 --> 00:12:55,170 Speaker 1: needy guy who, if he hadn't slithered up to Trump's 141 00:12:55,250 --> 00:12:58,210 Speaker 1: ship and attached himself like a barnacle, would still be 142 00:12:58,290 --> 00:13:03,410 Speaker 1: pulling taxicab scams somewhere. And Yeah, when the idea of 143 00:13:03,450 --> 00:13:06,410 Speaker 1: writing stories based on the news popped up, I thought, Oh, 144 00:13:06,490 --> 00:13:09,730 Speaker 1: the only one of these characters that I could possibly 145 00:13:09,770 --> 00:13:15,130 Speaker 1: imagine in fiction is poor, sappy, said, corrupt, awful Michael Cohen. 146 00:13:15,610 --> 00:13:19,370 Speaker 1: And Cohen is famous or infamous like Mike the situation, 147 00:13:19,690 --> 00:13:23,970 Speaker 1: like Martin Schcrelly. What is your story telling us about 148 00:13:24,170 --> 00:13:27,650 Speaker 1: fame in America right now? I mean, we are so 149 00:13:27,690 --> 00:13:32,210 Speaker 1: far down that road from the nineteen sixty presidential debate, 150 00:13:32,290 --> 00:13:35,930 Speaker 1: when you know Nixon lost points for sweating on television 151 00:13:35,930 --> 00:13:40,610 Speaker 1: and now we have an actual horrible reality TV star 152 00:13:41,130 --> 00:13:45,610 Speaker 1: in the White House. Fame is so ingrained in what's 153 00:13:45,610 --> 00:13:48,250 Speaker 1: wrong with America that I don't even really know where 154 00:13:48,290 --> 00:13:51,250 Speaker 1: to start except to let it speak for itself. Let 155 00:13:51,730 --> 00:13:54,930 Speaker 1: you know, Michael Cohen, bro hug the sitch in prison 156 00:13:54,970 --> 00:13:58,210 Speaker 1: and feel alone because he's the only famous person on 157 00:13:58,250 --> 00:14:00,770 Speaker 1: his block. I don't know how else to say it, 158 00:14:00,850 --> 00:14:06,410 Speaker 1: that these marginal characters are famous and are the people 159 00:14:06,450 --> 00:14:10,330 Speaker 1: we talk about and somehow we've decided should run the 160 00:14:10,330 --> 00:14:14,530 Speaker 1: country during the most devastating, you know, moment in the 161 00:14:14,610 --> 00:14:17,930 Speaker 1: last fifty years of our history? Is Michael Cohen a 162 00:14:17,970 --> 00:14:22,570 Speaker 1: better person for having confessed or for taking his chances 163 00:14:22,610 --> 00:14:26,570 Speaker 1: with the courts? Like can the people trust he's actually 164 00:14:26,610 --> 00:14:29,330 Speaker 1: been bettered, as he puts in your story, because he 165 00:14:29,410 --> 00:14:33,810 Speaker 1: dogs about being bettered, and I'm wondering about that. I 166 00:14:33,850 --> 00:14:36,650 Speaker 1: can't say that my fictional Cohen is bettered, and that 167 00:14:36,730 --> 00:14:39,010 Speaker 1: might just be the cynic in me. I mean, the 168 00:14:39,090 --> 00:14:44,850 Speaker 1: vessels of redemption aren't chosen for their seaworthiness, you know, 169 00:14:45,010 --> 00:14:48,370 Speaker 1: you just happen to stumble upon them. And he does 170 00:14:48,410 --> 00:14:52,370 Speaker 1: have an opportunity. You know, we'll see when he when 171 00:14:52,410 --> 00:14:54,930 Speaker 1: he and Rosie O'Donnell finish this book he's working on, 172 00:14:55,130 --> 00:14:58,850 Speaker 1: and we'll see just how redeemed he is. But it's 173 00:14:58,890 --> 00:15:01,450 Speaker 1: the kind of thing I find myself drawn to in fiction. 174 00:15:02,330 --> 00:15:05,250 Speaker 1: Do we get a second chance? Who deserves it? Where 175 00:15:05,250 --> 00:15:09,210 Speaker 1: it does everyday kind of heroism rise up. And I 176 00:15:09,210 --> 00:15:11,770 Speaker 1: think it's at best ambiguous at the end of the 177 00:15:11,810 --> 00:15:14,930 Speaker 1: story whether or not Michael Cohen is a changed man. 178 00:15:15,370 --> 00:15:18,450 Speaker 1: But I hope for our sake that if he's not changed, 179 00:15:19,010 --> 00:15:25,330 Speaker 1: he's at least as vindictive as hell. Jess Walter, speaking 180 00:15:25,330 --> 00:15:28,690 Speaker 1: to me from his home in Spokane. Jess Walter is 181 00:15:28,730 --> 00:15:32,010 Speaker 1: the author of six novels, including Beautiful Ruins, which was 182 00:15:32,010 --> 00:15:36,130 Speaker 1: an international bestseller. His new novel, The Cold Millions, about 183 00:15:36,170 --> 00:15:40,010 Speaker 1: the labor activists Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, will be published in October. 184 00:15:40,170 --> 00:15:43,450 Speaker 1: I can't wait to wait. Thanks. Yeah, I just sold one. 185 00:15:43,490 --> 00:15:47,050 Speaker 1: That's like a dollar twenty for me already. Look how 186 00:15:47,050 --> 00:15:50,370 Speaker 1: this day's worked out. You can hear my full interview 187 00:15:50,370 --> 00:15:53,770 Speaker 1: with Jess Walter on our website Chronicles dot Fm, where 188 00:15:53,770 --> 00:15:57,090 Speaker 1: you can also read The Ponds and other short fiction 189 00:15:57,210 --> 00:16:01,690 Speaker 1: torn from today's headlines. Our reader was Oliver Wyman. Our 190 00:16:01,730 --> 00:16:05,850 Speaker 1: sound designer and composer is Bart Warshaw. Our producer is 191 00:16:05,930 --> 00:16:10,450 Speaker 1: Curtis box Tyler. Cabott is the executive producer and founder 192 00:16:10,450 --> 00:16:14,250 Speaker 1: of Chronicles of Now for Pushkin Industries. Special thanks to 193 00:16:14,330 --> 00:16:19,250 Speaker 1: Leetel Milaud and Jacob Weisberg. For the Chronicles of Now podcast. 194 00:16:19,410 --> 00:16:27,970 Speaker 1: I'm Ashley Ford. Thanks for listening. It's Jacob Weisberg again. 195 00:16:28,250 --> 00:16:30,490 Speaker 1: That was a preview of the Chronicles of Now from 196 00:16:30,570 --> 00:16:34,130 Speaker 1: Pushkin Industries. New episodes of the podcast will be coming 197 00:16:34,130 --> 00:16:37,810 Speaker 1: out weekly, beginning on Wednesday, June twenty fourth, so please 198 00:16:37,850 --> 00:16:41,290 Speaker 1: subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and let us know 199 00:16:41,330 --> 00:16:43,530 Speaker 1: what you thought of the show on social media, or 200 00:16:43,570 --> 00:16:46,770 Speaker 1: you can write a review in Apple Podcasts. You can 201 00:16:46,810 --> 00:16:51,610 Speaker 1: find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at Pushkin Pods.