Counties and places like northeastern ohio, who were switching their Party Registration from democratic to republican. And one reason they were doing that was they watched the first couple of president ial debates and they realized that trump was speaking about issues that many of these rust belt democratic voters cared about, trade and immigration. Bernie sanders was talking about the issues as well and did so well in the Democratic Party primary, but for many over the voters in the rust belt and other swing counties across america, trump is where the action was and my coauthor said that is where it will be on election day american year from now. Was more skeptical if saw something what happening. You can trace the date that trump seized control to jowl 10, to 2015, three and a half weeks after the launched his campaign and the first three and a half weeks he was bumping along the bottom in the polls. On july 10th he met with families who lost loafs one to illegal ill yeps whether crunch driving or murder, and trump showed empathy for the families, brit bart covered and he shot from 1960 in the poll to number 1 and almost never relinquished the lead. Was showing conservative voters he was going to take up an issue that was important to them and also showing voters in general he sided with families and with people who had been denied protection from the government that they had a right to expect or they had been promised they would receive. That emotionally, and that where is he took over the election itch thought Hillary Clinton had history on her side, first female nominee. But within a few months came around to the view that trump had a real chance because of the way he took on the media in a way that no other republican county did. Host our imbid with the campaign were you. Guest not very at the beginning. Was covering west post Campaign Event for all of the campaigns, trump, bernie, hilary. Tried to get to ted cruz events. So in the primary stage i was mostly focused on the west coast and travel to evens there. I joined the Campaign Press corps, traveling press corps around the Donald Trump Campaign for the last stretch of the campaign once the general election was underway and debates and i covered that home stretch itch didnt expect him to win. When i started thinking about the idea for this book, my initial title was going to be Something Like fall of trump tower. Did not see he was going to win and i viewed it as this large than Life American figure, this picture of individualism and achievement that almost had literary resonance in american cull tri, not just tv apprentice but his own books and falling short at the end. Thats how i saw things happening. Over the course of the next few weeks and toward election day there were events and things i experienced that led know believe his chances were stronger than that, but as much a surprise to me on Election Night when he won as franklin who said that human being hook be the next president of the United States mitchell coauthor, larry, had complete live different river. He had sources telling him what was going on and was much confident trump would wine and predicted the electoral votes by which he would win. So he had his fingers on the dat and was confident, and i was stoops in the media, looking at what trump was saying, what people were saying about trump, and to me, never wrote him off, never thought he didnt belong at the top of the ticket, never thought he didnt have a chance, it it was a surprise when he finally pulled it off. There will interesting thing about his rapport with voters of that were early signs of their devotion to him that they would march over broken glass barefoot to the polls to vote for donald trump. Host on election day was it you or your cow are authorize who went to the grave of the rabbi. Guest that was me. I went there Jared Kushner and evan car trump had gob a few days before. Do. Host what was he. Guest rabbi was the seventh he passed away just over 20 years ago but he rescued, you could say, post war judaism and gave it a religious direction that many thought thought it would never have again after the holocaust. Everyone the establish0. The state of israel, israels leaders assumed that religious judaism was fading and he reversed that. He proposed jewish ideas, jewish values, jewish practices as good and of themselves. Not just tradition but as positive forces for change in the world that werent just restricted to jews elm the values that judaism propoets promotes would be valuable to the whole world. In the course of that project, he became very widely respected, not just in new york, where he lived, but throughout the country, for his advice, he advised political leaders and not just in american politics but israeli politics and globe afars. And politicians would come to seek his advice, Robert Kennedy and ronald reagan, bipartisan. Impaction on both parties itch just decided to check it out on election day. Jared and eye ran ivanka for the same reason itch made no it was an interesting experience and just this lull in the day and i took that time because usually when people are voting, its not much news, so i took a couple of hours and i talk about its little built in the book but the tradition is to write a note to leave at the gravesite of the rabbi. Thousands of notes at this gravesite. The jockey who won the triple crown on American Pharoah left a night and he went on to win the trim crown the next day. I left my note on the sort of side of the grave area, and i intended to fold it up and put it on the grave. Then this breeze came through and lifted it up and it lands on the gravesite, and to me was kind of interesting. I got an uberback into town to get ready for the victory parter and the uber got lost in queens and i was stuck in queens for an hour, which made me nervous about missing deadlines, but it was amazing to see the world donald trump came from, meandering through the streets in queens pleach he a grew up in queens and made it in manhattan and achieved the ultimate ambition his family would imagine. That was a very interesting way to spend the afternoon on election day. When i got to the Trump Victory party that night, it felt like a funeral. 