Television companies as a Public Service and brought to you today by your television provider. Then opinion editor for book on the his new road in trumps america, a journey into the heart of a divided nation. The journey included stops in pennsylvania, ohio, michigan. What did you see and hear . What did you hear . Would i found, you not be surprised, a divided country. Talking to many people, and many people over those three years, very few people have changed their mines about President Trump. Those who supported him for years ago support him today. Those who opposed him in 2016 still oppose him. It is not that peoples views of the president have not changed, but where they have, people have a more extreme and, i say, deeply entrenched view of the president , so if they voted for him, started liking him now, they love him. If they sort of opposed him in 2016, now they hate him. I was say that is a product of our tribal nature of our politics. People use words like we are divided, polarized, but i think is a better word to use, where people are loyal to their own group, their own tribe, above all else. Those outside the tribes are going to be attacked and shunned. Id when it comes to trunk, had a regular set of questions i would run through, and one question, the answers i got was very, very revealing. If i were talking to a trump supporter, i would say ok, you like the president , tell me about something you do not like, one of the policies you oppose. If i was talking to a trump critic, i was aok, fine, you dont like him, is there anything you admire or one of the policies you like coming very often, we would be having a very freeflowing conversation, and it would stop for about 20 seconds as my interview subject would try to think of anything that contradicted their overall impression of the president , and again, that have been reinforced time and time again, how tribal we have become. Host to take that one step further, to complicate all of this, of course, is the vacancy on the Supreme Court, the looming battle in the Supreme Court and senate, and the looming battle of the election. Guest yeah, i think on the vacancy, this is the single most important reason trump was elected. He won 81 of white even delco voters. Hisas not because of character. It was not because he goes to church every week. It was because he made very clear promises about what he wanted to do, and he made a promise about appointing prolife justices to the courts. And he has done that. Those voters that are part of his base, white and growing christians, are behind him, because they feel he has done a good job on dominating these prolife judges. Now,nk if he does so before the election, it would only reaffirm their support and kinda validate and vindicate their support for him. Host in the book on the road in trumps america, you write the following, quote, African Americans might have groveled about some of obamas policies or actions, but generally, there was no chance that they would not show up for him on election day, much less vote for a different candidate. The bond of solidarity was too strong. Similar dynamic is at play with donald trump and when he received from many rural, workingclass voters. Question ofen the whether and under what circumstances these voters would abandon him. Base, yes, and among his white workingclass voters and white churchgoing christians, the way i define it, he has a rocksolid support because of that bond of trust and credibility that he formed with those groups, in 2016, that has only grown stronger. , think there is a feeling that among those voters, trump has our backs. I talked to a lot of farmers in rural wisconsin, iowa, north carolina, and a lot of them said, you know what . Cannlikely as it sounds, i see a lot of myself in trump, because he came from a business background. Farm is like a business, who sets a very clear agenda, goes about getting it done, and people identify a lot with him. The word i heard over and over again from farmers and people in agriculture and rural areas is he listens to us, and he continues to listen to us. He seems to understand our work. He values our work, our values as well, so things like prolife and the gun culture and other issues. So they dont feel like he is talking down to them, whereas with other politicians, they have always felt that way. Rule and with cards to america, you write this host so elaborate on those points, if you would. Guest in talking to people, i would ask how would you describe racism in your area . People would give me, in places that were more white, a quizzical look or a bland assurance that things were fine. One woman put it really well. She said what Race Relations . Iowa, it is rural 99 white. You are surrounded by counties that are the same way, and you dont travel much outside these areas, you may not have a deep understanding of a lot of a lot of the racial issues that we are dealing with. There may not be a very deep understanding of black lives matter, so i think the idea that people who are racially isolated are, as a consequence of their , called racists, is wrong, and people resent that. The idea that they are racist just for living in a countryside or voting for donald trump is incorrect, and people are really sensitive about that. But when they are told they are racist, that actually makes them embrace trump even more. Host our guest is daniel ill let. Allott. El his book is on the road in trumps america a journey into the heart of a divided nation. Lets get to your phone calls. Larry from mississippi. Withr my problem christians supporting trump is you can catch him lying, you can plan for them, and they will still call themselves christian. It reminds me of back in the 1960s when they were hanging black people, they would go to church, hang a black people before they