EP 359: Alyssa Mastromonaco on Surviving Presidential Travel, IBS, and "Beaver Fever"

Alyssa Mastromonaco spent 6 years in the Obama White House as assistant to the president, director of scheduling and advance, and deputy chief of staff for operations. She says working in the West Wing is a lot like VEEP and recalls some of the lighter moments including getting down on the dance-floor with Michelle Obama, impersonating a hedge hog for President Obama, and the time the leader of the free world tried to play matchmaker. She opens up about her at times comical struggles with irritable bowel syndrome including a few close calls at the most inconvenient moments and the time that she contracted something called "beaver fever" (yes, it’s a real thing) during a state dinner in Tanzania. She reveals all the care and protocol that went into every foreign trip she planned for President Obama, and why it was more than a little disheartening to watch President Trump bungle his way through a hastily thrown together North Korea summit. She also warns that Trump’s use of a personal iPhone is a major security risk, she predicts what Democrats will be looking for in 2020, and she advises Dems to banish the term socialism from their vocabulary.

Order Alyssa Mastromonaco's book So Here's the Thing: Notes on Growing Up, Getting Older, and Trusting Your Gut on Amazon, Audible, or wherever books are sold. Follow her on twitter at @AlyssaMastro44. Today's podcast was sponsored by Kronos and BetterHelp. Please take our annual podcast listener survey and register to win a $100 Amazon gift card at www.podsurvey.com/kick. Subscribe to Kickass News on Apple Podcasts and leave us a review.