WEBVTT - Karol Markowicz Show: Salena Zito's Journey into Journalism 0:00:04.720 --> 0:00:09.360 Hi, Welcome back, Carol Marcowitz show on iHeartRadio. Clay Travis, 0:00:09.600 --> 0:00:13.000 he of the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton podcast network 0:00:13.039 --> 0:00:16.920 that this show is on, highlighted a new study about happiness, 0:00:17.040 --> 0:00:20.480 and he pointed out that the happiness index has hit 0:00:20.560 --> 0:00:23.840 an all time low and that that number is largely 0:00:23.920 --> 0:00:25.200 driven by young people. 0:00:25.480 --> 0:00:29.440 The United States overall happiness index, to the extent that 0:00:29.480 --> 0:00:33.400 they track, this hit a all time low, and it's 0:00:33.440 --> 0:00:37.040 being driven by people under the age of thirty. And 0:00:37.120 --> 0:00:39.879 I would bet that it's women under the age of 0:00:39.960 --> 0:00:43.320 thirty overwhelmingly who are unhappy. And I think it's hard 0:00:43.400 --> 0:00:46.080 not to believe at this point that all of this 0:00:46.240 --> 0:00:49.600 isn't directly connected to social media. I mean, if you 0:00:49.680 --> 0:00:52.919 go look at the charts overall mental health rates. Now 0:00:52.960 --> 0:00:56.680 certainly COVID didn't help, but overall mental health rates just 0:00:56.800 --> 0:01:01.800 collapsed about twenty fourteen when social media became prevalent in 0:01:01.840 --> 0:01:04.440 everybody's lives. Yeah, and I think we're going to find 0:01:04.480 --> 0:01:07.480 out that this is like the nicotine or cigarettes of 0:01:08.560 --> 0:01:11.600 our generation, where we allowed these phones and these social 0:01:11.680 --> 0:01:14.560 media apps, particularly for young people, to really kind of 0:01:14.640 --> 0:01:17.440 lead us astray in terms of our life's pursuit. 0:01:17.560 --> 0:01:21.160 Now, he's right that it's the phones. But people who 0:01:21.200 --> 0:01:23.440 have been listening to the show for a while know 0:01:23.560 --> 0:01:27.560 what I'm going to challenge here. It's not the social media. 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:30.959 There is no social media anymore. It used to be 0:01:31.000 --> 0:01:34.320 that teenagers would get depressed because their friends would share 0:01:34.360 --> 0:01:38.240 pictures on Facebook or Instagram of the amazing weekend they 0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:41.160 had and maybe didn't include them. Or they'd see their 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:46.560 friends living amazing lives, filtered pictures, great vacations, perfect babies, 0:01:46.640 --> 0:01:49.720 all of that. That's just not what's happening on the 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:53.480 internet anymore. That's not what the kids are watching. We're 0:01:53.520 --> 0:01:56.400 just all watching TV all the time. It might not 0:01:56.520 --> 0:02:01.160 be half hour or hour episodes, but these young people 0:02:01.280 --> 0:02:05.160 are just scrolling through hours of videos. And I said 0:02:05.160 --> 0:02:08.320 this last time, in the last episode about the girl, 0:02:08.600 --> 0:02:10.600 the mom wrote in to me about her daughter who 0:02:10.840 --> 0:02:13.040 doesn't seem to have a social life, and I said, 0:02:13.120 --> 0:02:17.200 you know, we'd recognize depression if I told you someone 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:20.400 watches ten hours of TV a day. But because they 0:02:20.400 --> 0:02:22.639 do it in bite size, you know, pieces, and they 0:02:22.680 --> 0:02:26.280 carry it around with them on their phone, we don't 0:02:26.320 --> 0:02:29.600 see how bad it is. Social media has nothing social 0:02:29.639 --> 0:02:32.880 about it, and I think we need to see exactly 0:02:32.960 --> 0:02:35.440 what the problem is in order to fix it. We 0:02:35.560 --> 0:02:38.320 have to think of it like a little TV we 0:02:38.440 --> 0:02:41.640 carry around. We have to understand how damaging it is 0:02:41.680 --> 0:02:45.840 to be that distracted all the time. Just imagine when 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:48.680 there were no