go to church, get out of church, and hang more black people. It is just ridiculous. Have a nice day. Host than larry, thank you for the call. We will get a response. Guest i think, and the issue of lying, a lot of people think he has come through on policy, and truck, the irony of the president is we have a president has lied, by one count, 20,000 times. Seems like every day is something else. But on the issues that matter most, which are the Campaign Promises he has made, his supporters feel like he has kept his promises and follow through on them, and that is not something they are used to getting from a president , from a politician. Most politicians will say one thing to get elected and then do something completely different when in office. With trump, he set a very clear agenda, and he achieved or tried to achieve almost all of it, and people really respect that, and they appreciate that. Host next is peter from new york. Good morning from valley cottage, new york. Good morning, guys, mr. Allott. Regarding the Supreme Court, there is no doubt in my mind that if Chuck Schumer was the majority leader in 2016, mary garland would be on the court right now, so there is no disputing that. Number two, i thought you would find this interesting, you know, the conservatives have been playing a clip of joe biden saying that we believe in truth and not facts, and they are saying it is a gaffe. Gaffe, believe it was a i believe it was a freudian slip. You know, take for instance hands up, dont shoot. We know that was factually incorrect, yet a lot of African Americans believe that it actually happened, so i think it is actually true that people, a lot of people, tribalism is a very accurate description, that people believe what they want to believe on the left. Conservatives seem to associate truth with fact, but there are a lot of people who believe a certain truth, and it does not necessarily have to be factual. Above that would be interesting for you to comment on. Thank you very much. Host thank you, peter. Guest well, i found a very deep distrust of the media in a lot of places i traveled to. One of the advantages of my approach to this book is i was traveling for three years and returning again and again, and i think, over time, i was able to build up quite a bit of credibility and trust in places i visited, places where normally an outoftown reporter coming in, people would be very wary of, but after the cap seeing me showing upow, i kept at events, they would see me in the home of their friend or Something Like that, their guard started coming down, and i think i got to a deeper level of understanding, but i did get a really deep distrust of the media. A lot of people feel like they are misrepresented in the media. And was trump, a lot of his supporters, i feel like there is a sort of boy who cried wolf scenario going on, you know, everything trump does is terrible and potentially impeachable, then perhaps when he does something that is terrible and impeachable, nobody will know, because the media has lost so much credibility to be the neutral arbiters of what is truth and what is newsworthy that nobody will even know. And i think that is the point we are at right now, unfortunately. Host on that point, doesnt the president bear some responsibility, because he has been the first to claim it as fake news, of the media, when it is cripple of him . Guest oh, yeah. I dont think he helped to the matter at all. But you have to understand the context in which trump arose. This resentment and lack of trust in the media existed on the right for decades, and Middle America, Rural America, they felt like the media has talked down to them, not really represented who they are, and for a long time, they felt like republicans, standardbearers, whether it was a president like george w. Bush or mccain or romney just never fought back with the media. Beatingt took whatever was coming at them. George w. Bush was attacked pretty mercilessly, and he never did anything. He wanted to ingratiate himself with the media. In that history, trump comes along, and he is really combative. El that hers do fe goes too far sometimes, but they get a feel that he is willing to fight back, finally. You get the sense that he is taking the blows for the people behind him, for his supporters. He is standing up for their values and for them. Host as you mentioned, you travel to a number of states. In north carolina, macomb county, michigan, in erie county, pennsylvania. When you talked to people there, what struck you the most . What stood out . Guest in erie or generally speaking . Host generally speaking. Guest one thing i was really bowled over by was the immigrant story, and i really sought out people who were different in any community, and i talked to a lot of immigrants and refugees throughout the country, hispanic immigrants in leroux wisconsin, middle eastern immigrants in erie and macomb county, african immigrants in West Virginia and north carolina. Felt veryn, they all welcome in their communities. They felt they had great opportunities. They felt very much sort of embraced by their communities, and that is not often the story you here. I feel a lot of times it is, oh, if you are living in Middle America, if you are living in the countryside, if you are living in a place that voted for President Trump, these places are violently inhospitable to you, and you should be aware you are not going to be welcome. Almost to ason, person, they felt like they were embraced. Ever member in erie, as you know, there are a lot of immigrants and refugees from the middle east in erie comeuppance pensive and it and talking to women there, muslim and the grants from iraq, they were bowled over at how much they were embraced at their jobs and in the broader community, and one of them kidded that she was