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All right. Well, thank you for joining us on the Jason and the House podcast. Conveniently, I am Jason Chaffetz, and I appreciate you taking some time and joining us. I think you're really going to enjoy this. Dagan McDowell, you hopefully have seen her, particularly on the Fox Business Network. She's got a show with Sean Duffy right now, but you've seen her with Mornings with Maria. I mean, she's been on the network, I think, for 20 years or so.
And I can just tell you behind the scenes, I really get along with her. Like some people you just gravitate to, you're instantly friends, you can chat, you can just, it's like you've known the person for years. Dagan is that kind of person. She's wicked sense of humor. She's really kind of got a dry sense of humor, which I sort of gravitate to.
She can be very sarcastic. Again, something I gravitate to and just a fascinating personality. So I look forward to dialing her up and phoning a friend and having a little bit of discussion with her.
We're also going to touch on the news, and then we're going to highlight the stupid because, well, as you know, as I've said before, there's always somebody doing something stupid somewhere. And then we'll talk to Dagan. So first I want to touch on the news. And, you know, there's a lot of things happening, right? You don't have to go very far and start hearing –
about all the big name items out there in the world. But I want to touch on a couple of things that maybe you didn't see. And I want to start with something that's really positive because you may have seen this on the internet. I saw it on Instagram, Global Positive News, which is a site that I follow because it's really inspiring. It's good.
But this also came from WSOC-TV in Charlotte, North Carolina. Evidently, in 2022, they had a program that Amazon, you know, you can go online and order things and they'll deliver them to you. Well, they started a program that was called Amazon.
Alexa, thank my driver. And it was, I don't know if it was a pilot program. I've never heard of it here in Utah. But they had this program where you could thank your driver. And part of the way you could do it is you could give a little tip, maybe $5 or $10, whatever you saw fit. Well, Amazon collected all that data. And guess what? There was a particular person named Anthony Grayling,
from Charlotte, North Carolina, who by far got the most tips. And so in order to recognize Anthony and his accomplishments of getting so many tips, he's obviously doing something right, representing the company right.
And the neighborhood obviously liked seeing them because you wouldn't tip your driver if you didn't know who he or she was and you didn't really like the way they were performing. So Amazon, their good graces, good for them, a private company. They don't need to do this, but they did. They gave him an extra $10,000. And, you know, that's a good story unto itself.
Until Anthony decided to turn around and he donated the $10,000 to a local children's hospital. Atrium's Health Levine Children's Hospital got a check via Anthony for $10,000.
And I got to tell you, you know what? Those kinds of stories, I absolutely love them. I'm going to guess that being a driver and a delivery person for Amazon, he's doing well. Good company, pays good, has good benefits. But I wouldn't put him in the category of rich. I don't know how many people can write $10,000 checks to the local children's hospital. I bet if you listen to this program, I bet you want to do that.
I bet you wish you could write bigger checks and more frequent checks and do that kind of thing. But all of a sudden he kind of gets this and he donates it to the local children's hospital there in North Carolina. What a great guy and what a great example. And you know what? We as a society, I think, need to highlight that and thank those people and just do more of that because I just think that's just such a good thing.
And another thing that I want to mention, again, I cannot, I'm still in awe of the men and women who serve on the front lines as first responders. Now, we had a horrific shooting, and hopefully you all saw the video a little while ago of police officers who woke up that morning
Just thought they were going to, you know, in Nashville. They're just going to work, right? Strap on their holster, put in their gun, put their gun, you know, make sure they got all their equipment. They're always having heat or cold. They're wearing those big bulletproof vests. They're, you know, and they don't know what they're going to be doing that day. You know, is there going to be a car accident? Probably. Are they going to have to, you know, pull somebody over for excessive speeding? Maybe. Is there, you know, maybe a, uh,
something else going on. But when you have a school shooting and there are kids involved and you live and work in that community, you can imagine the adrenaline that was flowing and the need and urgency to get in there. And, you know, these police officers, they had some experience. I think one was like four years on the force. Another one was eight years on the force and others that responded and got there.
particularly in Nashville, and they go and they run to the sound of the gunfire. And with, you know, they didn't take time to, hey, I got to get all these shields and hey, I got to get, you know, 40 backup. The one officer, when you're watching the body cam, he said, we needed three people.
