Ross Douthat

So just first of all, just tell me why you ran for office in the first place.

You had done health policy.

You'd been president of a small college.

Why did you decide to become a United States senator?

Well, just pause there.

When you got into the Senate, every senator gives a maiden speech.

And you... I waited a year because it was the old tradition.

You waited a year, right, which was itself, I think, an example of...

what the Ben Sasse brand was at that moment.

Just tell listeners and viewers what you said in that speech, roughly.

But what would it look like?

Because what you've just described is a narrative that makes politicians seem pretty small.

And I'm sympathetic to that narrative.

But I also write about politics for a living.

I at least pretend to give advice to politicians.

You just said before that maybe you were too idealistic and needed to think more about politics.

You know, the nitty gritty of dealmaking.

But is that the advice?

Like what?

After eight years in the Senate, say you were meeting someone who was just elected U.S.