treated better whenever she wore her hehijab out in public then when she didnt wear it. That shows how welcoming communities are out in america, and that is unfortunately not the story that is often told about Middle America. Host all of this chronicled by the author, daniel allott. The book is called on the road in trumps america a journey into the heart of a divided nation. Back to your phone calls. Palmetto, florida, good morning. Uh, i would like to begin with the evangelicals, to understand that prolife is more than an unborn child. Also all the 200,000 people that have died from the plus the people that died black lives the matter, ok, and i would like to a greeting to virgin, new york. Thank you. Host thank you, mc. Guest i think a lot of prolife people would agree with the caller on that, that all lives matter, and a lot of the issues that we see, those issues are important to them, but when it comes to tens of millions of prolife americans and trump and some of his policies and character issues, i remember meeting with david and maxine. Ivid and maxine or a couple met at the Howard County fair in iowa. Howard county is an interesting place. The only county in america that voted for barack obama by more than 20 points in 2012 and then to trump by more than 20 points, so it flipped. A lot of farming, agriculture, two stop lights a lot of places. And i was there at the howard ai they had a lot of and i went top, the prolife booth, and i talked to david and maxine peered they were Trump Supporters, of course them and i tried to get them acknowledge that trump had some character flaws and not sort of thing. At one point, david stood up and pointed to a model of a late term abortion, and that was his way of saying, look, we are trying to save one million babies a year. We are not concerned about the president s manners. I understand that approach policy matters much more than personality. Host how did they view impeachment . This has been such a year, we forget that it began with the impeachment of President Trump. Guest i was able to predict how anyone would come down on almost any issue, whether it be impeachment, the kavanaugh hearings, the coronavirus, based on their answer to one question. It was the only question i really needed to ask people was where do you stand on trump . And based on that, whether they supported him in 2016 or not, i could predict, ok, so you do not think there is anything to this impeachment stuff. And so it really came down along tribal lines, along party lines. Host lets get back to your phone call. Carrie is joining us, lafayette, indiana. Good morning. Supporter of the president. Caller good morning. Guest good morning. Yes, the economy is so good, i made 4000 interest on the money i had in an annuity, and that makes me very happy. I kind of lean libertarian, but im going to vote for President Trump, and i just really like him. He stands up to china. They were taking, like, half 1 trillion away from us every year, and he stood up to them. That is why they released the us, so the, to hurt economy will get worse, so the democrats would have a better chance of winning, and biden, half the time, he dont even know where hes at. He states the wrong state or the wrong town. I cant believe anybody would vote for biden. Or harris. So many people, and biden, he is the one that made the drug laws tougher, longer sentences and everything, and before they passed the drug laws, there were no drug gangs. Before they passed the alcohol laws, there were no gangs. They repealed the alcohol law, and the murder and the crime rate went up after they repealed the law, the murder and the crime rate went down. Host we will leave it there and get a response. Daniel allott, what are you hearing from this viewer in indiana . Guest well, i think the idea that it is sort of a conspiracy to create the coronavirus and spread it in america to damage the economy into her trumps prospects is very common. A lot of on the right feel like the democrats, the media, the elites, and even china is involved in it, it is sort of a conspiracy to her trump ahead of the election. Reinforces how tribal we have become, that we cannot trust the media, we cannot trust our essential solutions to tell the truth, and we believe these pretty wild conspiracy theories. Host heres what i viewer says, the president s treatment by the media is trumps doing, the lies, the corruption, the divisiveness, they take a toll on everybodys patients, except votingporters, who are for something other than governance. Guest that is a sentiment i have heard quite a bit. If people are thinking about trump closing personality, character when they vote, i think he will end up losing. I talked to a few voters who voted for trump who planned to vote for biden or not goat it all, and that is the thing that came up again and again, the andnt of trump fatigue exhaustion with the chaos surrounding trump. I remember talking to a woman in orange county, california named lacey who, she is mid 30s, half white, half hispanic, and she voted for trump mainly out of an aversion for hillary. She liked a lot of his policies, but she knew she only wanted trump for one term, because she knew that things would get chaotic, and the metaphor she used for trump was ok, you have had four years of a hurricane. Now perhaps it is time for a light drizzle. And that is what she sees in joe biden. Maybe we need a return to normalcy and all of the drama that surrounds the president. Host in a de facto america, there is no united we stand. The notion of citizenship rather than an ethnic nationalism. He is doomed. Youre go back to thi book and this point regarding geography peered you said geography, more than race or class, has become the dividing line more so today, living lives that are wholly removed from one another. I think