7 30 at night, people looking dejected. At the hilton or trump tower. Guest to at the hilton, the media access to the victory party. And the donors were gathering there and most of the people the really inner circle was at trump tower but the hilton party velocity very, very diminished, very sad, kind of quiet. Talked to my breitbart colleagues there and they explained why it was not looking good and the exit poll and then there was a map of florida and the panhandle counties had not come through yet ump i had been there with the Trump Campaign in pensacola and my wife did her training there so i knew the area. And that is deep, deep red country, very, very publican. So republican that when i asked a woman at hissal in pensacola the same question, why are you here, what drew you to donald trump,ed said why are you sneer she said, because im not an idiot. That was her answer. Thats how automatic the vote was in those counties. So i said, how do we know which way florida is going and a short while later those counties started to come in the state flipped into the trump column and everybody fells trump would win. Didnt the would automatically win because he was winning florida. Counted on him winning florida in my preelection calculations. I knew his strategy had to be to pick off a blue state. Wouldnt win the tried and tested republican strategy of winning conservative straights and competing in 12 swing states. No knew he had to steal one state from the blue column and this been a republican idea. Sarah palin in 2008, and Campaign Held her back from campaigning in michigan. Mitt romney and paul ryan tried to swing wisconsin. And the day before the election, actually ran into frank luntz, on the outskirts of a rally in north carolina. I said can trump win . He said, hes going to win if he wins nevada, new hampshire, ohio, and florida. Ohio i felt he was going to win. Florida i thought his chance were 5050. New hampshire, thought also 5050, nevada i thought he would lose. The early vote for democrats was massive. Said can he lose nevada and win a blue state . He looked at me like i fell off the moon. Couldnt imagine. The next day he won three of those blue state, pennsylvania, michigan, and wisconsin. Wisconsin was really the one that clinched it, and it was the one that no pollsters saw. Larry, my coauthor said his Team Predicted trumps victory everywhere except wisconsin. Once wisconsin lit up, then i said, okay, now you can pop the champagne corks, this over. Took three or four mother hours for the networks to call and it standing around me was the press corps and people were crestfall but they did their jobs and we were there at the end. The breitbart crew, and realizing that donald trump was going to be the next president of the United States. We covered this in the sense covered the conservative arguments and liberal ones but had been in the middle of a fight because breitbart was one of the more supportive conservative outlets of the trump candidacy it was remarkable. A privilege dethere and i write about that and write about the drama in the last few weekness the book. Host did the party start to fill up once florida came in and these other states guest oh, yes, yes. Many people who started streaming in at 9 30 that night, and it was pandemonium for a long time. We were in the media gallery looking down on the floor, but wases like a mosh pit from midnight to 3 00 in the morning before finally the app a. P. Called the race and there were some intoing when john podesta said theyre going count more votes and postpone it until the next day, and people started booing, and then one network called pennsylvania. A lot of dramatic. What is really interesting to people is not so much the elect night dramatic which is think everyone has their own interesting store tell, where were you when thats helped . But the conversations with people on the campaign trail, votes, people in the crowds, people who really liked trump. I first had a sense that trump could win the nomination here in las vegas. Went to an still in the primary in 2015 in las vegas. Trump did a couple of things no other candidate does. The conventional wisdom among politicians is that you want to keep an audience waiting. You know that youre not a celebrity in your own right is suppose trump it but very few politicians are so they work hard to create an air of mystique. They dont want to be immediately accessible to everybody. People want to be close door the person if was told that one thing that more seasoned candidate do is arrive on sometime and then wait back stage 15 or 020 minutes and them come only stage. Trump didnt do that. Came out on time and did that throughout the campaign, almost always on time. The message to the people in audience who had driven, waited, camped out, the message is that their time is worth something to him. So there are was immediate intimacy between the candidate and the audience which most politics dont want. They want a little distance. Want the audience to put them on the pedestal. And then he would stand there