phones. If every time you were in 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:52.239 an awkward interaction, you just turned your television on. When 0:02:52.240 --> 0:02:55.200 you're out, you don't see people taking selfies with their 0:02:55.240 --> 0:02:59.080 friends anymore. Instead, you still might see like a full 0:02:59.120 --> 0:03:04.160 on photo shoot, hapless man shooting his girlfriend from all 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:08.480 different angles. She's a content creator, fine, but there's nothing 0:03:08.560 --> 0:03:11.800 social about that. And look at least her content is 0:03:11.840 --> 0:03:15.720 a break from the videos. Instagram, by the way, now 0:03:15.840 --> 0:03:20.160 offers bonuses for creator accounts that post photos because so 0:03:20.520 --> 0:03:23.120 few of them do that. It would be something else 0:03:23.280 --> 0:03:26.400 entirely if young people were still posting pictures of their 0:03:26.480 --> 0:03:30.400 lunches or their parties or whatever. But they're not. They're 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:34.920 just zombiefied watching TV all the time. There's no way 0:03:34.960 --> 0:03:39.520 happiness levels will increase until we solve that. Thanks for listening. 0:03:39.880 --> 0:03:43.120 Coming up next an interview with Selena Zito. Join us 0:03:43.120 --> 0:03:49.160 after the break. Welcome back to the Carol Marcowitch Show 0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:53.560 on iHeartRadio. My guest today is Selena Zito. Selena is 0:03:53.560 --> 0:03:58.280 a Washington Examiner reporter and author of the upcoming book Butler. Hi, 0:03:58.360 --> 0:04:00.000 Selena is so nice to talk to you. 0:04:01.000 --> 0:04:02.480 Hi there, how are you? 0:04:02.680 --> 0:04:06.200 We were just talking offline about how insane it is 0:04:06.240 --> 0:04:08.200 that we've never met in real life. But I've been 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:10.880 a Selna Zito fan like much of the country for 0:04:10.960 --> 0:04:14.040 a long long time now, and I just think you're 0:04:14.080 --> 0:04:17.800 fantastic and everything you do is like full of joy 0:04:18.040 --> 0:04:22.200 and happiness and you're wonderful. Thank you for coming on. 0:04:22.320 --> 0:04:24.840 Oh, thank you. I'm everybody's grandma. 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:27.880 No people really, actually everybody's bestie. 0:04:28.520 --> 0:04:32.599 For it's basically the food. Then they maybe read me, 0:04:32.760 --> 0:04:36.039 but basically the food. I have to tell your listeners though, 0:04:36.080 --> 0:04:39.600 that I thought you gave me a homework assignment and 0:04:39.640 --> 0:04:41.720 I obeyed because you told me. 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:45.360 I don't know how you phrased itel Like I said. 0:04:45.240 --> 0:04:48.120 Here are the three questions I ask all my guests, 0:04:48.360 --> 0:04:51.919 and my listeners will know that a lot of the time, 0:04:52.120 --> 0:04:54.680 the guests won't read the emails, and you'll be able 0:04:54.720 --> 0:04:58.080 to tell because they'll just be deer in headlights. When 0:04:58.120 --> 0:05:00.000 I ask them kind of, you know, a big question 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:02.359 and like what do you worry about? And they're like 0:05:02.760 --> 0:05:06.880 what where did this come from? But Selena sent me 0:05:07.000 --> 0:05:13.320 back the answers, which was the cutest thing ever. I said, no, no, 0:05:13.360 --> 0:05:14.880 we're going to talk about it on the show and 0:05:14.920 --> 0:05:17.560 she said, oh, I thought you gave me a homework assignment, 0:05:18.000 --> 0:05:21.400 which she then did. She finished the homework assignment, she 0:05:21.560 --> 0:05:23.400 was like, all right, I have homework. What am I 0:05:23.440 --> 0:05:23.760 going to do? 0:05:24.960 --> 0:05:25.159 Yeah? 0:05:25.200 --> 0:05:28.680 It was late though, Like if it was true homework, 0:05:29.240 --> 0:05:33.320 I would have answered it that night, but in my 0:05:34.400 --> 0:05:39.760 zeal to be a perfect progressister, I. 0:05:39.680 --> 0:05:40.880 Sent it to you the night before. 