i found a lot of resentment for cities, you know, i would ask people, and the countryside, do you resent cities, and they would do, becauses i they feel like they are paying taxes, living under regulations and edex coming from the power and they are paying their taxes and everything, but they do not see the resources getting to them. Are in terrible condition, the roads are under funded, they ar their kids are going to state college, and they are being inculcated with values, and they are not coming back, so there countryside is dying, and they are resentful about it. Host lets go to peggy. Good morning. Caller good morning. I think my big concern is if trump gets reelected in an another conservative Supreme Court judge, trouble try to get rid of the 22nd amendment to run for more than two terms or make himself president for life. Thank you. Host thank you, peggy. We will get a response. Guest i have not heard a lot about. Things are pretty tribal right now, but i do not think there will be much support among his voters, supporters, supporting him, you know, going for a third term. That is a bit out there. I guess anything is possible in todays environment, but i have not heard a lot about that. Host michael with his sweet and very simple question to you, what is normalcy today. Guest what is normal . Hmm. That is a very good question peered with any president that would be less tribal, less divided, we would return to a time in the past where everybody came together, i think that is wrong. Oh, it iseople say trump who is making us soak tribal. I do not think he helped, but the real reasons are much deeper than one politician and one president. You look at the media, we have a broken media model right now that really rewards expressions of outrage, controversy much more than, you know, a really nuanced, thoughtful debate, and, you know, you look at trusted institutions them if you want to go even deeper. That institutions that are the bedrock of our democracy, things like churches, the court, and the media, have plummeted in recent years, and i think in a society where trust is lacking, that is where tribalism can flourish. Host carol, tulsa, oklahoma. Good morning. Im really from palm beach county, florida, and when i pass away, of course, i will go back there to be buried in the national cemetery. Raton originally, but i moved here to be near my art historian daughter and my family. I will vote for trump. I think he is far better than biden. I just could not go for biden, and i think the more we hear the morell come out it will probably be trump voters. ,nd i think that is about all unless he wants to ask me a question. Guest do you think there are people who are reluctant to acknowledge or admit or broadcast their support for the president , among the people you know . Caller well, since, you know, i dont know too many here in tulsa. I knew so many, you know, back i doin boca raton, but think that there are probably i am certainly well educated. I taught school, you know, in broward county, even though i they in palm beach, and had the most beautiful campus anywhere it looked like a college campus, and i liked the school, and i liked the different buildings it had, like a college campus. Had sot english, and i many students, and they liked me, and i was white. Sayi did not, you know, much about for whom i voted, but when obama was elected, of course, i was teaching there, but i dont really discuss politics very much, because i do not think it is a good idea. [laughs] host well, carol, thank you for the call. Thanks for telling us a little but about your background peered we appreciate it. Guest well, i think the idea that she doesnt talk politics much with people, i find that happening more and more, again, with the tribalism, people feel like they do not feel comfortable bringing a political issues with their friends and families and coworkers. What i found more and more, probably the most interesting finding in terms of the tribalism is several people that i followed over the years ended up moving away from places because they did not feel comfortable in that tribe. So these are three cases where people were in obama counties that swung to trump, and these were progressive people who one day woke up and looked around and thought, i dont recognize my neighbors anymore. What has happened to this place . And they all ended up moving away to more progressive, you know, cities in another part of the state, so i think that is really a shame when we are making decisions about who we are going to be living which communities we are going to live in based on the politics. What we need, of course, if we are going to be overcome in the tribalism and division, is more engagement. We should be able to talk about the issues. We should be able to have a thoughtful discussion with somebody about President Trump, about the Supreme Court, whatever, and still remain friends and on good terms with them. But what i found, and a lot of stories in the book, people falling out over, you know, arguments over trump or something political, and it is really a shame when it has gotten to that point. Host so what would you say to lisa with this tweet, and i am sure you have seen and heard this in your travel, saying i do not agree with everything trump says and does, i do not agree with everything my husband says or does, but i will keep him. Guest yeah. I think that is a very common sentiment, and i do not know where she stands on his lessees, but i would his policies, but i would think it comes down to a general agreement on what he has achieved, and also the fact, as i mentioned before, he was very clear about what he wanted to do, and then he set about doing it. That think people find very refreshing and appreciate that he really kept his promises. So they are willing to put