for an hour and speak extemporaneous willly. And the media was saying, this maintenance crazy. A stream of consciousness, ramble no coherent. But if you were in the room it was conversation you would have among friends about Current Events exhibiter was an ordinary kind of conversation. People appreciated he was hitting them into this confidence, sharing his inner reflections, the way he still does on twitter and the New York Times even, some of these interviews, he lets on a little too much about what he is really think but i dont think we have had a president who is as direct and accessible in terms of letting people know his own. Let doesnt let you 0 know about foreign policy, isis or russia and its good be to unpredictable for strategic reasons, but in terms of how he feels about things, very direct about that and that created a rapport between him and his audience, and as i left the eventy 2015 i said theres know other republican candidate who does that, who can do it. True. Drew that night 4,000 or 5 town poem to the westgate casino. Marco rubio had a rally and he had 200. And rubio, on paper in a sense, is a better candidate, more political experience, policy lined up perfect live with conservative movement, republican party. Very good on television. He was latino could appeal to a new sex of the electorate republicans have been struggle ago to reach. He was a guy who checked all the boxes on paper. But trump had a connection to people and wasnt just celebrity. Something he knew how to do. It wasnt demagoguery or a charismatic persona. When you look at obama rallies, almost that kind of charismatic call that fell over the cloud, almost a cult of personality. People elevated him above them. Trump had a different appeal. The man who would come down from trump tower on the escalator, and giving up a lot of that prestige look how his brands have suffered and his personal if you has been opened up, miss business is now under investigation. He has exposed himself in all of these ways for the sake of his job. And a young woman on the campaign trail at recall in michigan, actually one of the more interesting rallies. Just north of detroit. One of the few events that started late because we had trouble getting there through the traffic on the roads around detroit and the secret service was clearing people off the roads and it was long route. Got there late. It was absolutely packed and was juan of the younger audiences, conservative oddsenses tend to be a little older. This was a young audience, people in their its teens, early 20s, like rock n roll conference. I asked a young woman what brought her here and why she liked donald trump. She said, he loves us. And i said to her, how do you know he loves grow she said because he doesnt have to do this. And that was the same sense the beginning of the campaign. When i first went to a trump event. The way he was giving his time, arriving on time, giving up his lucrative comfortable thrive enter the fray of american politics. You might say, not such great sacrifice, lives at 1600 pennsylvania avenue, is driven everywhere, going to be remembered in history. His net worth has probably risen as it does for all president s, obama is worth as much as mitt romney at the moment which is ironic. The sense people had with it, he was sacrificing himself for this. It wasnt something that was the sneaks step up on a set of political stairs as it was for Hillary Clinton and other candidates. And i think that remains his connection to his voting base. People feel that he is giving something up for them and he remains loyal to them, and what is remarkable in the first six monks the trump presidency, is that despite the delay up and downs and the daily rollercoaster ride in the media and setbacks in congress, his own voters are almost entirely 100 lock step still with him and thats not because they have a slaveash cultish adherence to trump as a personality. Its because he is delivering on things he promised. An interesting poll at the owned therefore 100date asked voter what they thought about the republican administration. Democrats hated. The republicans loved. Le both sides agreed he was doing what he said he was going to do. Democrats didnt like that and he republicans lord it, but that was the one common area of agreement in the terms of the polls and thats largely still true. Even though he has met more obstacles, especially congress, which i think was unprepared for the trump presidency, i dont think the leaders of Congress Expected trump to win. I think some prepared for trump to win. Mitch mcconnell should get credit for how he handled gorsuch and he held the line in the slim chance that trump would win and the did him made a big bet there but mostly i think washington was unprepared. So trumping dealing with that and a bureaucracy and administration that has portions in not so secret rebellion against the administration, and i think its massive challenge, but so far he is doing okay. Its interesting to see and certainly his voters feel he is delivering on what he promised. Did you rare fear and leaguing in las vegas . No, didnt. There is a state of american. The thing that worried us was not whether trump on her loss america was going to be divided. Because of trump, its not because of the campaign, some of it starts in the Obama Administration are before that. I remember in the 90s the big complaint was that the two parties were too close to each other and politics have become a consensus debate. There is no real disagreement. To go back with hip impeachment and then the recounts, you go back to see where some of these began. Certainly the