Transcripts For CSPAN2 Washington Journal Salena Zito The Gr

Transcripts For CSPAN2 Washington Journal Salena Zito The Great Revolt 20240713

The 2016 election was it a fluke or is this the new conservative Republican Coalition that is the Republican Party. We decided to thousand 16 wasnt a fluke. This is the new Republican Party and i think puthat both establishment parties democratic and republican and larger institutions including my profession, still have a hard time wrestling with understanding who this coalition is, how it formed and that donald trump didnt cause it, he is the result of it. Lets take a deep dive into your reporting and insight can you write the following. The concrete notion of donald Trump Presidency did not formally crystallize until the wee hours of november 9, 2016. In many ways there has been no other sunrise in american politics since the entire nation remains stuck in the moment to surprise notice the countrys politics had realigned. Yes. Absolutely. I think that pretty much sums it up whether you voted for donald trump, didnt work for him, i think most people would recognize thats where we are today. Not much has moved from that moment. I tell people all the time when they say, whats changed whats gonna happen, where we now, do people still like him . I say, its sort of like groundhog day. Nothing much has changed since november 9, 2016 if you woke up that morning found out he won and you voted for him, you are still optimistic. If you didnt vote for him, your hair is still on fire and nothing is going to extinguish it unless he is taken out of office in handcuffs. You are in pennsylvania born and raised in pittsburgh, lets take a look at the keystone state first a breakdown of borders between democrats republicans and third parties the democrats maintain an edge of 4. 1 million registered voters the republicans 3. 2 million and the remainder of thirdparty registered voters 1. 2 million and then the results from 2016 just how close the state was both donald trump and Hillary Clinton campaigning extensively across pennsylvania donald trump winning at 48. 2 percent, Hillary Clinton at 37. 5 percent. As we move into 2020 the state of National Politics in pennsylvania is what today . Lets just take a step backward for a moment. I think what people missed about pennsylvania going into 2016 sorry to always look at pennsylvania as safe it went blue since 1988 is on the board its blue nobody really thinks about. They just think its blue. What they missed was, since 1992 pennsylvania have become. 4 percent more republican than it was when bill clinton was elected. So when clinton was elected he won 28 of our 67 counties. By the time barack obama won ran and won in 2012, he only won 13 of those 67 counties. The democratic support has eroded. I think its important to remember and understand that, where is pennsylvania today . I think it could go either way, it all depends to be close but it all depends on who the democrats pick. If they pick a candidate that supports banning tracking on day one as Elizabeth Warren has talked about thats going to present a problem democrats and western pennsylvania as well as the scranton area. You cannot win democrat you cannot win as democrat in pennsylvania if you dont win those two catty corner areas. Those are important areas. If a democrat doesnt win pennsylvania the do not win the election. The president and hersey pennsylvania this past week he has made more Campaign Stops in pennsylvania than just about any other state in 2020. Absolutely. Theres a reason for that. Do remember the song allentown by billy joel . No matter where you lived in a manufacturing area, that was sort of a symbol of what was happening to all manufacturing areas. He does the same thing with pennsylvania and youngstown ohio. Even though he didnt win youngstown ohio. These regions are symbolic of other great lakes states and other areas where voters sentiment and experiences in economic decline and also economic resurgence very similar. Thats why he chooses rtpennsylvania as sort of this stage to tell his story. Your book takes an even broader Historical Context in terms of our National Politics and to go back to your word realignment you wrote the following along with brad todd route 20 consecutive president ial elections the two parties put forward the same two basic nominees democrats running as reincarnation of Franklin D Roosevelt the publicans running as shades of barry goldwater. But in 2012 that began to change and by 2016 the two sides no longer resembled their modern templates. The parties have completely relied adorning the 2012 election. Barack obama had won with the new Deal Coalition 2008 but he wisely understood that it was time to reshape the alignment of the party he focused on women and minorities and young people with the caveat that he needed just enough White Working Class. Hillary clinton sort of dropped the notion that you needed just enough White Working Class and poor she just assumed that that percentage would carry over from obama to herself. It didnt. She lacked the ability to connect with those voters and she also made the calculated mistake of not going into those areas like ashtabula ohio, like erie pennsylvania, like kenosha wisconsin or Macomb County michigan and tell those communities that she had hather. From the book with few exceptions these places are locales where most americans decisionmakers and opinion thleaders have never been he ma reference to a moment ago ashtabula ohio trump only carried three of the nations medical counties places with more than a million population trump crawled out of that gop mathematical whole and the all but forgotten communities thousands of them. Absolutely. I think that sort of illustrates the divide in this country. Where is