You and ive been on several cnn panels throughout the election but you know i really came from a small town in florida and for those of you who eat strawberries its the world strawberry cat to the capitol it was important to me to write a book that just explored my roots but how i see this election through the prism i grew up in, not through the confines of the cnn news are here in washington where i service rnc spokesperson but this prism of a smalltown girl and the movement that i recognized early on when i endorse President Trump to be the president. Three months after he declared his candidacy eyes im on the horizon with a few others and one of my colleagues recognize the movement as well although he recognized the leftwing party. Host lets talk about van jones who are few people in the book to make appearances and in some ways surprising. Van jones was part of the Obama Administration and let people conservative and at one point thought of him as the bogeyman but what was your experience with tennesean and . Guest i was included in that. I was van jones is the radical leftwing czar. A lot of us in this country are partisan. You either identify with the right or the left and easy to sum up your counterpart as identifying with their party but when i came to know van jones is a person and not a political partisan i was taken aback and so surprised. I remember my first night before he took the stage on the cnn panel during the primary right before i had come i had gotten criticism. If youre a pundit or political figure of any sort you get a lot of ink reviewers. One of those angry viewers said i had to take off my because i wasnt deserving of wearing a cross if i supported President Trump. Van jones to know about that comment and i didnt even know van jones at that time and as i rounded the corner nervously before my first cnn panel i heard a voice ring out from the crowd commentator and the voice said kayleigh i love your cross. Those were the first words of van jones said to me and i came to know him both at night and many nights since we have been together through the the election of 2016 as a person a friend and mentor and it shattered this idea of summing up the other side whether it be the bernie voted for hillary voter of the trump owner. Host and ban is the only liberal commentator whos been kind to you in one of the people you write about is alan colmes. What did he mean to you . Guest thats right. I always felt those on the left have helped me throughout my career even though you know me, im a very rightwing strong conservative individual but alan combs when i was an intern on the set of hannity and Colmes Sean Hannity and alan were both wonderful to me that alan combs kept up with me during my time at cnn. I just learned this week and it brings tears thinking about it he was on his radio show and he was put on the tv and watching on cnn and he would send me messages that he watched me. I knew about the messages that i did know we kept me on his radio show and i learned it from the producers this week. Alan reached out to me. He would say to make kayleigh remember dont fight fire with fire, fight fire with water and reminds me in this heated moment to be calm, take a breath and allow people to see your point of view intellectually and not through your emotions are your anger. Host lets talk a little bit about the new American Revolution book. For those who have not read it what is the broad theme of the book . Guest its a great question. I use the word populist concerted play and have had conservatives say to me why do you use this word . Im not a populist. To me it sums up what this book is about and its people. I really wanted to honestly profile the people on the left and on the right. Most of the voters were trump voters selected profile some who were not into me it was capturing a sentiment that drove an electorate to deliver one of the most astonishing electoral pieces we have seen certainly in my lifetime and in modern history. With the profile of the American People from terrorism to poison water. Host i would see it as an explainer. You are somebody who lives inside the beltway and with what was happening across america that would lead people to want to have change and have this revolution why would they vote for this guy . This book and you profile a lot of different americans who were doing a lot of Different Things and this would be a good explainer to help people get why this moment happen. Guest thats right in you and i when we were discussing this book earlier you mentioned the amazon profile for my book. Outside of my own book thats really the only piece of work that i can point to that tried to describe the moment in history and the moment in this election and the people who made that moment happen. Of course j. D. Vans profile that group of voters in West Virginia he didnt profile them as voters that his people and those bluecollar factory workers who are swing voters in this election. I want to take a broader look. You can profile the whole country of course but i sat down on my desk and i wrote what determined the selection and among them were pairing individuals to the interview and then i traveled the country. A mom who lost her son and husband in the terrorist attack and a widow who son was on the weightless and tried to get the part of what made them the people they were. This must have been in terms of the process of writing a book like this i would imagine it seems very simultaneously timeconsuming and emotionally draining. Most of the stories even though some of them have happy endings of people persevering they went through really hard times and almost every Single Person that you interviewed. Talk a few what about the time in the process. Guest matt is a great question because you and i know with all the political punditry and you as a writer you have a million things