Now, more than three entered that, and they didn't know when they were turning corners, looking in bathrooms, looking in classrooms, looking in the principal's office. You watch the body cam footage, you don't know where this person is. And could there be more than one? Yeah, there could. But the way they took down the alleged shooter, I'm just telling you, I just get chills down my spine. I am so inspired by that. I just...
You just want to make sure for the lifetime that those people are taken care of. And you know what? I think about Chicago where they're going to have dozens of shootings every weekend. In one weekend in Chicago, they had more than 100 people shot in one weekend. And so there are police officers that deal with this, particularly in the big cities, every single day. They shouldn't have to live like that. And you know what?
They do. And we got to thank them. And I'm talking also about people that are on the receiving line of those calls that come in. The dispatchers do amazing jobs. The ambulance attendants, you know, they're driving ambulances and showing up as EMTs. They're the fire department. They're the police department. They're all of these things. Ordinary Americans doing extraordinary things.
absolutely inspire me. And I just want to highlight that because I think that is news. The news should be more than just, you know, some statistic here and there. I think it should also be those that inspire us and do extraordinary things day in and day out. And that for that, I am just absolutely in awe. All right. So let's move on because
We've got to highlight the stupid because, you know, there's always somebody doing something stupid somewhere. And I've got to start here with Nancy Pelosi. Now, hopefully you have seen this. The former speaker, yeah, she had the House, then she lost it. Then she had the House again, and she lost it again. But somehow the Democrats just revere her. She is...
raised more money than anybody in the history of the United States Congress, House or Senate through our 200 plus year history. She has been involved and engaged in legislation at all levels. You would think this person had a really good grasp maybe on criminal law and maybe some of the basic principles of how criminal law works, but
You know, when President Trump was indicted, which is an absolute sham, it should have never happened. For so many, it's just fundamentally wrong at its core. And I don't want to go through all the lists right now, but it is such a sham. And I think over time it will show that, that this was just a witch hunt to go out and get President Trump at all costs, no matter what, didn't matter. They just wanted to embarrass him.
But then Nancy Pelosi exacerbated the situation and wrote out a tweet. And it just baffles my mind that she could be this so stupid because she wrote that the grand jury has accepted, has acted upon the facts and the law. Well, that's her perspective. But then she went on to write, no one is above the law and everyone has the right to a trial to prove innocence.
To prove innocence is not the way we operate in this country. There is a presumption of innocence. You have to prove as a prosecutor guilt. You don't have to prove you're innocent. You're presumed innocent. And for somebody in such a high lofty office who has obviously been around for too long, evidently,
the bubble that is Washington, D.C. That's a pretty stupid comment to suggest that Donald Trump now has to prove innocence. Did she do that just by accident? Is that what she really believes? Or is that a signal to, hey, this is the way we're going to start operating in this country. That's my fear. That's the direction I worry that we're going. And I think it's absolutely stupid.
All right, time to move on and time to phone a friend. Again, Dagan McDowell has a new show with Sean Duffy on Fox Business. I think you're going to enjoy it. It's fun. She banters. She is not bashful on her ability and her perspective to give a perspective. So I think you're really going to enjoy it. So let's dial up Dagan McDowell.
Hello. Dagan, Jason Chaffetz. Hello, Mr. Chaffetz. I don't have to call you Congressman anymore. Yeah, Mr. Chaffetz, I really prefer that. That makes me feel, you know, young and hip. I was raised in the South. We start with the formalities. Yeah, I'm not big on that. I'm from the West. It's like,
If you can get out, hey, then I'm like, I turn around. You know, you start working with Fox and then you get to know some different personalities. I had seen you on air. I'd done some interviews. But you are really a fun person. Like...
