A Story of American Rage
May 15, 2017
Political columnist and fiction writer Sexton (I Am the Oil of the Engine of the World) shares a chilling account of his cross-country tour covering the 2016 presidential election. He follows Trump to rallies in South Carolina, where attendees he dubs the “White and the Angry” taunt Black Lives Matter protesters, and to the carnivalesque Republican National Convention in Cleveland, where he observes the surreal juxtaposition of Nazi salutes and a “Gays for Trump” event. The Clinton campaign, meanwhile, is a snooze fest “engineered down to the last detail,” which Sexton criticizes for failing to mobilize embittered young Sanders supporters. Sexton highlights other pivotal events, such as the shooting at a black church in Charleston that ignited debate about the Confederate flag, and he traces the modern political divide to Fox News’s founding. He also covers the chaotic inauguration, where protesters were teargassed blocks away from tux- and gown-clad ball attendees. While the Trump-acolyte demographic has been explored ad nauseam, Sexton’s reporting provides a unique nuts-and-bolts look at the campaigns, and his eyewitness reports of the aggressive displays at Trump rallies are both terrifying and fascinating. Readers still feeling raw from the election, however, may not appreciate its rehashing. Agent: Christopher Rhodes, the Stuart Agency.