going on at one time. You are speaking or panel you have to be a part of foreign article that is the deadline for and its easy to get caught up in the monotony of having political discussions with other partisans on the other side of the aisle. For me to leave the confines of new york and leave the confines of d. C. And go out and talk to the people come i didnt know i find. At first it seemed like something you have have to go to come another interview or another piece of writing you have to do. But when i sat in the log cabin with the family that lost their Police Officer son and i saw their tears and i saw their 7yearold daughter about to turn it running around the house with my little puppy in her arms and she sent me a picture that said thank you for writing her dad story who died in a tragic act of criminality by gunman. When i saw her and i saw his daughter and i wrote the story i realized we would come to know her father not just their loved ones but the page. For me it became something deeply personal and emotional. Host theres something really rewarding about being a book author is opposed to even the tv commentator because i mean i guess youtube eclipse can live on but when you write something in a book that you found and put on a bookshelf theres a legacy that and at can be passed down and thats something that is documenting a moment in time. I guess theres a pretty profound responsibility you have when you are writing about people, loved ones. Guest thats right and thats how i saw it too. Thats a good word come responsibility, the responsibility to tell the stories in the legacies of these individuals especially the first four chapters that saw families that lost loved ones. I took it as a personal sacred duty to share who these individuals were. In the terrorist attack we do so much cable was exploring the perpetrators or the gunman but what about the victims . What about the husbands to go forward and put his little son 11yearold roadie out of the way when the truck was barreling toward stem . What about their story and thats the opening chapter of my book telling who Sean Copeland was and who Cody Copeland was. Do we know the stories of people arrested vacation and committed amazing acts of heroism . That was my goal. Host another theme along with that is the police. You have one story about a Police Officer who was killed and not even in the line of duty protecting others while he was off duty. Seems like there were several examples of Law Enforcement in this book is that something that was important to you and do you think that was going back to the larger theme of these trends that were happening that led to donald trump selection . Guest absolutely. I to quote in the book and i believe it was from the Boston Herald that the boston globe. One of the biggest reasons for donalds trumps election were the men in blue who showed up and absolutely the Police Officers were driving force an election. Law enforcement is have a special place in my heart because i see them largely as domestic heroes who dont get the credit they deserve and its why it was important to me to talk about Justin Winebrenner and his loss of life off duty. He rose to the occasion and left behind a daughter and a fiancee. Its important to tell their stories but i have another chapter about my time at Harvard Law School and in it i talk about having the importance of being aware of justice in our criminal Justice System and ultimately solving the policing issue in the grievances we have seen in black lives matter for instance if having a conversation and realizing most Police Officers are good people and heroes who rise to the occasion by Justin Winebrenner but also the other side that there are issues that need to be resolved and looked out. I became aware of those issues at Harvard Law School . Host also at Harvard Law School you discovered a number theme that would be a liberal bias in academia that i think also helped drive donald trump selection along with other stories like the va scandal that you mentioned. I really do think if you were to read this book especially if you have the polling kale problem allegedly said she didnt know anybody who voted for nixon. If you were in that camp is donald trump this book would definitely help you understand. What was happening that would make people frustrated or angry around america that you may be insulated if youve had a fairly prosperous life. One of them is health care which is the story that is personally touched you. Guest thats right. I opened up about my story a little bit in the book. Host what you tell us of that about it. Guest i plan those words carefully. Its hard to tell your own story and to tell the stories of others but my own story. Puts me in an 84 chance of Breast Cancer for lifetime. I was just 22 years old and i talk about how scared and the loss of innocence it feels like when i should be worrying about voice and im worrying about getting Breast Cancer. I think you have some words there. Host let me read a little bit from your book. Ill start out by saying i think this dovetails a larger story. You tell a story about someone else who was really struggling with navigating obamacare. Guest thats right. Host a Small Business owner knows poor person per se but their child was going through major Health Problems and this person was spending hours trying to get it straightened out and then you tell your story and i will read it here. An unexpected waterfall of tears pour down my face as i try to comprehend the magnitude of the news. I have an 84 chance of getting Breast Cancer in my lifetime. I casually and somewhat cavalierly had taken brca to genetic mutation tests not expecting to hear positive result just days later not prepared for the swarm of the motions that would accompany it and as they move forward i face a permanent fearful and final step in my journey