Book World: How to slice, dice and make nice with the Trump coalition

The Great Revolt: Inside the Populist Coalition Reshaping American Politics By Salena Zito and Brad Todd Crown Forum. 309 pp. $28 — It’s hard to know whether to take "The Great Revolt" seriously or literally. Journalist Salena Zito and conservative political advertising executive Brad Todd have co-authored a new book that provides a taxonomy of 2016 Trump supporters, one that claims to upend the stereotypical narratives of the mainstream press. "We spent time in diners, watering holes, bed-and-breakfasts, and coffee shops, finding Trump voters where they live and work," they write. Where others saw an irate, dispossessed, racist, uneducated mass eager to burn it all down, Zito and Todd travel through Iowa, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, deploying "smart empirical research with on-the-scene, shoe-leather reporting" in search of the true Trumpistas, those "hidden in plain sight." Zito became pundit-famous in 2016 for her pithy formulation about Donald Trump’s faithful and the news media: "The press takes him literally, but not seriously; his supporters take him seriously, but not literally." On such insights are reputations forged and book deals struck. So it’s ironic that "The Great Revolt" commits an offense similar to the one Zito attributes to the press. The authors do take Trump supporters literally, recording their every utterance and grievance with great fidelity. But I’m not sure how seriously they truly regard them. Zito and Todd lump voters into pat categories and miss chances to engage with them on the origins and depth of their views. And when […]

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