Salena Zito: Pittsburgh & Philadelphia aren't where Pennsylvania will be won

According to Salena Zito's latest article, Pennsylvania's 19 electoral votes won't be decided who wins Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. That's a rather bold statement from Ms. Zito. Still, it isn't that surprising considering the fact that she's understood the Trump phenomenon since before Trump ran. Ms. Zito has often said, "In short, Trump did not create this coalition. He is the result of it."

These aren't the observations of a DC insider who's read 10,000 polls. As Ms. Zito said in this article, "As a reporter, I have always spent my time on the back roads observing and talking to voters outside the big cities. I noticed eight years ago the people who live 15 minutes outside of any major city had no hesitation placing Trump signs in their yards." In short, she does her homework from her SUV, the local diners and from high school gymnasiums and football fields, not from a cubicle.

What's the big deal?

No big deal, right? Well, many of these signs were in places where a Republican rarely won a race, places like here in Cambria and Erie, Northampton and Luzerne counties. All counties Barack Obama had won, many by significant margins.

I saw a lot of those signs and often they were not the standard issue campaign signs you pick up at the local Republican county headquarters. They were homemade, sometimes placed or painted on the sides of homes or barns. I once saw a horse with "Trump" painted on the side of its saddle.

That's loyalty that wise politicians would cut off a limb for. Trump didn't have to. He won that by keeping most of his promises. Trump did his best to build Trump's wall. Trump delivered on energy independence and the economy. It doesn't take long to notice Biden's world is in tatters (at best) compared to how relatively placid the world was during Trump's time in office. Iran didn't have money to ship to its terrorist proxies. Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis were broke during Trump's time in office. During Biden's time in office, Iran's proxies are causing tons of trouble because Biden shipped tons of $$$ to the mullahs.

Another piece to Trump's puzzle

I also started to see Trump signs in lush suburban neighborhoods where traditional Republicans lived, despite the conventional wisdom they would not vote for the brash outsider.

That is not the kind of enthusiasm you traditionally get in a presidential election in our state — so I started to talk to a mix of voters in those counties: rural Republicans, upper middle class traditional types, skeptical Independent voters, and displaced Democrats like Burkhart. What drew them together will surprise you. It wasn’t him.

The City that Murtha built

It was the lack of respect they felt in our culture and a perceived loss of power. They often saw a diminishing respect for them and their ways of life. They saw it in the news, in commercials, in the music they listened to and on the playing field of their favorite sports team. Their values, their loyalties, their work ethic, their way of life, even where they live and their commitment to family and community were often cast in a negative light.

How often have you heard Democrats talk about the need to re-imagine policing? How often have you heard Democrats talk about radically transforming America? Here's a refresher:

Let's get serious about something. We love the U.S. that Jefferson, Washington, Franklin, Hamilton and James Madison gave us. We love the Bill of Rights and the Constitution that the Bill of Rights is part of. The end product is that it's given the U.S. the most fair system put together in human history.

Pennsylvanians aren't interested in a radically transformed U.S. They're interested in the nation that the Founding Fathers gave us. The U.S. isn't perfect but our governing principles are awfully close. In the end, I suspect that's what will help Trump most.