0:05:43.080 --> 0:05:45.200 It was great. I did not read your answers because 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:46.240 I want to be surprised. 0:05:46.480 --> 0:05:47.760 I on't even remember them. 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:51.160 So the questions will be brand new either way, right, 0:05:51.320 --> 0:05:54.760 brand new? So how did you get into this world? 0:05:54.839 --> 0:05:57.840 I know a little bit about your story, but you 0:05:59.120 --> 0:06:03.440 really hit the national scene in twenty sixteen writing pieces 0:06:03.480 --> 0:06:07.320 that I think nobody else was doing anything close to. You. 0:06:07.480 --> 0:06:10.880 Were doing this crazy thing where you went out and 0:06:10.960 --> 0:06:14.200 you talked to regular people and ask them what they thought, 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:19.479 and that was really groundbreaking. So tell us about your path. 0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:24.400 So I got into this accidentally, and sort of the 0:06:24.480 --> 0:06:27.960 old fashioned way, the way journalists used to be years ago, 0:06:28.440 --> 0:06:32.160 at local newspapers where they were members of the community, 0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:35.720 and most of them didn't have college degrees, but they 0:06:35.839 --> 0:06:39.400 had good writing skills, they had good people instincts, and 0:06:39.440 --> 0:06:41.760 they were able to turn a phrase pretty well. 0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:45.240 And that's basically all I had. And I also had 0:06:45.279 --> 0:06:50.680 experiences as a hairdresser, as a waitress, and most importantly 0:06:50.720 --> 0:06:55.599 as a soccer and football mom and hockey mom. So 0:06:56.160 --> 0:06:59.080 you know, I came into the game late. I was 0:06:59.120 --> 0:07:03.679 in my mid furies when I went back to work. 0:07:04.040 --> 0:07:06.680 I was mostly a stay at a home mom at 0:07:06.800 --> 0:07:10.520 that point. And they worked for the local newspaper, the 0:07:10.520 --> 0:07:14.720 Pittsburgh Tribune Review. But the owner of the paper's name 0:07:15.160 --> 0:07:20.240 was Richard Mellon'scaife. He had a very nationally well known name, 0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:23.400 one of the richest men in the country, from a 0:07:23.720 --> 0:07:27.360 very old family, the Mellon family, who owned all the 0:07:27.400 --> 0:07:31.360 melon banking, and he had a really keen interest in 0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:35.440 national news. And I don't know what he saw in me, 0:07:36.080 --> 0:07:41.040 but he saw my ability to listen to people and 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:44.840 to be able to tell a decent story. And so 0:07:45.040 --> 0:07:47.640 he said, do you want to cover national politics, and 0:07:47.640 --> 0:07:50.880 I'm like, all right, and I did, and. 0:07:51.720 --> 0:07:55.120 I learned pretty darn quickly. I was there for twenty years. 0:07:55.200 --> 0:07:57.800 I did this for twenty years, covering local and national 0:07:57.840 --> 0:08:02.720 politics and culture, and I learned pretty quickly. I think 0:08:02.760 --> 0:08:08.680 it was the John Kerry campaign or the maybe it 0:08:08.720 --> 0:08:12.920 was the Obama campaign. I can't remember. I knew very 0:08:13.000 --> 0:08:15.840 quickly that I did not belong on the campaign bus, 0:08:16.640 --> 0:08:21.400 like I just didn't not belong there. I remember calling it. 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:24.000 It happened. Maybe it was Carrie. I don't know, I 0:08:24.040 --> 0:08:24.680 can't remember. 0:08:24.760 --> 0:08:25.120 I'm old. 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:30.360 I just remember calling my boss from a pave phone, 0:08:30.280 --> 0:08:37.600 yeah in Scranton, Pennsylvania, saying I can't go on this 0:08:37.679 --> 0:08:38.960 bus any longer. 