You're witty. You got this dry sense of humor. You're not bashful. And I love it. Thank you. That not being bashful probably embarrassed my family a great deal when I was growing up. Have you ever been bashful? Tell me a time when you've been bashful. Not bashful. I always had a... From the time I was very small, had...
trouble holding my tongue. I'm shocked. I can't believe that. Well, especially in the South, you're a chick, a girl, a woman in the South. There is the, not in my family, but certainly the expectation is that, and even with just children in general, you're seen, not heard. Right. But I had trouble
dead piping down, shall we say. Okay, so from the earliest time of your life, or was there a time where, you know, actually when I was, you know, 12 years old, I really was bashful and shy, or it was just those like, they turned you on, and once you started talking, there was no turning back? I was not like outgoing, but I was never afraid to...
express what I thought, if that makes sense. That I was not the cheerleader. I didn't compete in beauty pageants. I was...
The kid, the girl who had her kindergarten picture taken with chocolate ice cream all over my T-shirt and like unkempt hair, like my hair was sideways because I didn't bother to tell my mother that we were having our pictures taken at school that day. That kid and not necessarily like a joiner and outgoing kid.
And I didn't have a big friend group. I didn't fit in because I grew up in a town of a thousand people. Now, where was this? What state was it? It's in Virginia, but it's in the southern part of Virginia. Do you have brothers, sisters? I have a brother. I have a brother. And my whole family grew up in that town. The elementary school was directly across the street from my grandmother's house.
So it was very small. But when I say rural, it's not South versus North, South versus the Midwest, the Midwest versus the West. Really, Sean Duffy and I talk about this all the time on the show. It's really rural America, like people who live in the country, small-town America. And so my hometown is about—
an hour north of the North Carolina border. It's an area of Virginia called Southside, Virginia, and it's called that because the James River cuts the state in half from west to east. And so all of the area of Virginia that's south of the James River is called Southside, Virginia. And that's, it's where Charlie Hurt's from. Charlie Hurt grew up right near me. I bet it's beautiful. It's...
former tobacco country, former textile manufacturing, former furniture manufacturing, and all of those jobs are gone. The textiles, the furniture jobs went overseas, and then the tobacco obviously is just, the tobacco farming disappeared. And so it's Trump country. Those jobs, and Charlie Hurt and I were talking about this, those jobs, when you take away jobs
a man's job and a livelihood and financial security, you take away a man's pride, direction, and sense of purpose. And it destroys family, it destroys community, and it destroys
everything about a town and we've seen it. And so the fact that other people didn't see that President Trump's message when he was running early on resonated with people was kind of astonishing. Charlie and I were talking about that anyway. Yeah. So I grew up in this small town. So I was always I was just different. Like I didn't have a lot of friends. I was kind of
you know, isolated. But I always had kind of a big mouth that would get me into trouble because I'd tell people what I thought. You're listening to Jason in the House. We'll be back with more of my conversation with Dagan McDowell right after this.
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Well, look, I concur with this idea about rural America, and there's so many benefits to it, right? You learn how to be creative. You learn how to think. You learn how to work. You learn how to go out and have fun and not rely on some television or Xbox or iPhone or some device to...
to, you know, occupy your day in and day out. If you don't know how to throw dirt clods, you know, where I came from and, and, you know, play with army men and blow things up, you know, learn the power of firecrackers and attaching them to sticks that you just haven't lived a child life. I'm old enough that, well, I laugh, but I relate to all of that because I still make the joke that
Go build a fort. Go play in a creek. And I don't know, because I live in New York City, which that life has always been foreign to kids who grow up here. But does that America – I hope that America exists –
for all kids who grow up in the rural parts of this country or in smaller communities, that instead of being on a phone in front of a TV set or on a tablet, that they're outside, that they're
building rockets and launching rockets and building forts and playing outdoors. That's really all we did. Yeah, if you didn't have a fort that had nails sticking out that you could poke into your body at any given moment. I mean, and if you weren't playing tag, you know, at night or kick the can or something like that, where you're hiding in the bushes at, you know,
in the dark of an 11 p.m. night sweating because you think your buddy's going to tag you out. That's just, you know, you haven't lived the good, well-rounded life. So that's how, those are my memories from childhood. All right, so... Being outdoors, because we, it's, it is beautiful. It's a very beautiful part of Virginia. It's in, it's, so it's east of...
the Appalachian Mountains.
It's southeast of Lynchburg, Virginia. So it's kind of... It's a very... But it is still, to this day, extremely rural. That's why there's no industry has ever returned there because that whole area of the state has never really been developed for good and for bad. But it's... You know, we had pogo sticks, stilts, a...