the cultural ltdecisionmakers whether news organizations or government or politics or culture or entertainment they live in those highly concentrated super zip codes if you will. It is not only just impacting our politics but its also impacting our culture. Take about this when hoover was making vacuum cleaners 100 years ago he lived within four blocks of his factory. He was connected to not only the people who work for him but he was also connected to the people who purchased this product. We dont have that same connection with our larger institutions. About where the nfl is located, its park avenue new york. Thats a far cry from people here in pittsburgh today that are painted in black and gold to save all year to buy their tips and are very connected and routed to their communities. That part of our problem within our culture but also within our politics. I think in my coffee is a great piece about this that the dnc and the rsv are political headquarters should relocate out of washington dc and go to cleveland and columbus ohio. They would be more connected to the voters that they need to win elections, both parties. Your piece in the new york ee post this headline got a lot of attention as you travel to some of the stress felt communities. Those voters saying, i would work for him again in a heartbeat referring to President Trump. Were you hearing . Yes, again, nothing has ng changed. Heres a really important thing athat i think that people insi washington work and the more highly concentrated wealthier areas need to understand, these votes come of this book for donald trump, first of all, this coalition is going way its gonna be there long after donald trump is gone from office whether he wins or loses in 2020. These voters are very rooted and very connected to their communities, they are unlike their counterparts is more wealthier areas were very transient. They look at donald trump as the only thing that is sort of protecting them for these larger institutions and these entities who they believe do not have their back and believe they do not understand their way of life. We sat down with President Trump in july and one of the questions we posed to him was had he been in touch with his predecessors including barack obama, bill clinton, and george w. Bush. He said no they didnt support him so he didnt feel necessary to reach out to them. That also break some of the president weve seen in the presidency theres been a lot of that in the truck presidency. Are you surprised he ever breaks precedent . Thats part of why he was elected. These voters, nationally nationwide the trump voter voted nine percent of trump voters voted obama, obama trumpeted the great lakes takes a pennsylvania wisconsin ohio michigan and iowa it was 23 percent theres a lot of unhappiness with both parties democrats and republicans coming up to remember that donald trump didnt just rattle the Democratic Party he also rattled the Republican Party they were 17 great candidates standing on the stage with him in 2015 and 2016 and he just annihilated them because he wasnt part of the establishment. And thats what you write in the book from the great revolt, the question of whether trumps unconventional bid nearly picked the lock of a different era of republican politics or whether his new fusion of populism was conservatism s remaking of the american political access entirely. Absolutely. Whether you like it or not and i think we are pretty much split down the half in this country, this is new Republican Party. That also means there is a new Democratic Party because these voters have to shift and go in different places. We are pretty much split down the middle in this country and i think the election in 2020 is going to reflect that. Our guest is salena zito she Staff Reporter and columnist for a number of publications including the Washington Times and the new york post. Her book is the great revolt inside the populist coalition reshaping american politics, lets get to your phone call. Robert is joining us in atlanta. Democrats line, good morning. Good morning. Perhaps, i have read your book and perhaps i misunderstand it s promise but it seems to me that what has occurred is that particularly through the fluke of the Electoral College of vocal minority has taken over on the levers of government. I think its contrary whats going on is contrary to demographic trends so i dont think this is something thats going to last i would like your observations on that because im hoping, frankly, that this is the last gasp of a very conservative 1950s view of the world whose unfortunately latched onto donald trump as standardbearer. Robert, thank you, we will get a response. Inks robert, i love atlanta i dont like its traffic though they been saying the Republican Party is on its last gas since john mccain lost to barack obama. Political parties change all the time to stop theres always sort of a movement and change. To your point about how conservative it is, i would argue that Donald Trumps style is certainly not traditional conservative republican i will say, his policies are but i think you might benefit from reading the book and that this party this new coalition is a does conservative as the coalition that tried to put mitt romney and tried to put john mccain into the presidency. Theres a lot of people with new deal outlooks on government where they dont mind a little bit of government in their lives who are part of this coalition and do influence it. To alan and Thousand Palms California Republican line, good morning. Good morning. The last caller thinks its a minority of people. I would say its a lot more than minority, its the silent majority was quiet so they work vocal to trump. But i think next election could be a landslide for trump. Thank you. Selena asalena zito