0:08:39.400 --> 0:08:44.040 All I am doing is spending time with other reporters, 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:48.280 and they're all like, I have the same mindset. They're 0:08:48.280 --> 0:08:53.400 not from Pennsylvania. They don't kind of understand our quirkiness. 0:08:52.880 --> 0:08:56.959 And I'm not having any interaction with voters because they 0:08:57.280 --> 0:08:59.720 when you're in the press bus. 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:01.719 You don't get to talk to people. I'm like, I'm 0:09:01.760 --> 0:09:05.719 writing crap. So he said, okay, just come home, and 0:09:06.200 --> 0:09:10.160 and in typical Selena fashion, I told the bus to 0:09:10.200 --> 0:09:12.080 just keep going without me. And then I was like, oh, 0:09:12.080 --> 0:09:17.240 wait a minute, I'm I gonna get know. SAT randomly rent. 0:09:17.000 --> 0:09:21.200 A car, and from that moment on, I only drove 0:09:21.360 --> 0:09:22.880 to whatever I was covering. 0:09:22.920 --> 0:09:26.480 And I've driven driven to every state. I've even been 0:09:26.520 --> 0:09:30.160 to Alaska. And I used to fly to. 0:09:30.320 --> 0:09:34.440 Events, but flying then became ridiculous because I live in 0:09:34.440 --> 0:09:37.240 a city where there's no hub, so therefore you had 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:41.040 to make like thirteen different connecting flights, and you would 0:09:41.080 --> 0:09:43.439 miss one of them because one was late. 0:09:44.120 --> 0:09:48.079 And so I just started driving. So when I interviewed 0:09:48.120 --> 0:09:53.199 Governor DeSantis, I drove to Florida. But in that stretch, 0:09:54.280 --> 0:10:00.120 I got seventeen other really good stories, right and and 0:10:00.120 --> 0:10:03.120 and I always take back roads, they don't take turnpikes 0:10:03.200 --> 0:10:08.640 or interstates, because that's where you can see how places 0:10:08.679 --> 0:10:11.400 have changed for the better or for the worse, and 0:10:11.440 --> 0:10:14.000 you can understand why people vote the way they do. 0:10:14.600 --> 0:10:17.040 That is so amazing. I had no I did not 0:10:17.200 --> 0:10:20.720 know the driving thing. I always felt like your writing 0:10:21.120 --> 0:10:23.840 was you were trying to get to the bottom of 0:10:23.880 --> 0:10:26.800 what people really thought and where they really lived. And 0:10:27.720 --> 0:10:30.720 you always treat every place with such respect, And I 0:10:30.720 --> 0:10:33.040 think that that's you know, so beautiful, but I didn't 0:10:33.080 --> 0:10:36.199 know you were driving the back roads to get those stories. 0:10:36.280 --> 0:10:37.679 That's incredible. 0:10:38.200 --> 0:10:41.120 My first Jeep had four hundred thousand miles. It was 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:44.520 fourteen years old. I'm on my second one and I 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:50.920 just passed two hundred and seventy thousand. So yeah, but 0:10:51.120 --> 0:10:53.600 you know that's where the best stories are. I can't 0:10:54.040 --> 0:10:57.640 if I take the interstate. That's no different than flying right. 0:10:57.679 --> 0:11:00.680 When you pull over to get gas, it's like the 0:11:00.720 --> 0:11:04.280 same gas station and the same McDonald's. And there's nothing 0:11:04.320 --> 0:11:09.040 wrong with that. There's no depth of perception of understanding 0:11:09.080 --> 0:11:12.040 why people vote the way they do. And that's why 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:15.960 I understood in twenty sixteen and Trump was going to win. 0:11:16.600 --> 0:11:22.480 But I actually called this this conservative populist coalition that 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:27.520 was forming in two thousand and six during those mid terms, 0:11:28.200 --> 0:11:34.760 and interestingly enough, it was when Republicans were losing to Democrats, 0:11:35.640 --> 0:11:38.199 and I was like, what's going on here? And it 0:11:38.240 --> 0:11:43.520 was this really interesting intersection where and Rob Emanuel, who 0:11:43.559 --> 0:11:45.560 was then in charge of the d Triple C and 0:11:45.640 --> 0:11:51.559 recruiting candidates, he picked candidates that were pro life, pro gun, 0:11:52.760 --> 0:11:57.640 