Big wheel. Yeah, but we had like legit toys. We had a unicycle. We had a trampoline. That's why my mother, and this was back, shoot, this is in the 70s, when you didn't have the...
like protection that would wrap the trampoline. We just had a trampoline. Oh, yeah. And we never, we didn't really have television reception because we were so in the middle of nowhere. We never got PBS. Sesame Street and the electric company, pfft.
Never watch that. How about Zoom? There used to be a television show called Zoom. No, we never. We barely got ABC, NBC, CBS because the reception was so terrible. But we had a trampoline. And so my mother would never let people come over and play with us because she was always afraid somebody would get hurt on that trampoline. Well, they probably would have. But it's also a good place to put your sleeping bag and spend the night. As long as you remember to turn this...
Don't have anybody turn on the sprinklers. And if you don't know how to use a stick to turn on your sprinklers, then you didn't have legit sprinklers either. No. Who has sprinklers? You're fancy. All right. Who in Brookneal has? Nobody in Brookneal, Virginia has. Maybe now folks have sprinklers. But in the 70s, nobody has sprinklers. No, they had like an X.
X on them, and you'd take a big stick that had this tool at the bottom, and you'd turn it to turn them on, but you had to go back and turn them off, and there wasn't... Anyway. No. All right, so... Oh, and by the way, you can't sleep outside unless you're in a tent because of the mosquitoes where I grew up. Oh, see, out west, we don't have those. Yeah, I know, but see, I'm trying to set the... I'm trying to set the tone. The stage, yes. Yes, we have...
horrible mosquitoes and venomous snakes, copperheads and water moccasins. So you will, maybe not on a trampoline, but you'll get bitten by a snake and some mosquitoes if you try and sleep outside without being in a tent. Just letting you know. All right, so you're going to school. You're getting chocolate on your dress or whatever your T-shirt when it's time to take pictures.
But then you go to high school, right? How was high school? And then you went on to college. So, I mean, that doesn't sound like that was necessarily the normal thing to do. Well, mom and daddy were – both my parents went to college. And even though when I was growing up, they ran the family's wholesale grocery business. That's how they supported the family. And it was a business that had been started –
early part of the depression. So it was my grandfather's business and then my father's business and my mother ran it with him. But it was small. They served very, very rural, isolated country stores. And those were their customers. And they sold literally everything, even, you know,
giant wheels of Wisconsin cheddar cheese down to athletic shoes, like whatever a small country store would need, they sold. Pesticides for tobacco plants, things like that. So I was...
My parents educated us in the home. We ate breakfast and dinner together every night, and part of the conversation was just educating us through debate. They sent me away to boarding school when I was 14, 15, because they just wanted to... They wanted me to go live my life, and they wanted me to get the best possible education that I could. My grandfather...
being a young man from the Depression era, never spent money, ever. They never. Like my family, my grandparents never went on vacation. If farming people, business people, country people, they don't go on vacation. They work seven days a week and they don't spend money. And so the money that my grandparents and parents saved was spent to educate me and my brother. Right.
And my brother went away as well. And it was what I learned in high school was invaluable. And I learned I just went it was school in Richmond, Virginia. But what I learned in
high school going away in private school was what I was more than I ever learned in college. I went to Wake Forest for college, but in hindsight, I, dad was not money well spent.
It was not worth that money, and it wasn't very expensive back then. It was only about $7,500 a year at Wake. Now it's $75,000 a year, and I cannot imagine. Yeah, I can't imagine that the education at Wake, Forest, or anywhere else is worth anywhere near that because, quite frankly, Wake Forest wasn't worth anything.
$10,000 a year, $7,500 a year when I went to school there because it didn't really get me. They didn't get me a job. They didn't get me anything. But it was a very intensive process.
education that I got. It was rigorous and it was hard and it was nothing but studying and working and writing when it was St. Catharines was the name of the school. It's still there, but they don't have a boarding department. But it was just the rigor and it's learned...
This is going to sound strange, but I learned how to learn. Well, that's what you're supposed to do, isn't it? And so I still use a lot of the process that I picked up then, now, in my job. It's quite incredible. I think that's part of the educational process is not to...