cut it could be a landslide . Is the Democratic Partys court it was a close election 2016, it could be a close election in 2020. It could be a landslide in 2020. It depends on how far left the Democratic Party chooses to go. I think thats their big challenge and i think they under stand that where they won a 2018 were with candidates for the house that were pretty moderate on healthcare on military and on infrastructure sorted very breadandbutter oldfashioned Democratic Party candidates and they won with a very healthy margin. You would think they would take a lesson from that and run with it but i havent seen evidence of that today it. You can follow her on twitter at salena zito argus is a contributor to cnn and her columns that appear on the Washington Examiner website. Bill is joining us next for pennsylvania, good morning bill, go ahead with your question or comment. Good morning steve. Salena, you like a breath of fresh air. Unfortunately the guy from georgia spell that out for everybody which is that the kratz just dont believe this is real. Why . Because theres staying in their little cocoons like you described. Washington new york west coast trying to get one together in austin. And the reality is that, i voted for obama first term, as a Republican Committee that i voted for obama was i was hopeful i did not like john mccain because i knew he was a rhino and i wanted the republicans to know, if you put a candidate take mccain up going to book for the democrat just to see what i get of course i could not boat avote for obama the second term because of what he did to my health care system. Which is basically destroy it. We know you cant buy descent affordable healthcare anymore but what trump offer, and i saw it early, was that he came out and he was willing to step on the political cotton rails and not get electrocuted. The guy has done some crazy stuff but hes done so much good stuff that i would have to say that he has a seriously good chance of getting reelected and what i would say im going to do is because in pennsylvania i cannot vote in the primary across parties and the primary im going to switch my registration and make sure i vote against joe biden i dont want to see biden he is the only potential to be trump and i think thats a long shot so im going to vote against biden and then of course switch back and vote for truck this year. Hes not a perfect president , i compare him to abe helincoln. If anyone is a student of history they will know that abe lincoln was treated by the establishment the way trump has been treated by the establishment and i think trump will go down in history as one of the best president s weve had. Where is boyertown pennsylvania . Boyertown is between philadelphia and reading. Im not in pencil sake. Im close. But i will say that im right on the edge maryland madison Madeleine Dean is my new representative i got regerrymandered in with a bunch of democrats unfortunately my representative in the house is a democrat who just voted to impeach the president on the judiciary committee. Bill we will get a response to your comments thanks for forming in. Bill is a perfect example of those voters that sort of went hidden in plain sight. People pollsters didnt understand this vote for obama and then vote for trump. Because they seem so polar opposite oractually i look at them assorted the other side of the coin of each other in that of them ran on hope and change. Its just that my profession tends to not understand what makes America Great means. They think its nostalgic or they think its bigoted. Actually, it really evokes this thing within the american electorate that you want to be part of something bigger than themselves. When i report and yofly and i dont really take interstate i only take back roads, u. S. Routes and backgrounds, that helps me understand whats happening in counties and communities in town. Now they are to each county and each town because he could see how things are doing better, you can see how things are declining, that has helped me understand voters like bill who are willing to make change because they were so unhappy with the establishment in both parties. Those counties including lake county michigan lee county iowa, erie county pennsylvania, our guest is salena zito and she chronicles all of it in her book looking at the 2016 election and whether not as a political realignment quick tweet from john in North Carolina who says it could be an Electoral College landslide with the popular vote will always be massive in liberal in failing blue cities. You can send us a tweet at cspan wj. World leaders came out laughing about President Trump. Several World Leaders mocking President Trump. We are laughing at him. My administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country. [laughter] i didnt expect that reaction but thats okay. World leaders mocking and ridiculing him for being completely off balance. Allies are deeply worried about they say hes becoming increasingly isolated something is very wrong. The world sees trump for what he is, insincere, illinformed, corrupt. Dangerously incompetent and incapable of World Leadership and if we give donald trump four more years. [inaudible] salena zito, is the ad effective . No. This is sort of a thing that i really struggle with as i watch the Democratic Candidates do and that the ad is great, its perfect, it appeals to the democratic vote you already have you needed when new voters over. Ive seen very little effort in places like syria and ashtabula and kenosha and burning county of these candidates trying to win these orders back. What the what bidens team did not understand with that and is, and you can see the results of Voter Sentiment in the back of the great revol

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