were fiscally responsible. So they picked candidates they Republicans could 0:11:57.640 --> 0:12:04.560 be comfortable voting for In because he understood that Republicans 0:12:04.559 --> 0:12:07.480 were pissed off at Republican candidates because they were spreending 0:12:07.720 --> 0:12:11.559 like drunken sailors, right, and they had lost their way. 0:12:12.280 --> 0:12:17.280 So it was showing me that these coalitions were starting 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:20.680 to shift and that the working class was becoming part 0:12:20.679 --> 0:12:24.080 of the Republican Party. That was very early inception, but 0:12:24.200 --> 0:12:25.640 it was definitely happening. 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:28.920 What has been the best part of all this, this 0:12:29.000 --> 0:12:31.960 whole crazy journey that you've been taking. 0:12:32.160 --> 0:12:35.080 Oh, all the people I get to me, all the 0:12:35.120 --> 0:12:38.719 privilege that I have to interview people where they are, 0:12:39.520 --> 0:12:43.320 and really getting a profound sense of what place means 0:12:43.360 --> 0:12:47.199 to people and having a sense of place being rooted. 0:12:47.960 --> 0:12:51.080 You know, people don't realize, but eight out of ten 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:54.200 people in this eight out of ten people in this 0:12:54.280 --> 0:12:58.160 country live within one hundred miles of where they grew up. 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:03.760 Seven ten people live within ten miles of where they 0:13:03.800 --> 0:13:09.680 grew So roots matter. So when people don't understand take 0:13:09.720 --> 0:13:14.080 my take my state for instance, and. 0:13:14.200 --> 0:13:16.840 Her state is Pennsylvania. For anyone who doesn't know. 0:13:17.280 --> 0:13:21.000 Yeah, oh Pennsylvania. So if anybody remembers one of the 0:13:21.120 --> 0:13:25.120 last best speeches Joe Biden gave was at the State 0:13:25.160 --> 0:13:27.480 of the Union dress in twenty twenty four. It was 0:13:27.640 --> 0:13:33.200 arguably his best speech, and it was coherent and it 0:13:33.240 --> 0:13:35.240 was to the point, and it was something that had 0:13:35.240 --> 0:13:39.040 been lacking with him and leading to that date, and 0:13:39.120 --> 0:13:42.640 so people were like, okay. But then he said something 0:13:42.760 --> 0:13:47.560 in that speech. He said something about snackflation. And he 0:13:47.679 --> 0:13:53.000 was talking about how greedy, uh, these these these uh 0:13:53.280 --> 0:13:57.040 snack company owners were, and he pointed to Bob Casey, 0:13:57.040 --> 0:14:00.240 who was then the US Senator from Pennsylvania Democrat, said 0:14:00.240 --> 0:14:03.120 I'm putting you in charge of these evil, bad people. 0:14:03.160 --> 0:14:07.560 I'm honestly paraphrasing a little bit on made yeah. 0:14:07.280 --> 0:14:09.640 But not really in tone. He was like, you're in 0:14:09.720 --> 0:14:12.360 charge of snackflation. Get you know, the all this greed, 0:14:12.840 --> 0:14:15.280 And he was sort of putting the blame of inflation 0:14:15.520 --> 0:14:18.720 on that. And I'm watching it and my mouth is 0:14:19.120 --> 0:14:24.200 wide open. I'm like, wait, what do they not realize 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:30.120 that eighty percent of the snacks consumed in this country 0:14:30.240 --> 0:14:36.800 are made in six counties in Pennsylvania. Affect someone's vote. Yeah, 0:14:37.200 --> 0:14:40.720 the farmers, the manufacturers, the peoples in the people in 0:14:40.760 --> 0:14:43.800 the c suites that live in the nice neighborhoods, to 0:14:43.960 --> 0:14:48.320 drive the truck drivers. All of these people are a 0:14:48.360 --> 0:14:51.280 coalition of people, and you just called them the bad guy. 0:14:51.800 --> 0:14:54.360 Right, I had no idea, that's really sure. It's like 0:14:54.400 --> 0:14:56.840 such an interesting point. 0:14:56.680 --> 0:14:59.640 As not mean me, But I know you expect this 0:14:59.840 --> 0:15:04.160 much Montumbery County or your county c suite, like living 0:15:04.240 --> 0:15:08.560 in a half million dollar home, vote for Kamala Harris 0:15:08.640 --> 0:15:13.160 or Joe Biden because that's what sort of the stereotype dictates. 