up with a heck of a lot in terms of the character flaws because of his honesty on policy and the fact that he came through on a lot of the policy issues. Host and this is from scott, who is in massachusetts, sending howtext question did the level of education play into all of this . Guest not that much, to be honest. I guess one of the key dividing lines i found is the places that were vibrant economically and in terms of culture and diversity tended to become more progressive. So two of the counties that i visited orange county, florida and salt lake county, utah or actually historically quite republican, but they are trending democratic in the trump era and will continue after he leaves office because they are becoming quite diverse and vibrant economically. They are doing very well economically. Places that are less diverse and, you know, less vibrant economically are becoming more republican, and that is a big divide. Host lets go to ernest, who is joining us this morning from georgia. Good morning. A supporter of the bidenharris ticket. Go ahead. Caller good morning. Host good morning. Inler i am so interested what do the evangelicals see in donald trump that makes them want to support him so much . ,lso, the prolife people again, thats their position, you know, thats their position. But what kind of programs do whenhave for these women to helpe these babies, them during their pregnancy, to help them, what have you . Could you please, you know, enlighten me on what are they doing in those areas. What last thing, host what was the last part . We missed the last part of the question. Caller what church does donald trump attend . Host thank you. We will get a response. Guest im not sure that he does attend a church, and will say that for most of his churchgoing followers, they dont really care that much, because, again, he has come through on policy. Look, it is not just policy tomatoes also rhetoric, and he shows up at events. He was out the march for life, barely covered in the media. People to send on washington, and it is rarely covered. He showed up and gave a speech tonight ive heard that over and over again, traveling across the country, wow, he was out the march for life. He speaks at the values voters summit, hundreds of Christian Conservative activists. He has spoken every year at that event. Bush never spoke, and eight years, trump shows up. That counts for a lot. And the Supreme Court nominations he has made, done better than any other president for these people, for the prolife issue. And so that is going to be his legacy when he leaves office. It is not going to become which church did he attend . Yes, these evangelicals would want him to go to church, but like david and maxine and Howard County, it is we want to save one million lives every year. Host this is a tweet from about an hour ago from real donaldtrump host linda is joining us from warwick, rhode island. Good morning. Caller hi. I would like to say i think your guest is right on target with donald trump and his supporters. One of the reasons why i support im from the beginning is voted for ross perot and supported him, and i think i did a lot of damage to the country, and i think donald trump is doing the best he can to turn that around. Host thank you, linda. Appreciate the call. A storyeah, let me tell i mentioned before there is a lot of feeling, especially in rural areas, and if you go to robinson county, north carolina, eight is a very interesting county, the most racially diverse rural county, and they have a large native american tribe command a voted for trump in large numbers, after voting for obama. The Biggest Issue for them was nafta and freetrade. They were devastated by that freetrade agreement. They lost an estimated 10,000 jobs. They are now the poorest county in north carolina. So when he came along and said, i dont care what other Political Parties have done in the past and he railed against nafta and other freetrade agreements, promised to renegotiate them that resonated with people there, he is listening to us. He is not from washington. He is not listening to the consultants. He is going his own way. What i also found, particularly in robinson county, for instance, is how much social issues matter for people. Yes, trade is important, but at the end of the day, we are voting on abortion. There are a lot of people throughout the country who still dont accept samesex marriage. So it is a very conservative area, even though that county voted for obama in the past, it was an easy pick for them to choose trump in 2016. And it is places like that better going to stick with trump this year. Host a text message from john from chillicothe, ohio, a question on the media do you believe the media has been fair or biased against President Trump . Guest wow. I think there is a lot of bias, to be honest. There is a lot of scrutiny, and he should be under the microscope, but i think the problem is a lot of newsrooms are not very ideologically diverse, so you have most newsrooms of major newspapers, magazines, and news outlets where there are very few donald Trump Supporters. They are not really representative of the entire country. There are publications that claim to speak for the entire country they want to be National Publications but how many people do they have maybe grew up on a farm or grew up in the midwest and support donald trump . Very few. That is a problem. We need more ideological and geographic diversity is in our newsrooms to better represent the country. Host in the book, you write the following, the 2020 primaries may have provided a preview of the type of turnout we can expect from trump voters in november. As the media august on the democratic primary race, trump was piling up unprecedented victories. In the early primary space, transi trump surpassing the