I mean, there are facts, there are things that you want to learn that are, you know, but you got to, I think one of the core functions of getting an education is, is not what specifically to think, but how to think and how to study and how to figure and solve problems and how to overcome obstacles and, and to, to work hard. I don't think there's any problem with working hard. But I, I get so angry now and I,
We have talked so much, particularly during COVID, post-COVID, about the damage done to children by the teachers' unions. But with the school lockdowns and everything. But I get angry, too, because the education that I got before my parents were able to send me away to a private school, the education I got in public school...
was horrific. And so I know what it's like to be behind. And I know what it's like to be years behind and to be so uneducated that I, and it makes me, it gives me a sick feeling in my stomach for all of those children.
who are experiencing that today, despite the fact that this nation, even before COVID, spends more money per child than any other nation in the developed world. And that's where we are. We are behind virtually every other major developed nation, even before COVID, in terms of math abilities, reading, science. And so when I went away to school,
I was in 10th grade and I was maybe in mathematics. So I was in 10th grade classes in this private school, in math, in foreign language, in English. So that would be essay writing. In science, I was functioning
two grades behind, two or three. I was functioning at a seventh or eighth grade level, barely. And so I was treated by the teachers, most of them, not all of them, as someone who is stupid and dumb and couldn't, was that I had a disability of some sort. And that's how they treated me. And it's amazing. So that's in a school, but
And that will plague you for the rest of your life, potentially. People will judge you instantaneously that you were not capable of doing X, Y, and Z. And they will never give you a chance to prove them otherwise. Well, so what was the difference? I mean, you obviously got out of that. You've been wildly successful. So how did you break that? It was a couple of teachers.
It always is. It was a couple of teachers. And somebody who actually really cares. And funny enough, and I told this story before, I had a, in 10th grade, it was my math, it was Algebra 2. It was my math teacher. Her name is Barbara Bass. And Barbara Bass, she addressed, it was an all-girls school, which I actually loved.
And she addressed all the women by their last names. Miss McDowell. And that's how she speaks. She's still alive. And my father, the backstory is Barbara Bass grew up right near where I grew up. So she knew where I came from and knew...
somewhat like my level of education. And she now is friends, became friends with my family later on because she moved back to her hometown. And like she was at my mother's funeral. I actually saw her over Christmas. So we have reconnected later in life. But she saw it only took her to say this to me.
And it was maybe a few weeks in to me being away from home and struggling mightily, thinking I'm an idiot. And she looked at me in her classroom, Algebra 2, and she said, "'Miss McDowell, I can see you sitting there trying to hide in the back of my classroom. You think you're stupid. You're not. You're uneducated or undereducated. I know where you come from. We can fix that.'"
That's all she said to me. Good for her. And so I knew, okay, somebody knows what I'm dealing with or how I'm struggling. And so it only takes somebody to say that out loud to you, and it takes a few teachers to realize, oh. But then a lot of the other teachers, they still treat you like you're a dope teacher.
That you just don't understand. But so it's just finding, it's just fine seeking out those few people who are willing to commit to you. You're listening to Jason in the House. We'll be back with more of my conversation with Dagan McDowell right after this. So you go to Wake Forest, but you studied like art history. How did you end up at Fox News? Yeah.
I mean, that's not like the natural leap from rural Virginia to Wake Forest to Fox News and, you know, down, you know, Manhattan. Well, I love art history is history. Right. Right. It's a reflection of what's going on at the time. Right. And so it's a visual expression of the history of the moment. And
When I was at Wake, I lived in Italy, in Venice, Italy, for a time, because Wake Forest owns a home in Venice. It's the old American consulate in Venice. And so a lot of what I was doing was really, I just wanted to live other places and experience other things. And I worked in a contemporary art museum that's in Winston-Salem,
for, as an intern, on and off for a large part of the time that I was at Wake Forest. So I had kind of every intention of working in the art field in a curatorial position at some point. Like, I didn't really know what I wanted to do, but I did enjoy it. It's very interesting. It doesn't pay a lot of money. But when I graduated from Wake, it was in the recession of 91. And
So I moved out west. I moved to Aspen, Colorado. And don't laugh at me, but I wanted to live out west. All right. I'm already laughing when you started to say Aspen, but keep going. But it's not because I was fancy. It's like Beverly Hills of the mountains. No, it's no. Well, it is. It is. You're right about that. But if you're a broke ass person,
recent college graduate, you have to move somewhere that you know you can get a job. That's true. You could definitely get a job there. So I moved there not because I was fancy and had money. I moved there because I knew I could get a job there. And it is the West. It is the West. I mean, it's in the Rockies for Pete's sake, Jason. I graduated from a little rural school in
in Granby, Colorado, which graduating class was 49 people. And it's not too far from Aspen. It's a couple hours, but it's definitely the West. But what was this first job you got? First job was I worked on Aspen Mountain as a cashier at Bonnie's Restaurant, which used to be Mid-Mountain, and it was a delicious restaurant.