Obama Presidency was devices. Unlike bill clinton he didnt react to setbacks, he would move further in the direction he intended to go. For conservatives, republicans and many independents it was frightening. So they decided they needed someone to fight back. Which was trumps appeal. Where this agent of change in the white house obama was focused on changing the foundation of society, the long arc of justice, he was fixated on changing what he saw more by the original sin of slavery. Chunk doesnt feel that way, hes trying to change americas government. In a way that resonates more deeply. They dont want to apologize to all the president s of the world but it causes problems in washington. Government is set on working a certain way and trump on such work a different way. He comes from a Business World things are done early and under budget and it doesnt work that when washington. The thing that worried us, i wonder why would come as far down the road as we have. One of the more interesting comments from a book so the thing you liked about my back has someone from the outside was my personal account of being on the campaign trail may trump seem normal to him. Hes not seen as normal and the media. He seen as this figure no one can figure out. But when youre close to whats going on and see the date today and place it in the greater context, you understand theres an element that is normal, weve just come to a different way of doing politics and trump is trying to change that. Some of those are ambitious and challenging even radicals. As a figure his not outside the bound american political experience. Theres much thats familiar as people immerse themselves into the trump world. If you dont want to go to a trump rally or get inside his mind he might want to read the book. Thats the part i focus on. Larrys focused on Historical Context of trump. He looks at how the Trump Campaign also different from anything anyone has experienced in our lifetime also gives you the data that further explains why trump on and how. Theyre still collecting that data. He should from democrat to republican Voter Registration continued the moment missed on the republican side even though when you watch the news you may think its the opposite. The electorate is following trump on the issue. Democrats are talking about issues right now, theyre talking about child. Its not good at broadening the Democratic Party electorate. Thats why theyre still struggling to figure out their strategy trumps talking about the issues people still care about, trade, National Security and healthcare. Thats why they continue to look in his direction. If he can start delivering on these will see the more. And how trump on, what is it like to be on the campaign trail and what is the reaction you got from the other reporters . When i joined i know i wasnt going to make too many friends. Either they would not want that kind of relationship with the breitbart reporter maybe i wouldnt. I needed to focus on what i felt people were focusing on. The interesting thing was how few journalistic an interest in the crowd. Theres a condescension, fear, not every reporter all of the time but i found i would just jump the fence. Secret service was there but i didnt care. I was going to talk to people. It struck me there was not that much curiosity. I read had an idea of what Trump Supporters were, and generalizing but it was fun. Friendships made across ideological boundaries. Some very leftwing reporters i got along well with because we talked about baseball, the cubs won the world series and im a cubs fan. Many of the reporters didnt like trump. Most would agree in some quite open about it is better to be covering trump and hillary cant clinton. Hillary did very few events there wasnt much access to the candidate. Not much change from day to day. The crowds are bust in, the speeches were scripted. Its politics as your use to. Ciampi never knew was going to happen. For five events a day. It was exhausting. But exciting. She did tire out the journalist one third of his age. Journalist struggling to keep up and he had amazing energy. Before election day we wanted to stay close together in new england she just had more energy. Hillary clinton relied on her surrogates more. A measure of Health Problems played into it. But they figure they had their bases covered if they sent people around and hillary would do one event today. Thats not connect to voters. The fact trump was working so hard and he could speak offthecuff created an intimacy. It was fun at times to socialize with people i dont socialize with other journalists a lot but there were some funny things that happen. Some tense moments also. Some strict rules about what you could report about what goes on inside the press play. I had a disagreement with the head of a press pool where i was reporting on the reaction and i do not quote anybody but it was evident what the reaction was and i was told not to do that. So a lot of stories dont make it into the book for that reason. I think its a shame because media i think theres a significant amount of sharing see you need to cooperate with each other. But theres also a shared worldview when idea coalesces inside the press about the meaning of something trump has said or whether it was acceptable and theres very little dissent. Sometimes i am sad disagree but when youre surrounded by 40 or 50 people more senior than you most cases and doing this for longer its hard to say disagree when youre trying to get a deadline. Its interesting to see inside what the the press is doing. I think journalists benefit because there is a mentality that has developed