THE FORGOTTEN: HOW THE PEOPLE OF ONE PENNSYLVANIA COUNTY ELECTED DONALD TRUMP AND CHANGED AMERICA by Ben Bradlee Jr. (Little, Brown and Company, October 2018) Hardcover 304 pages. ISBN # 0316515736 / 9780316515733
Summary from the Goodreads website . . . .
The people of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania voted Democratic for decades, until Donald Trump flipped it in 2016. What happened? Named one of the "juiciest political books to come out in 2018" by Entertainment Weekly.
In The Forgotten, Ben Bradlee Jr. reports on how voters in Luzerne County, a pivotal county in a crucial swing state, came to feel like strangers in their own land - marginalized by flat or falling wages, rapid demographic change, and a liberal culture that mocks their faith and patriotism.
Fundamentally rural and struggling with changing demographics and limited opportunity, Luzerne County can be seen as a microcosm of the nation. In The Forgotten, Trump voters speak for themselves, explaining how they felt others were 'cutting in line' and that the federal government was taking too much money from the employed and giving it to the idle. The loss of breadwinner status, and more importantly, the loss of dignity, primed them for a candidate like Donald Trump.
The political facts of a divided America are stark, but the stories of the men, women and families in The Forgotten offer a kaleidoscopic and fascinating portrait of the complex on-the-ground political reality of America today.
My review on the Goodreads website . . . . .
If you don't want to read the full review, here's the quick summary:
I was disappointed and depressed by what I learned from reading this book.
However, it has nothing to do with the writing of Ben Bradlee Jr. He doesn't appear to be pushing any agenda -- just sharing what he learned from speaking at length to a cross-section of Trump voters in a northeastern Pennsylvania county. I thought the writing was as objective as good journalism should be, including some analysis in the conclusion but minimal injection of the writer's opinion throughout. He seems to let people speak and doesn't challenge them much on their statements, even when they are inaccurate or outrageous.
I picked up this book in an effort to get some answers to a question that has baffled me since the 2016 election --- how could so many good people help elect a bad President?
I'm not talking about the block of voters that you just knew would vote for him (white supremacists, racists, anti-immigration and anti-abortion advocates). I mean the other people -- the ones with good hearts who somehow overlooked his racism, his misogyny, his narcissism, his prejudice against Hispanics, the disrespect for government institutions, and the lies, lies, lies - - and decided to give him "a pass" and vote for him anyway.
I did not see, hear, or read about a single thing during the Presidential campaign to make me think that Trump was a capable candidate. Prior to the election, I found him to be a self-serving boor (The Apprentice, ugh - - poorly scripted reality television to push his brand and name). During the election I developed a more specific dislike for his character and manner. Every day brought evidence of more reasons to vote against him - - and it was well-documented, not manufactured as he wanted everyone to believe. Since then, his actions and statements have done nothing to change my mind - - they only reinforce the fact that he's the worst President in my lifetime.
Bradlee focused on interviewing Trump voters in Luzerne County, an area that has seen better times. Once a hub for the thriving coal mining industry, it later lost crucial manufacturing jobs, experienced a higher unemployment rate in comparison to the rest of the state and country, and saw a once predominant white community turn into a minority majority.
It's a fairly balanced cross-section of participants in terms of sex, occupation and education - - but did not include any minorities or younger participants. Maybe Bradlee couldn't find any who voted for Trump? He does provide some interview responses from Democratic voters near the end of the book, and this cross-section is much more diverse.
The majority of the Trump supporters that Bradlee interviewed feel that Trump spoke to them and stood up for their values. They loved his antagonistic, simple approach. By and large they felt neglected by government, less important and often mocked. They wanted respect and Trump seemed to be giving it to them.
There's a telling quote from one of the participants that Bradlee uses to close out his epilogue: "People fall in love with their therapist because they want to be heard, and they want to be heard without judgment, says Tiffany Cloud. "I think people felt Donald Trump heard them without judgment."
I seriously doubt that Trump will be providing any answers or solutions for Luzerne County. Except for the voters who feel that the problems are caused by immigration and minorities, he hasn't initiated or addressed their issues. Sadly, too many of the responses that Bradlee documents here point to those two issues as the reason for supporting Trump: immigration and minorities.
Another problem, I believe, is the way that voters receive and process information these days. Not enough people reads the news anymore, just the headlines. Not enough check the facts. Not enough do research on an issue. Many of the responses in this book reflect that. That makes it easier for campaigners to push slogans, catchphrases and incite crowds with fear and hate mongering.
The other issue as I see it is the age of avoidance that we seem to live in. Nobody wants to have a discussion when they disagree, or even attempt to explain their point of view to the other person. They'd rather walk away. Couples don't work out marital issues, they just run away from each other.
When it comes to politics, everybody wants to surround themselves with like-minded individuals and screen their incoming news for only the bits that support their point of view. Discourse is a lost art. That also makes it easier for the liars to keep doing what they do best: lie without consequences.
The saddest part of The Forgotten are the interviews Bradlee did with the participants after eighteen months of the Trump presidency. With only a few exceptions, Trump still receives high approval. All but one of the participants said they would vote for Trump again in 2020. So, if he continues to portray himself as the victim of a biased press and the Democratic party, and combines that with the same lies, he might win again.
That's a horrible thought. I think the next book I need to read is some escapist fare, perhaps a good heroic fantasy.
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