Posted on 10/05/2018 11:57:49 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
A Pennsylvania county has become the example of how Trump took the nation by storm with a conservative rhetoric that reached the forgotten corners of America in the 2016 cycle.
Ben Bradlee Jr., a former Boston Globe reporter who led the Pulitzer-Prize winning team featured in the movie "Spotlight," sat down with ABCs Political Director Rick Klein this week for the Powerhouse Politics Podcast to discuss his book, The Forgotten: How the People of One Pennsylvania Country Elected Donald Trump and Changed America. His book takes a deep dive, through the lives of 12 characters, into how Luzerne County became a red stronghold. Obama won the county by eight points in 2008 -- Trump won by nearly 20 points in 2016.
Without the votes from Luzerne County, Trump, Bradlee suspects, would not have won Pennsylvania, or perhaps the presidency. Bradlee's hunger to know more about the Trump base took him to Pennsylvania, where, in extended and probing interviews with Trump voters, he was able to detail just why they supported him, getting below the surface of what the elections returns reflected: that rural voters were angry. They felt abandoned and unheard by Democrats, which helped cause their quick shift from blue to red.
They felt unacknowledged, they felt underappreciated, isolated by liberal culture that often mocked them, Bradlee said. Trump came along and they identified with him. They felt that he heard them. They felt listened to. They felt that Hillary made them ashamed.
I think we all learned some lessons here. You cant deny that Trump drew, and still draws, big crowds. They are enthusiastic and I think a lot of the press assumed that was not going to translate to votes. And it did, Bradlee said....
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Poor old Bradlee is pissed that he and his ilk cannot change the Trunmp voters minds with Flake news. Hey Bradlee snowflaking ain’t easy.
3 years into this and they are just dipping their toes into the pool. What a bunch of maroons
Oh he can do wrong, if he ever stopped putting America First.. he’d be done... but you guys never saw that was why he had the appeal he had to begin with so, it’s no wonder you can’t see what would cause him to lose his support as well.
Bradley gets it wrong though. He said Hillary made them feel ashamed. No. Hillary wanted them to feel ashamed instead they felt pissed
Sorry, Mr. Bradlee - Salena Zito already had this covered. But thanks for playing.
See my post #8. Salena Zito got her start in actual journalism with the leading daily in Westmoreland County, which has outcompeted the former leading daily in Pittsburgh to the extent that they now publish only a web edition. Guess who delivers the leading print edition in Pittsburgh now?
“but you guys never saw that was why he had the appeal he had to begin with”
—
The MSM is still clueless. Maybe if the got out of NYC, LA and DC type of mindset bubbles once in awhile they could catch a hint. Then again, that probably wouldn’t help either.
These narcissistic Georgetown lounge lizards from the mainslime media are beginning to understand their own stupidity - and its salient ramifications. The big one is the emergence and growth of Trump’s MAGA base - and its seething contempt for the swamp and the mainslimers. Hullo, little Bradlee whelp - the storm is just getting started. No one gives a da*n about your condescending drivel. ESAD!
I think Trump has probably done plenty wrong. The alternative is 100x worse than anything trump has said or done.
Now we need to get rid of sleepy bob. Vote Lou.
Exactly. It is ridiculous how these knuckleheads can’t look at data.
I was curious myself how PA flipped in the days after the election....so I looked up the county results and compared them with 2012 and 2008.
Hillary did not bad at all in Philly...it’s just Trump shellacked her in the rural PA counties. He was pulling numbers in these counties that blew McCain and Romney out of the water. And if I remember right, it didn’t come at the expense of the Dem vote that much.
Doesn’t seem to me the marginal areas like Luzerne or Monroe or Bucks really did it for Trump. Trump took a rural base that went red but typically didn’t show up on election day....and made it so deep, deep red that it swamped the Dem vote of Philly and the marginal areas.
Can anyone explain how and why the Amish community in Lancaster county traveled by horse drawn carriages to Harrisburg to a Trump Rally? They were in Leesburg VA for a rally before the election too.That is the Amish community. Im not sure from where they came.for the Leesburg Rally.
The Amish can be given rides or fly-—they can’t operate the vehicles themselves.
.
Thanks that explains the Leesburg crowd, but there were pictures of the buggies in Harrisburg.
There is a Amish joke in our area that "God created Mennonites to drive the Amish where they need to go . . . like the polls."
I lived Westmoreland county for 20 years so I am aware. Moved to AZ in 2013.
These people are seriously living in an alternate reality:
‘While Trump has yet to deliver on many of his campaign promises, Bradlee said, that has not seemed to deter his backers.
‘Even though its a good economy, in some ways he hasnt delivered for the working class. He said he was going to curb the deficit in the campaign but his budget adds $7 trillion to the deficit,’ Bradlee said. ‘So, one could say that that doesnt translate into a vested interest of his supporters, but it doesnt matter, they just love him.’”
Every politician promises to cut the deficit, but if anyone voted for Trump thinking he was a big budget cutter, they should’ve had their head examined. He never talked about it, and in fact, mostly discussed full-funding for the military, veterans, infrastructure, Social Security and Medicare, the Wall, etc., while also promising to lower taxes.
But Trump has kept to his actual promises (create jobs, eliminate ISIS, fight illegal immigration, address trade imbalances, etc.) more than any politician that anyone can remember.
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