Salena Zito talks Donald Trump

By now, I hope it isn't necessary to remind people that I have immense respect for Salena Zito's reporting skills. How could I not, right? In her interview with The Free Press's Margi Conklin, Salena talked about her "decade with Donald Trump." As the subtitle says, Salena "is the journalist who knows Trump—and his voters—better than anyone." That's definitely true and it isn't particularly close.

Salena knows Trump best because she's interviewed him often. She's also spent the most time hanging out with Trump's supporters where they live. That's where Trump's supporters feel most natural.

Salena is a travelling reporter. She doesn't pore through polls to form her opinions. She actually interviews Trump's supporters. Her articles on Trump's supporters are often littered with quotes from the subjects of the articles.

According to the article, Salena "took a lot of flack from other journalists for predicting Trump would win. But I was just relaying what I saw. 'People believe he is listening to them,' one voter from East Liverpool, Ohio, told me. 'That’s a potent feeling for an area like this.'" That's because he listens to them. That's part of Trump's DNA. Watch Trump conduct a meeting with the border patrol:

That's a listener. That isn't an empty suit. It's time for others to notice what I and others have noticed years ago -- that Salena is the best:
Trump maintains an informal relationship with many journalists, calling them spontaneously or sending them articles ripped out of newspapers with his handwritten thoughts out of the blue. But I guess you could say I know him better than most. I was the only journalist to predict he would win in 2016. My former editor at the New York Post used to call me the “Trump Whisperer.” I am also the reporter who popularized the phrase coined by Republican strategist Brad Todd: "the press takes him literally, but not seriously; his supporters take him seriously, but not literally." And I was four feet away when a bullet hit Trump in 2024.
Typical Trump

After the July 13, 2024 assassination attempt:

The next morning, I was sitting at my kitchen table drinking a cup of coffee, when Trump called me and asked: “Salena, are you okay?” And I said, “Mr. President, yes, but are you freaking kidding me? You were just shot, right?” He told me, “I’m so sorry about Corey”—the firefighter who had been killed. “I just want to do right by Corey and his family.” It shook him to think that someone could be killed simply because they had supported him.
Today is the big day, the day when President-Elect Trump once again becomes President Trump 47. It's a great day in America. President-Elect Trump has changed for the better, mostly, I think, because of that assassination attempt. Other people seem to have changed, too. Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman visited Mar-a-Lago and returned impressed with Trump. Other Democrats have a more positive tone, too.

Today is when the peaceful transfer of power happens, unlike any other nation in the world. Let's soak it in and rejoice in it. Finally, let's be thankful for great reporters like Salena Zito. Like President Trump, great reporters like Salena don't come along every day.

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