cafeteria-style restaurant. And the first winter I lived there, I worked at Bonnie's. I worked during the summer. I worked for a landscaper during the summer. I did all sorts of different jobs. I worked in a restaurant. I worked on a golf course, driving a booze cart.
But I always had a ski pass, a full mountain all the time, anytime ski pass was worth a few thousand dollars, even back in the day. I lived out there two years. I loved it. That's good. I loved living in the West. I hated...
But I didn't want to do that forever. So I literally packed my car, drove back to Virginia after two years, and got on a train and moved to New York City. Boom. There you are. And I sublet an apartment for six months. I had enough money that I knew I could pay the rent and live and...
find a job. I didn't have a TV or anything. I had a radio because I didn't want a TV. I was afraid I'd get stuck at home. I got, I applied for a job at Institutional Investor, which was a big magazine for Wall Street. It was very famous at the time. They had a bunch of newsletters. I took a writing and reporting test, applied for that job and got it after a few weeks of living in New York City. And that was all she wrote. And so I was a financial writer and
for about 10 years and then I started making appearances on Fox and Neil Cavuto called me up one day and said, "Hey kid, you want a full-time job in TV?" And I said, "Sure." And I've been here 20 years. Wow. That's quite a story. And I was telling somebody earlier, so President Trump will be arraigned at 100 Center Street.
on Tuesday, Tuesday afternoon. And my very first live shot ever on television was 20, it was almost 20 years ago, in front of that courthouse, 100 Center Street, covering a trial, the Dennis Kozlowski trial, Tyco trial.
which was in that courthouse, and it very well might be in the actual courtroom that President Trump will be in. So I have walked those halls, and I have walked that courthouse, so I'm well aware of him. Well, that is an amazing story, and I hope everybody gets to know you, see you, interact with you a little bit more. But to wrap this up, Dagan, I got just a couple of very quick questions we're going to go through.
to get to know you a little bit better. Okay, you ready? Yep. First concert you attended? ACDC. Awesome. I was little, too. It was general admission, kind of dangerous. How old were you? Like, I mean, just like a teenager? Twelve. Twelve? Oh, my gosh. Thirteen. What was your high school mascot? Public school, but private school didn't have one. Public school, it was a general with a tri-corner hat.
All right. Not not civil war. Nobody gets upset. Revolutionary war. All right. What's your superpower? What can you do? Like, all right, I'm pretty good at that. This is my superpower.
I can spot a phony before he or she ever says her first words. You can't. You and I have talked about this off air. You're pretty deadly with that. That is actually an indirect quote from General Chuck Yeager. But that's what I can do. I can get a read.
on someone before, like as soon as I meet them, it always bears itself out. It always turns out to be true. I've actually seen you in action and I think it's a hundred percent true. That is, there is no doubt that that is your superpower. All right. You tell me about your dogs. Cause you love dogs. Like, I don't know that anybody loves dogs more than you do. I love rescue dogs.
I love all dogs. I have rescue dogs. Our oldest dog just passed away. He was 18. Puerto Rican street dog named Ramon lived a very good life. He was the OG, not original gangster, but original gentleman. The two dogs I have now are Dale and Charlie. They're just mutts. I love them so. But loving dogs, and if dogs love you, it really helps.
live a normal life in New York City because you truly get to meet and get to know people in your neighborhood through their dogs that like it can feel and function like a normal place if you because of because of aunt because of your dogs yeah I look I from the my earliest memories I've always had a dog and
They're friends. They love you unconditionally. You're right. You can meet other people. I hadn't thought of it so much in that context, but I feel for people that are lonely. I think there's a lot of lonely people in the world and yet a pet can be such a great companion and you love dogs and it's, I know this to your core. So, all right, got just a couple more quick questions because I know we're rolling here.