obamaotals that barack and others had received in the reelection bids. Betty, good morning. Caller good morning. Years old, born and raised in greenville, south carolina, so you know what i experienced growing up. But if youve ever seen the movie that is what Trump Reminds me of. Artist, and he is good at what he is doing. He is saying the things that he knows people really want to hear. And as far as abortion goes, abortion,n invented because back in the day, black women could not even get a Birth Control pill. I know that for a fact, because i am 81 years old. And they talk about black women the black the reason alley doctors were invented was because black women could not therd to pay the price that white women could afford to pay. And donald trump is onto the queue on people, so talk a little bit about what they represent. Can thank you so much for listening to me. A country divided cannot stand. Thank you. Host betty, thank you for the call. Guest well, i think the idea that trump is a con artist, and, again, this gets back to his character and whether or not people think they can trust the president , i think if he does lose the election, it will be on the issue of trust and character. One man i talked to many, many times, maybe my most fascinating interview, a man named mark in indiana. He is a registered democrat, a member of the native american tribe, voted for barack obama twice, and still has good feelings for the former president. But he liked a lot of what trump said. In our initial meeting in 2017, he said has trump earned my trust . Not yet. But i am willing to give them a chance. Every time i talked to him, it was that issue of trust, can i trust him, and it was like being on a pendulum, swinging back from negativity and positivity with every tweet and policy. The last time i talked to him was during the pandemic over the phone, and he was still questioning, can i trust my president . Saying,point, trump was if you want to get a coronavirus test, you can get one, and marks wife had exhibited, shown some symptoms of the virus, and she could not obtain a test. And, again, that just reinforced , can i trust with president is saying to me . And he said, i am getting the president from now until election day to pull me over to his side, and i think he is not alone. Host we are talking with daniel allott. His book is on the road in trumps america a journey into the heart of a divided nation. Mike is joining us from houston, texas. Good morning. Caller good morning. , cspan. Ah, one thing about donald trump is, you know, when you have 3000 counties across the united states, over 3000, 5 of the top seven wealthiest of than just magically surround washington, d. C. Now, no wonder career politicians enjoy that. They love that lifestyle, because it enriches them, their families, and living there is a wonderful thing. They have Great Security and all the rest. Trump does not need that. He does not need that. He did not need this. I agree that he is not the most polished ceo around i know that but we have to live with ideas and the consequences of their policy, and i clearly, trump is focused on confronting china and building the wall. And i would like to know what media member is finally going to ask jill biden something other than a nerf ball question. Does he want to keep the wall . What about the new green deal . Does anybody care about the consequences of the new green deal . But i tell you, all these things come back to the five of the top seven counties surrounding washington, d. C. , and there is a reason that this has happened, and that is one of the reasons that donald trump ran, just the consequence of what he is running. And it just bothers me that people dont see all that wealth around washington, d. C. Do they not connect the dots between the wealth in the country and half of it being located in washington . Kate used to be located in the cities, in the private sector. Poorest counties are in the innercity. The biggest dichotomy of wealth is the two income societies in the big democratrun cities, where you have the very wealthy and the very poor. Host mike, we will leave it there. Thank you for the call from houston, texas. We will get a response. Guest i think it reinforces that trump has convinced a lot of people in the countryside and Middle America that he is the one standing for them. Nonpolitician who became president , but he is standing for Middle American values. He recognizes the work that they do and the importance of what they do for a living, whereas, you know, a lot of democratic politicians dont. I think he started that bond. I call it a bond of trust and goodwill with Middle America, with Rural America in 2016, and it has only grown stronger since then. Host next is kenneth from florida. Good morning. Caller good morning, steve. Congratulations on your selection for the debate. My question is and steve, i hope that when you do the debate, one question i would like for you to ask both explain inis that their own words what do they think black people mean when they say black lives matter . But to daniel, i just want to know why does it seem like trump some of the things he has done is ok, but why does it seem like he has to go to the races thanking just to get elected or just to do his policies . At his rally,ays it seems like everyone that is there seems to come off in a racist type attitude towards everyone else, other than Trump Supporters. That is my question. Thank you. Host thank you, kenneth, from florida. Aest well, i think there is view that i found is very common with the caller, that, you know, people support a lot of trumps policies, but some of the things he said a man named eddie lopez that i talked to many times in orange county, and he is a hispanic immigrant that has done very well for himself, and Ronald Reagan