a devil not a double mastectomy. You know its got to be difficult to write about this and talk about it. Was it tough and you hope that maybe you can help others out there . Guest differently and to me was important a person is health care because when i talk about it is often in a political context. There are so many competing factors that need to be looked at and for me i told my story because one i wanted to create Awareness Among women. Support to know that you can find that you have this gene and you can take a measure like a preventative message to me which i decided to do and i make no qualms about that but its a decision i knew i needed to make. Beyond creating awareness when we talk about conditions one of the great things obamacare did do despite wreaking havoc on a large part of the population wasnt provided protections that werent there for people with preexisting conditions like myself and many other americans. Was important to tell my story because as a republican i feel like you are demonized for not caring about this group of people but republicans do care. Im one of them that does care about the population of people. Closer use a donald trump was different than a lot of conservatives because he pretty much always said we have to keep the preexisting conditions and we are going to repeal and replace you wanted to do but keep the preexisting conditions clause in there. Guest thats exactly right and i recall one of his republican opponents saying that to him. Im on the democratic debate stage right now because they were so taken aback by what was not republican doctrine and thats was one of many the reasons. Puts a you go on to say brave women who have come to this before like your mom who have the courage to get a double mastectomy before was popular as a preventive measure and strong women like Angelina Jolie who openly announced her decision to have mastectomy. Guest thats right in their member my mom getting the preventative mastic to me. She never did have rest cancer but she did have removed which forewoman is a very tough process. She did it before Angelina Jolie came out i remember my mom called me and said hey get a copy of the news york times you have to get this. I opened it up and saw Angelina Jolie had gone public that she made this choice. For women across the country knowing Breast Cancer is a problem in health care for women it was an empowering moment because she made something mainstream that many women like my mom included felt ostracized for doing. She made it mainstream and i thanked her for having the courage to do that. Host one of the common themes about the book is obviously donald trump. Not everybody profiled in the book voted for donald trump but i think its safe to say most of them dead and reading this book would definitely give insight into the rise of the populist movement for donald trump a allowed to win the presidency. Even for people who didnt vote for trump, people who are whether its a terrorist attack or dying because the va didnt give them proper treatment or whatever it seems like every person or most of the people here, what really comforted them and gave them meaning was the ability to persevere with their faith. Guest absolutely and i want to be clear i didnt cite the interest in wearing a cross. I set out to find men and women who embodied the issues of our time but what i found and i say this in the book is god not government and there may be temporary hope in a leader and ultimate hope in a savior. I think it was important to profile this community which i found unwittingly and not by my own but i stumbled upon men and women who as i said where the darkest hour of life losing a child or losing a husband that was faith that was faith that got them through in god that got them through. They had Amazing Stories of how there was to find outreach at a time when they felt that their lowest. Really interesting one of them was brody copeland, the 11yearold boy who lost his life in the knees terrace attack he was in the bathroom Tom Macarthur before it happened about an hour and and a half before it happened and his mom didnt want him to go and she noticed armed guards walking on the streets in east france and she snapped the picture and then went to the bathroom and noticed a guard standing there and said, brody, i will go in with you you. He said no mom and get going. He went in his 11yearold boy comes out and says, mommy, what does isis look like . He spent the next hour and and a half asking what isis look like works because he had seen there is somebody in the mens bathroom like with a backpack open looking suspicious digging through his belongings. As i say in the book, the terrace has a picture to his brother that day from the best deal Day Festivities in that area from the promenade. Whether he was actually there that day before the attack whether that two brody saw we dont know. I asked him and shes not sure whether that was the attacker who took her sons life but brody certainly had a premonition that something was coming and so did sabine jordan whose son died when an illegal immigrant left him a little lefthander and someone who had been deported and committed a felony previously but they took that illegal love term took ab sabine said she had her body collapsed inexplicably in a parking lot in Atlanta Georgia at the very time her son lost his life she said my body knew but my mind didnt at that time. There is definitely an overwhelming theme of people who knew there was something coming or something approaching. Speaking of religion, i want to read this, this is about the va story. Its a veteran, im going to read this part about religion but tell us about burial and coach a little bit before i do. His struggle with a Carolyn Coates is an amazing american and one who became the face of the va scandal. But cnn broke the scandal and the face of th