author casey gerald joins us from los angeles to answer somet of the quns our readers sent in. y, thanks for jooing us fr our bookub. >> thank you for having me. let's go to the first question. >> you have a wonderfully rich sonalective on your per journey. my question relates to how you gained thveis perspec was it through the writing process itself? and what would be your advice to someone who would like toac eve the same kind of perspective on his or her ownpe onal journey? >> it's a great question. i think of what tony morrison hald her students, she said don't writeyou know because you don't know anything. i think it's an invitation to personal narrative. so much of the stuff in this look i did not know before i began. for example, my mother suffered from mental illness and disappeared when i was 13, but before i wrote the book i thought she disappeared when i was 12. it was traumatic to think the most important thing that happened to me i didn't understand or know the full details. but leaning into that work took a great deal of bourbon and revion and time, sort of sifting

gerald ford. back to you guys. steve: caseyning through wednesday. he has had a lifetime of public service. one of the fellows who was on along for the entire ride was james baker who was, during his career, he was the president's chief of staff, his secretary of treasury. he actually signed the money and he was the secretary of state. over the last couple weeks it looked as of george herbert walker bush, who rebounded so many times from past illnesses would rebound again. but then on friday james baker got word, probably not going to happen at this time. you should come over. he did and he was there for this. >> last words george bush ever said were, i love you, and he said those words to 43, president george bush 43, who had called in to say, dad, i love you. i will see you own the other side. and, and president bush said, i love you. those were his last words. ainsley: wow. on the other side with his beloved wife and their daughter robin who passed away, when she was a young little girl. reunited with his wife in heaven. bri

gerald: how many democrats are going to run for president? donna: um --30. [laughter] by the way, i had it capped at 25, then this weekend, i saw bob casey. we don't know how many people are lurking around in hollywood. maybe george clooney and barbra streisand. [laughter] look, it's going to be an exciting year. it's going to be more like '92 or 2008. but i still believe the one important ingredient that you will see on the democratic side, i believe there's still a hunger for an outsider. an anti-establishment outsider. as i told jerry, i want to be courted. gerald: you can be sure of that. donna: i'm chair emeritus. i want to be courted, i want to listen to the candidates, but i also believe the country is hungry for someone with a certain type of pedigree, a certain type of leadership style, and maybe that's our reaction to president trump, but i do believe this is going to be a vigorous -- i think all of the quote unquote energy on the left is going to come through in the primary process and therefore, the moderates and others on capitol hill will try to be like the grown-ups. one last point. we will have four tables. seniors, adults