and i think journalists should look at events understand events that dont fall into this established pattern. Right now most of the media sees themselves as the Opposition Party some mistake. Any press scores going to have somewhat of a relationship with trump. Theyve taken a partisan stance that undermined its own ability to reach its audience. And ironically make that harder to reach its fulfillment. I think theres some room for media reform and journalists to think of how they report on president ial campaigns. I breitbart when we cover liberal politicians are events its usually to present as they are. The audience does not need to be told whats good or bad and straight deliveries off the most effective. I went to cover Hillary Clinton last august speaking about the outright basically an attack on the news. I was interesting to report what she said it just report what she was saying telling our audience what she needed to know. Or how out of touch they were that this wasnt a movement it was a populous moment where trump is connecting to millions of people who didnt get their opinions from twitter or from obscure websites they were experiencing what trump is talking about that no other politician had acknowledged. Theres a lot to learn, i dont think the learning has happened yet. Theres still journalist stuck in the same old. Certainly those that want to be friendly is a question of temperament of individual people and hoplite people will be with one another. Sometimes if we dont agree we is not possible to get along with everybody all of the time. The may be the next book is lessons of the media of this campaign and this young presidency. So how did you get to breitbart . I was very liberal in college and shortly thereafter. As part of the College Democrats but is much more than the radical win. I grew up in the suburbs of chicago. I went to Public School in jewish Religious School early on. I went to harvard. Ive began to change my mind about halfway through college. I still thought of myself as on the left. The most important thing that bothered me was the hostility toward questions. Is often told my question was based on an incorrect assumption. Its because you didnt understand something. I would ask challenging questions and then i would get an explanation her response. Even though students around me disagree i would never be shouted down. The openmindedness of conservatives on campus intrigue me. I spent some time in south africa working as a freelance writer. That open my eyes. I saw many leftwing policies i believed in being implemented. There were destructive and achieve the opposite of what they set out to accomplish. After about six months i realize i wasnt a democrat. I became a republican i be volunteered on the campaigns and i had this confrontation with barney frank that went viral when you two was still relatively young. I got a call from a republican lesson we need someone to run the district would you do it . I said okay. I ran for congress in a blue district on a conservative platform and we lost badly. The campaign was successful. We raised almost 700,000 it was the excitement of having a conservative candidate to vote for that brought out hundreds of volunteers and donors and we ran atop campaign. In that course i met Andrew Breitbart. He called me a candidate journalists. I was doing my own Opposition Research. They said nobody ran against your opponent so we dont have anything against her. So, i ran the Opposition Research campaign. We are covered things that didnt just tell a story about my opponent but was going on in the Democratic Party. She was deeply connected to obama through her husband. And he had trained obamas activist and as a community organizer. I was the mastermind behind the policies obama had implemented in the first year two of his presidency. I did a lot of stories about that and i did a lot of stories so we developed a friendship. After the election i pitched the idea of coming to work in l. A. The company star with one employee was a half a dozen employees and growing. Was becoming a National Media story or organization. I think i was employee number seven. I moved out there and i still have inhouse counsel responsibilities. As it expanded i became editorinchief. I was editorinchief for two years including the time when he died suddenly. We needed to reboot and start breaking stories. We had a blog and that was good in terms of giving a voice to journalist but not when it came to competing with mainstream media. Andrews vision was always get into breaking news, 24 hour ne news, and move into other media. We now have radio on sirius xm. And the breitbart weekend shows on channel 125 on serious. Its amazing to see the company grow. More than 100 employees. To be part of its successes been incredible. I think andrew would be really proud of it. And why trump is a candidate anticipated by breitbart. Even though he wasnt a conservative in that way especially here we are freedom fest and he Andrew Breitbart tended to the libertarian side. Trump have liberal tendencies but some of the policies are not libertarian. Andrew understood that trump knew how the media worked. Andrew said in 2012 because of the way trump beats the media he will be a candidate one day if you dont watch out. Hes not a conservative but hell be the candidate you get because he knows how to fight and you dont. I think andrews early feelings about that were fulfilled. The reason many republicans whatever trump is that hes a fighter and he fights back against the ones that republicans feel is there opponent. He believed in i believe that given a level Playing Field where