0:15:14.520 --> 0:15:18.240 But if you're going after my industry, I don't think so. 0:15:18.440 --> 0:15:20.320 I know you think my family's going to vote for you, 0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:25.200 I don't think so. So it's those sort of intimate, 0:15:25.440 --> 0:15:31.640 granular things that that makes me understand like why my 0:15:31.760 --> 0:15:37.400 state is it mattered? But also if you didn't know this, 0:15:37.520 --> 0:15:40.520 if you weren't on a back road in York Pennsylvania 0:15:40.560 --> 0:15:44.360 and you didn't see snyders potato chips, or if you've 0:15:44.400 --> 0:15:48.960 never been to Hershey Park and understand sort of all 0:15:49.080 --> 0:15:54.120 that happens in our state, you know that that contributes 0:15:54.520 --> 0:15:58.920 to snacks, then you know there was just such a 0:15:59.000 --> 0:15:59.960 huge disconnect. 0:16:00.560 --> 0:16:03.400 Right, he had no idea. He was just criticizing you. 0:16:03.440 --> 0:16:07.160 Know some ceo. Yeah, some ceo somewhere right. 0:16:07.320 --> 0:16:11.800 You literally look it up on Wikipedia. Snack belt Pennsylvania. 0:16:12.040 --> 0:16:13.520 It's fascinating, not that hard. 0:16:13.960 --> 0:16:18.240 Wow. So you're such a champion for Pennsylvania. You clearly 0:16:18.280 --> 0:16:20.360 love your state so much. And you know, one of 0:16:20.440 --> 0:16:24.200 my best friends considers Pittsburgh like, you know, the undiscovered 0:16:24.280 --> 0:16:27.640 or not undiscovered but undervalued American city, which he just 0:16:27.680 --> 0:16:30.200 thinks is like the greatest city in the country. I've 0:16:30.240 --> 0:16:32.720 never been to Pittsburgh. What makes it so amazing? 0:16:34.160 --> 0:16:36.160 And if you asked me five years ago, I would 0:16:36.200 --> 0:16:42.840 say everything but the people. Undeniably, it's the people that 0:16:43.040 --> 0:16:47.480 make the city amazing. Unfortunately, the politics in the city 0:16:47.520 --> 0:16:51.520 has gotten very weird, uh. And there's been a lot 0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:57.320 of anti Semitism, there has been, uh, you know, a 0:16:57.400 --> 0:17:02.320 defiance to the Ice Org. There has been Its just 0:17:02.360 --> 0:17:06.800 been very ugly, ugly politics. A lot of that has 0:17:06.880 --> 0:17:12.040 to do with the Democrats Socialist of America sort of 0:17:12.160 --> 0:17:16.159 being backing these far left candidates, right, because we are 0:17:16.160 --> 0:17:22.120 a closed state and a closed primary state, and because 0:17:22.240 --> 0:17:26.200 people generally that vote in primaries tend to be either 0:17:26.240 --> 0:17:28.679 the furthest left or the furthest right of their party. 0:17:29.119 --> 0:17:32.560 They have become the leaders in the in the city. 0:17:32.640 --> 0:17:39.679 So thinks Summerly is our congresswoman. And so the politics 0:17:39.680 --> 0:17:42.680 have have sort of hurt the city a little bit. Right. 0:17:43.000 --> 0:17:45.560 We have a homeless problem, we have a crime problem. 0:17:46.200 --> 0:17:49.280 But outside of that, my city is you know, it's 0:17:49.320 --> 0:17:53.679 it's a beautiful city. It's a very old American city. 0:17:53.800 --> 0:17:58.960 It was was literally considered the West uh in the 0:17:59.000 --> 0:18:02.800 beginning of found things of our of our country. It's funny, 0:18:02.960 --> 0:18:06.040 you know, my family has been in Pennsylvania since sixteen 0:18:06.119 --> 0:18:09.560 thirty two, the Scottish shide, not the Italians. Yeah, there 0:18:09.640 --> 0:18:13.720 wasn't even in Italy in sixteen thirty two. But the 0:18:14.560 --> 0:18:18.680 and and have been in pennsylv in Lake, Pittsburgh and Butler. 