CNN Special on ‘Why Trump Won’ to Feature Betras

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Mahoning County Democratic Party Chairman David Betras will be among the political analysts featured in the CNN special, “Why Trump Won.” The special airs at 10 p.m. today.

The program, hosted by Fareed Zakaria, looks at the many missed signals leading up to Donald Trump’s election last year as the 45th U.S. president. “I got it wrong,” he acknowledged.

Betras is frustrated that “a man who [ ___ ] on gold-plated toilets” became the political banner man for middle America, but believes Hillary Clinton and the Democrats lost as definitively as Trump won in 2016, according to a release announcing the special.

Betras said working class people in Mahoning County felt Democrats, the “party of the people,” had left them, and channeled their frustrations into electoral victories last year for Trump as Democrats crossed over to vote for him in the GOP primary and the general election.

“I’m pleased that CNN gave me the opportunity to offer an outside-D.C. perspective on the election,” Betras said. “We knew in March of 2016 that Hillary Clinton was in trouble and that a seismic political shift was taking place. We did our best to warn the experts who were running the campaign, but they chose to ignore us. The result: Trump is president and the Valley and America are in trouble.”

The special details how the former real estate developer and reality show host, who attended his first Republican National Convention in 1988 and competed for the Reform Party nomination in 1999, “carefully tailored his political messages over the years via print ads, television interviews, and social media” to persuaded millions to support him, according to CNN.

David Brooks of the New York Times, Nate Silver of the 538 website, Thomas Franks, author “What’s the Matter with Kansas” and other notable books, as well as Trump ghostwriter Tony Schwartz are among those interviewed for the special.

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