is is neighbor resident he likes a lot of what trump has done on policy, on the economy, before this pandemic, but he was really disturbed by what trump said when he lost his campaign in launched his campaign in 2015 about mexicans being rapists and drug dealers, and he just cant get over that. Again, he is not a democrat, but he is going to vote for biden because of what he feels is the hatred and maybe the racism of trump, that he just cannot vote for him, even though he likes a lot of the policies. Rallies, i the trump think it is a matter of opinion about, you know, whether there is racism going on. I would say that the enthusiasm that you see there, trump rallies are basically conservative safe spaces. They are places where Trump Supporters can go and feel like they can wear all their trump gear and know that the person to the right, the person to their left, is a trump supporter, and they can celebrate together, because when they are on the outside, they do not want to talk about it with anyone, because they do not want to get fired from their job or get into an argument, so that is why there is so much energy at those rallies. Host marie is calling from panama city, florida. Thank you for waiting period good morning. Hello . Caller yes, i am here. Host good morning. Caller good morning. The guest keeps saying that President Trump remains true to his policies. Where is the Health Care Plan . Oh, yeah, he said that our disabled vets are suckers. How has life improved over the last four years . Host bringing up the point that was in that atlantic magazine article. On that specific point, daniel allott, how do you respond . Guest on which point . Host on the point that the president called people buried there suckers and losers. Guest i think theres a lot of distrust, and among his supporters, i do not think it will make much of a difference, oh, itthey will say is the deep state, it is the media, so i do not think he will support even from the military who voted for him. Battle lines are so entrenched, that there is not much that can move them. There is no trust there. Same thing happened in 2016, where very little could hurt, sort of like a teflon president , nothing can really hurt him among his supporters. Host we will go to virginia next, in new york city, supporter of the president. Good morning. Caller thank you for taking my call, and thank you, cspan. I would just like to ask the author, in his survey of the american public, how many media people has he interviewed . The hugeto me that majority of reporting on the president has been negative, with no attempt at balance. Thank you. I will hang up, and you can answer my question. Host thank you. Guest well, not a lot of media people. Toould try to speak out local publications, local outlets, to talk to the writers, editors, to find out what is happening locally, the local news and local media tends to be much less partisan, right . They are talking local issues. The whole point of my project in the book and all the reporting was i wanted to talk to more everyday people, and i did talk to politicians. I did talk to people in the media, but i wanted to talk to the prospects themselves, so i ended up talking to a lot of people who have normal jobs. Is we next caller will go to satavia, i hope i am pronouncing that correctly, and pennsylvania, supporter of the bidenharris ticket. Caller hi. Good morning. Host good morning. Caller may i ask my question now . Host you are on the air. Go ahead, sir. From the want to know author when he plans to talk to the producers, because for the last three years, they say you should try to talk to the working class people, and i am working class. I work for a living, and nobody talks to me. For the last three years, the pendulum has swung to how many people have voted. Host thank you for the call. He is calling from clark summit, pennsylvania. And, of course, as you know, pens of any is one of the battleground states in this election. Guest i talked to anyone i could. Ofalked to plenty progressives, really anyone who would sit down with me or have a chat with me. If you read the book, i think youll will be hardpressed to say oh, i am talking to just Trump Supporters or i am sympathetic to trump. I really tried to go and also the premise of the book is, to really understand a place, you need to spend a lot of time there, you need to talk to a lot of people, get diverse views, and you need to listen. And that is what i tried to do. Leave my own biases aside i know i have my own, my own prejudices and pods about what is going on in a place but i tried to leave them outside, into the county, and observe for a while, and i tried to talk to the same people most full times, but there are several chapters in there where i am really focused on progressives and progressive issues. Host if you look at american politics, really fdr through reagan, every president through that time period, a variation of the policies of either roosevelt or reagan, and donald trump changed all that. Has he realigned american politics . Has he realigned the Republican Party . Guest well, possibly. I think it will be interesting to see who takes up the trunk mantle after trump is out of office, whether it is mike pence or nikki haley or don jr. I think republicans will be in for a little bit of a wakeup call. And i would compare trump and what would happen with the Republican Party with what happened to the Democratic Party under obama, and i compare obama and trump quite a bit. I think it is 2008 when obama won, there was a feeling that ok, he is ushering this new democratic dominance that is going to, you know, last regeneration, and that did not happen, right . I mean, democrats lost the congress, both midterm elections, at the lower level, houses, and really be only when they won again was obama