the media allows both sides equal time a coverage conservatives will win most of those debate. A lot of that goes to marginalizing republicans and conservatives. The revenue for that is not where roy was forced to have it. The remedy is to expose biased where it exists. That is something we have done a lot about breitbart and more after the election. Fighting against a lot of the coverage. We think trump is a president we can hold accountable. Accountable to the promises he made but he should be accountable based on policies and principles [inaudible] media crises and double standards. Suddenly they wake up to the importance you okay to complain about trump not given a press conference if you followed obama around the golf course for eight years. So i like the companys posture and their fighting conservativism. The political attitude, i dont necessarily agree with others. We have lots of different opinions about issues and same with trump. As critical of some of the things he said. I think the application we have to our readers is to hold them accountable according to promises he made to the people and thats the world that Andrew Breitbart wanted to make. We see that democracy as the trust that underlines an agreement between the voters in the president. The president offer certain things and they vote for him and expect he will deliver. Thats what makes democracy function. Hes accountable to the american people. Particularly to those who voted for him. Thats world breitbart created in a world we are covering. The book was exciting to write, a labor of love. It didnt take that long, i was drinking too much coffee during the campaign so i gave it up. I hope your knee coffee to get through this. Its an exciting read. I hope people find it entertaining. Host Breitbart NewsSenior Editor at large, joe pollock is the coauthor. Youre watching but to be on cspan2. Heres a look at some of the best books of the year according to publishers weekly. Peter manso, curator of religion that does the Smithsonian National museum of Natural History recalls life of william marmor. He was known for spare photography and, the avaricious. Ashley dawson explores how cities can be affected by Climate Change in extreme cities. The way recall the fiscal collapse of new york city in 1975 and how the cities brush with bankruptcy reshaped ideas about government. Wrapping up the best books of 2017 is the color of law. The report on how local, state, federal legislation is responsible for segregated cities. Today, most homes sell for three or 400,000. The American Families prohibited from moving into those rented apartments in the city did not gain two or 300,000 in equity. White families gained that equity and today those homes are unaffordable to workingclass people. 100,000 in 1940 was twice the National Median income. Today, they go for seven times the national income. Middleclass families cant afford to move to the suburbs. So, today nationwide we have a ratio of africanamerican income on average is 60 of white income. Africanamerican wealth is five or 7 of white wealth. Most people gain wealth through housing equity. This difference between 60 income ratio of 5 wealth ratio is almost entirely attributable to unconstitutional failed housing policies practiced in the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Some authors have or will be appearing on book tv. You can watch our website, booktv. Org. Host now introduce you to russell want riley of the center in his book, inside the Clinton White house, and oral history. What are we going to learn in this book . Guest the biggest thing is what it look like to be inside the white house during one of the most consequential presidencies in history. A lot of wonderful stories that people can tell us. Over ten years working at the Miller Center we interviewed about a hundred 30 of the seniormost officials. I went through about 800 hours of interviews to bring you the greatest hits of those in a single volume. Host was the spark that you said you thought you had a book. Guest we have been doing oral histories all the way back to gerald fords time. This is the first time weve done a narrative out of those. Largely because of the breath and scope of interviews we conducted and the depth and color of the interviews we were accumulating. It became clear as possible to create a narrative of everything from bill clintons up Group Bringing to his departure of office in a way thats compelling and gives you an understanding of what its like at the white house. Why did the Miller Center start to do those . It began in the 70s. For budgetary reasons they got out of the business. James young was from georgia, had and it interest in oral history because he had been in columbia where it had been invented. He walked the halls and started doing interviews with senior carter officials less than a month after they left office. We discovered you can find out a lot about a president ial administration by talking to people when its over. Theyre not worried about subpoenas and they can sit down and reflect about what went right and what went wrong. By the available to the public . Absolutely. If you go to the Miller Centers website similar center. Org you can read the interviews and include sessions with people like tony lake, his time is National Security advisor in the entire interview you can find on our website. Heres russell rileys curated the as some of those. [applause] good evening and welcome. Im curious how many of you are here for the first time . Welcome. Were glad to hear. We have your email address we are in touch once or twice a week. Sometimes we have new events to