Evolution of Trump voters
Author outlines what may have led to 2016 win
The Forgotten
Ben Bradlee Jr. Little, Brown and Co.
There have been many books, studies and feature stories on the rise of the alienated white voters who came out in large numbers to elect U.S. President Donald Trump in 2016. But letting these voters speak without judgment while also questioning their views about race remains a challenge for reporters.
The Forgotten: How the People of One Pennsylvania County Elected Donald Trump and Changed America, by Ben Bradlee Jr., trots this delicate dance by examining one key swing county in Pennsylvania — a state Trump surprisingly won.
Using quick but intricate vignettes, Bradlee allows a hair salon owner, a Vietnam War veteran, a retired detective, a flashy real estate investor, even a white nationalist from Luzerne County talk through their evolution to Trump amid fear, anger, anxiety and hopelessness. Almost all are former Democrats who came from union families connected to the shuttered coal mines or now-closed factories.
Bradlee writes that he chose the northeastern Pennsylvania county that sits between Philadelphia and New York City because it was once a reliable Democratic stronghold that twice went for Barack Obama. In 2016, Trump won the county by nearly 20 percentage points.
The vignettes allow voters to speak for themselves and explain why Trump’s views on trade and immigration resonated. “I used to be the most liberal person you could imagine,” hair salon owner Donna Kowalczyk, 60, told Bradlee, a former Boston Globe editor. “Then you’re exposed to unsavoury people . ... These people come in from out of town ... getting all kinds of benefits I never got.”
Some of those unsavoury people described by those interviewed, Bradlee writes, turned out to be Hispanic immigrants who transformed Hazleton, the county’s second-largest city, to a minority-majority city almost overnight.
Bradlee allows residents to speak and explain their reality without judgment, but is quick to point out how statements once considered racist have been turned into complaints centring on white victimization. “The new arrivals sparked not just a yearning for a whiter yesterday, but an inclination — implicitly encouraged by Trump — to make clear that they preferred to be among their own race and social group.”