The Forgotten and The Angry: A Search for the Trump Voter

Every day, as a new Trump embarrassment emerges from the White House, people ask, how did this happen?Millions of words have now been written about the current state of our politics, our country and of our civic discourse. About the anger that abounds. Every publication, every cable channels, every journalist who covers politics, and many that don’t, have opined on how we got here.There are as many theories as there are journalists, pundits, professors, and consultants. How did eight million voters who voted for Obama twice become Trump voteHow did the political class miss what was going on among the group that Hillary Clinton called a “basket of deplorables,” while Obama talked of how “they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like them.”Ben Bradlee Jr. went looking for answers and looking for America in Luzerne County Pennsylvania.  What he found was both sobering and frightening and proof positive of two Americas. He reports it all in The Forgotten: How the People of One Pennsylvania County Elected Donald Trump and Changed America.My conversation with Ben Bradlee, Jr.: Get full access to Talk Cocktail Podcast at jeffschechtman.substack.com/subscribe