Michael Lewis on the Government Shutdown and His Latest Book, 'The Fifth Risk'

The day after the 2016 election, officials at the U.S. Department of Agriculture awaited the arrival of the President-elect’s transition team, ready to present thousands of pages of briefing materials on the workings of the 100,000-employee agency. In best-selling author Michael Lewis’s recounting, no one showed up until weeks later when a single volunteer paid an hour-long visit, followed by a crop of new appointees unqualified for their jobs. Lewis’s latest book, “The Fifth Risk,” looks at the dysfunction of the transition and dangers associated with what he calls the administration’s “willful ignorance” of the everyday risks — from natural disasters to nuclear spills — that its agencies manage. We’ll talk to him about the book and get his thoughts on the ongoing partial government shutdown.