Pineapple on pizza, yes or no? Oh, God, no. What's wrong with you? And ranch dressing? What's wrong with... I'm a New Yorker like that. Like, just a slice, a New York slice of cheese pizza. New York pizza. Thin crust. Like a coal oven or a wood-fired oven. Either is fine, but just a slice...
crispy bottom with just cheese on it. It's nothing better than that. It's like the most delicious thing on the planet. All right, two more questions. If you could meet one person, dead or alive, and have them over for a meal, they're going to come over and spend the evening, you're going to break bread, have a conversation, who would that one person be? Dead or alive? Yeah, anybody. And meet? Yeah. They say, hey, come on over, we're going to
I got some thin crust. I got some pepperoni pizza or some cheese pizza here for you. We brought it from the city. We're going to sit down and break bread and have a little salad and have a nice conversation. Who would that be? It varies. And I don't, you know, Christ, you know, I understand why people would say that. But today, Joan Rivers. Really? Yeah. Yeah.
I've never heard that answer. Why Joan Rivers? Female comedians, really, Joan Rivers and Carol Burnett and Roseanne Barr, bless her, really influenced me a lot when I was a kid. That it was their fearlessness in what they did and also the ability to use humor as a sword and a shield. Humor...
is a powerful, powerful thing. And it also teaches you great
timing in this job, but again, how to use humor and also how to be utterly fearless and speak your mind. I met Joan Rivers once, but I would love to be able to sit down with her and thank her. Carol Burnett. I was a huge fan of Carol Burnett. The Carol Burnett show when she would have Harvey Korman, all these people on. That was so fun. Tim Conway. Those were some good, good shows. All right, last question.
Best advice you ever got? Be yourself. Yeah. Great advice. Right? That's a big one. Sometimes we make it way too complicated. Just be yourself. Things will work out. Yeah. You'll figure it out. You're going to have hard times. You'll have good days. Well, don't be a phony. Yeah. Don't be a phony. Be yourself. Yeah. Otherwise, Dagan's going to sniff you out and point you out. Yeah.
And we're all going to know that she's right. Hillary Clinton, who I call a kidney shanking shapeshifter. Well, a lot of women are like that. Dagan McDowell, thank you so much. Thank you, Jason. What you do on the air. Mr. Chaffetz. Mr. Chaffetz. Who? Yeah, exactly. My dad. Thank you.
See what I mean? Dagan is just, she's got a fascinating background. I don't know people that can bounce from, you know, Virginia to Wake Forest to go to Italy, hang out in Aspen for two years, work in kind of entry-level jobs, go to New York, impress enough people, and the next thing you know, she's on the air, and 20 years later, she's on the air.
She's a substantial voice for their own Fox business. And you also see her on Fox News. I've seen her on Gutfeld's. Boy, you want to see Candid. Watch her on Gutfeld. Hello. Hello.
Anyway, she's what I consider a friend and somebody I really do appreciate. And glad she could join us today. I want to thank you all for listening to us and joining us. I hope you can rate this. Please rate it. Subscribe if you can. I want to remind people that you can listen ad-free with a Fox News Podcast Plus subscription.
subscription on Apple Podcasts and Amazon Prime members can listen to this show ad-free on the Amazon Music app. Again, this has been the Jason in the House podcast. Really do appreciate you joining us. You can go over to foxnewspodcast.com for some of my colleagues like Ben Dominich and Trey Gowdy and Dana Perino, Shannon Breen, Brett Baer. I mean, there's a whole bunch of them. Will Kane, there's a bunch of them over there. Really worthwhile.
Again, like it, rate it, review it, and we'll be back with more next week. Hope you join us. I'm Jason Chaffetz. This has been Jason in the House. Hey, it's Clay Travis. Join me for Outkick the show as we dive deep into a mix of topics. New episodes available Monday to Friday on your favorite podcast platform and watch directly on outkick.com forward slash watch.