0:18:19.240 --> 0:18:21.479 That's what made That's what made what happened to me 0:18:21.480 --> 0:18:25.480 and Butler are all that more. You know, personal have 0:18:25.640 --> 0:18:28.919 been there since the seventeen fifties. I love my city. 0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:31.879 I just wish that it would clean up as app We're. 0:18:31.720 --> 0:18:33.720 Going to take a quick break and be right back 0:18:33.760 --> 0:18:38.960 on the Carol Marco It Show. So what happened to 0:18:39.000 --> 0:18:40.840 you in Butler? For anybody who doesn't. 0:18:40.600 --> 0:18:43.359 Know, So, yeah, wait, y'all need to buy my book. 0:18:43.680 --> 0:18:45.760 Yeah, the book is called Butler, and when. 0:18:45.600 --> 0:18:48.359 It's coming out, you can pre order it to re 0:18:48.520 --> 0:18:52.040 order it now. So I was four feet away from 0:18:52.040 --> 0:18:56.560 the President when he was shot at in Butler. It 0:18:56.720 --> 0:19:02.000 was an interesting day, as any journalist knows when you go. 0:19:02.200 --> 0:19:05.000 When you when you have certain things planned for a day, 0:19:05.240 --> 0:19:08.720 including an interview, there's a seventy percent chance it's not 0:19:08.760 --> 0:19:12.119 going to happen. Sure right, like your day's just not 0:19:12.400 --> 0:19:14.199 going to go the way it planned, and you have 0:19:14.320 --> 0:19:16.040 to be ready at cord of it. 0:19:16.320 --> 0:19:17.280 Yeah. 0:19:17.359 --> 0:19:21.520 I was supposed to interview President Trump that day, July thirteenth, 0:19:22.160 --> 0:19:26.080 in Butler, and it was supposed to be five minute 0:19:26.119 --> 0:19:30.840 interview right before the rally, and about three hours before 0:19:30.840 --> 0:19:33.320 he got there, I get a text saying, Hey, change 0:19:33.320 --> 0:19:35.560 of plans, and so I immediately think, I it's not going 0:19:35.640 --> 0:19:38.520 to happen, But they said no, can you interview them 0:19:38.520 --> 0:19:41.840 for five minutes after the rally? I said bought. And 0:19:41.880 --> 0:19:46.600 then about an hour before President Trump gets there, I 0:19:46.640 --> 0:19:50.760 get a text saying, so, hey, President Trump really doesn't 0:19:50.800 --> 0:19:53.520 want you to be like five minute interview. Want to 0:19:53.640 --> 0:19:58.439 fly with him to Bedminster to the interview. On the plane, 0:19:58.480 --> 0:20:01.600 I'm like, well, I didn't have out on my bingo card, right, 0:20:01.800 --> 0:20:04.840 you know, yeah, I had my daughter with me. She's 0:20:04.920 --> 0:20:08.320 a photo journalist, so she was gonna do the photos. 0:20:08.680 --> 0:20:11.359 So she you know, has four kids. Her husband was 0:20:11.400 --> 0:20:13.840 with her. There's a reason why her husband was with there. 0:20:13.880 --> 0:20:16.280 It was one hundred and three degrees that day. We 0:20:16.320 --> 0:20:22.800 made him carry everything, so we're like, okay, that's what 0:20:23.520 --> 0:20:29.280 we're gonna do. And about two minutes before, no, about 0:20:29.280 --> 0:20:32.400 five minutes before President Trump's about to go on stage, 0:20:32.960 --> 0:20:37.920 this campaign advance man grab me and said it's go time. 0:20:37.960 --> 0:20:42.080 I'm like, oh my god, everything's changed again. Like follow 0:20:42.160 --> 0:20:45.000 him through this like narrow little causeway. We go in 0:20:45.040 --> 0:20:49.040 the back of the stage, there's President Trump. It's called 0:20:49.040 --> 0:20:53.680 a clickroom. A clickroom is where generally the president will 0:20:53.680 --> 0:20:56.960 meet with like local people. A couple people grabbed from 0:20:56.960 --> 0:21:00.760 the crowd and law enforcement and then their photo taking 0:21:00.800 --> 0:21:02.760 with the president. They put me at the end of 0:21:02.800 --> 0:21:04.280 the line, the three of us at the end of 0:21:04.320 --> 0:21:07.560 the line, and I said, well, where are we doing 0:21:07.640 --> 0:21:12.760 this interview? And the poor guys his name was Michelle goes, 0:21:12.920 --> 0:21:16.920 I actually don't know. He's let me go ask the president. 