ABSTRACT
In 40 years of covering politics, author has never seen a candidate who generated the reaction, depth of support, and enthusiasm as Donald Trump, especially in rural areas. This chapter suggests and explores some of the reasons he was able to do that, with special attention to the role of journalism in creating Trump's rise. "Rural" is a fuzzy term. Its easiest definition is "non-metropolitan," meaning a census tract outside a standard metropolitan statistical area, which requires a core city of at least 50,000 people. Donald Trump's margin among white voters without college degrees typically called "working class" and broadly representative of the rural vote was 39 percentage points, 13 points better than Mitt Romey's in 2012. Feelings about economics, race, immigration, and trade were related among Trump voters. When cultural differences get political, there is often resentment. Trump's policies toward that major segment of his base should be fodder for accountability journalism, both urban and rural.