in 2012, and that is because obama was charismatic, unique president who could draw people to the polls that nobody else could. Trump is the same way. The people you see at the rallies, they did not vote come i them, and 2018. They will be back this year. But maybe a mike pence or nikki haley and bracing embracing his policies, but without their that charisma, and thinking they can draw those voters i think they will be mistaken. Host lets go to doug. Good morning. Caller good morning. That toon is i feel much of this selection is focused on personality. I am more concerned about the future than i am about the virus and about the economy. Ofike to use the analogy taking a trip when i fly, which i have had to do often. I dont expect or i do not feel it is necessary for the pilot or the copilot to come out and shake my hand and greeting me, nor do i feel it is necessary for him to go through the same practice when i departed the plane. I am more concerned about somebody that can get me there safely and get me back, and that is why i am focusing on the future, and i dont feel that cann and his backup copilot fulfill that need. Thank you very much. Host doug, thank you. Guest yeah, i think that just reinforces my finding that if people are voting on election day thinking about trump rosie policies, what he can do for the economy, then he will win. His policies are, generally, popular. If they are thinking about his personality and his character, i think he will lose. Host you dont have to answer this, but if the election were held today, from your standpoint, who would win . Guest after seeing the nine counties that i spent so much time and here is the thing six of those counties were obamatrump counties, i think five of those counties will stick with the president. I am less sure about erie county, pennsylvania, what you know about. I think it could go either way. I think the entire rationale, or much of it, for joe biden being the democratic nominee is that he can win over some independents and some of these sort of alienated republicans, and maybe some obamatrump voters. And i followed 16 obamatrump voters over three years and had indepth discussions with some of them, became friends with some of them, and among the 16, 14 are committed to voting for donald trump again, and the two who are not come are committed not to vote for joe biden. The idea for the Biden Campaign that they can win back some of these former obama voters can i think they are mistaken there. Host all chronicled in the book, on the road in trumps america a journey into the heart of a divided nation. The byline of our guest has been seen in the new york times, politico, investors business daily, and the washington examiner. More with daniel allott. Hi. Hi, and hello to the author. I am a democrat and have been since the 1980s, and a lot of my friends are republican, proabortion, antigun, a bunch of union workers, and yet they still support trump. Let me tell you something about the Republican Party. Since i have been a kid and we were a democratic family you know, they would call us n, nsomething, we were the n people, we were the nparty, and i do not have to tell you what that word means. And that is the way it is with a lot of Trump Supporters. They will not come out and say it. His policies, his economic policies have not worked. Oil jobs are lost, being dumped, manufacturing has not come back, farmers are hurt, so can i mean, no matter what they tell you, most people still think of a democrat as people who support, you know, the stuff that has gone on in cities, and it is the nparty, period. Host we will leave it there and get a response. Thank you. Guest well, i think the idea is true that the democrats have moved quite far to the left in recent years is a very strong one, i think that is part of the reason why biden will have a tough time winning over a lot of moderates. And if you look at the positions that the Democratic Party has taken up relations obama has been elected, they have embraced some really extreme policies, including the green new deal, you know, taxpayer funding for abortion, open borders, these sorts of things, and that has alienated a lot of people in the suburbs, people in Rural America, who would be open i talked to plenty of farmers who, you know, would be open to an alternative to trump, but they do not see it in biden, because he has moved so far to the left with the party. You . What is next for will there be a Second Addition of this book with updates following the election . Guest i would love it. In fact, i am about to hit the road again here i will be an area in about a week. I cannot stay away from their. Then i will be in wisconsin. I have been on the road for quite some time. The road beckons. I need to get back out there. Host a journey into the heart of a cspans washington journal. Every day week take your calls on the news that the day and we discussed policy issues that impact you. Coming up monday morning, we will talk about campaign 20 and havempact tino voters will this november. Also discussion of this years president ial campaign in wisconsin with david cannon, Political Science professor at the university of wisconsin madison. Watch live at 7 00 eastern monday morning. And be sure to join the discussion with the phone calls, facebook comments, texts, and tweets. Youre watching cspan, your unfiltered view of government, created by americas Cable Television companies as a Public Service and brought to you today by your television provider. Susan harold holzers is our second hour about your new book the president s versus press. While i invite people to find the first hour, for those who havent seen it, whats that the whats the thesis of your new book . Mr. Holzer the thesis is we may believe we are living through the most chaotic and unpleasant