0:21:17.800 --> 0:21:19.840 He goes, around. There's a big curt and he goes 0:21:19.880 --> 0:21:24.280 around and uh, he comes back. It's just like the 0:21:24.520 --> 0:21:28.560 very sheepishly says, he just wanted to say, Hi, We're 0:21:28.600 --> 0:21:33.159 still going to Bedminster. I'm like, okay, right, so again 0:21:33.400 --> 0:21:37.760 things are changed. I go around and and we have 0:21:37.880 --> 0:21:40.480 this thing between us. He always is like, say, you know, 0:21:40.880 --> 0:21:45.040 best hair in America? Yeah, And I get so embarrassed 0:21:45.040 --> 0:21:48.000 because then everybody is staring at me, like, and I'm thinking, 0:21:48.119 --> 0:21:50.240 is my hair good? I've been in the amenity for 0:21:50.320 --> 0:21:52.840 like five hours. I don't I hear you? 0:21:52.960 --> 0:21:53.280 Girl? 0:21:53.480 --> 0:21:58.720 Yeah, my curly Italian hair, like we can't keep it straight. Yeah. 0:21:58.760 --> 0:22:01.880 So he asked about my great children and then set 0:22:01.920 --> 0:22:05.600 me on my way. So at this point he can't 0:22:05.600 --> 0:22:07.720 get us back to the press riser where the rest 0:22:07.720 --> 0:22:10.880 of the press are, because that little causeway that we 0:22:10.880 --> 0:22:14.200 were sent through was now closed off. So he goes, okay, 0:22:14.440 --> 0:22:19.040 since you're going right after the rally with the President, 0:22:19.280 --> 0:22:21.879 let's put you in the buffer. And the buffer is 0:22:21.880 --> 0:22:26.280 is sort of a well mostly used by security that 0:22:26.359 --> 0:22:30.240 separates the president from the crowd and also by photo 0:22:30.320 --> 0:22:33.400 journalists because just going to well follow him around as 0:22:33.400 --> 0:22:35.040 he goes out on the stage and then get over 0:22:35.119 --> 0:22:39.560 on the far side. Okay, we're all taking photos. My daughter, 0:22:39.760 --> 0:22:42.879 my son in Loave became We're what. He comes out, 0:22:43.240 --> 0:22:47.840 he waves to the crowd. He then goes up to 0:22:47.880 --> 0:22:51.720 the podium. And you know, if you've never been to 0:22:51.800 --> 0:22:56.919 a Trump rally, you don't understand. But the relationship between 0:22:57.000 --> 0:22:59.960 him and the people that are attending it is very transactional. 0:23:00.800 --> 0:23:03.640 He feeds off of them, they feed off of him. 0:23:03.840 --> 0:23:07.239 And this is in a positive way. This is a 0:23:07.520 --> 0:23:11.120 very sort of aspirational way. People believe they are part 0:23:11.160 --> 0:23:16.040 of something bigger than themselves, and Chump intuitively understands that 0:23:16.160 --> 0:23:19.400 he is as well. He's part of it. He's part 0:23:19.440 --> 0:23:23.280 of them. It's not just about him, it's about everybody there. 0:23:23.920 --> 0:23:27.280 So because of that, he never looks away from the crowd. 0:23:27.880 --> 0:23:30.560 He'll move his he'll move his body and look at 0:23:30.560 --> 0:23:34.120 different size, like turn around and look at crowds around. 0:23:34.320 --> 0:23:34.439 Right. 0:23:34.560 --> 0:23:36.080 It's not like he has notes or anything. 0:23:36.440 --> 0:23:41.000 Yeah, so two things happen simultaneously that never happened. He 0:23:41.080 --> 0:23:43.639 brings a chart down, I'm like, what is he? Ross 0:23:43.680 --> 0:23:50.680 Perot like, he never has a chart? Amazing, And then 0:23:51.080 --> 0:23:55.120 he turns away from the crowd, and he never does that. 0:23:56.440 --> 0:24:00.000 And at that moment, I hear pop pop pop pop. 0:24:01.080 --> 0:24:03.920 The bullets fly right over. I watch him go down, 0:24:04.280 --> 0:24:07.680 but he takes himself down. I note that, like it's 0:24:07.720 --> 0:24:09.879 really weird. You know how they always say things happen 0:24:09.880 --> 0:24:13.600 in slow motion, They absolutely do. Really, I can see 0:24:13.680 --> 0:24:16.160 him go down. I can see him hold his ear. 0:24:17.040 --> 0:24:19.800 I see the Secret Service go around him. You remember, 0:24:20.119 --> 0:24:21.879 I'm like four feet away from him. 0:24:21.720 --> 0:24:25.120 At this point. And is your daughter snapping pictures? 0:24:25.280 --> 0:24:29.399 My daughter? Yeah, we're We don't stop working until the 0:24:29.520 --> 0:24:33.480 second four bullets go by and Michelle takes us down. 0:24:35.280 --> 0:24:40.679 The campaign press guy, He's amazing. He's my hero, he 0:24:40.920 --> 0:24:43.919 Michelle Picard. I will love him forever. He was so 0:24:44.040 --> 0:24:48.040 protective of all of us. And I can I can 0:24:48.080 --> 0:24:52.000