Butler: The Untold Story of the Near Assassination of Donald Trump and the Fight for America’s Heartland

Journalist Zito (The Great Revolt) offers a vivid firsthand account of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump at his Butler, Pa., rally and uses the experience to delve into the political importance of western Pennsylvania. Zito describes the shooting from her perspective “a mere few feet away” from Trump: the anticipatory atmosphere—the “happy” crowd with “newly purchased Trump flags, hats, [and] sipping cups”—shifts dramatically as she’s “shoved to the ground” after hearing gunshots. In addition to relaying her multiple phone calls with Trump the next day, when the two discussed “divine intervention... and Trump’s purpose,” Zito follows the election to its conclusion, occasionally offering some local insights such as how Harris’s campaign blundered by holding “tightly controlled” invite-only rallies in Pennsylvania. However, her focus on Butler residents becomes more tenuous as she moves on to national events, and when she veers into detailed accounts of her schmoozy, admiration-filled interactions with Trump, who calls her “my beautiful Salena.” Zito, who has multigenerational ties to western Pennsylvania, argues that reporters from New York and Washington, D.C., suffer from a “lack of rootedness” that weakens their coverage of places like Butler, yet her analysis of what caused these communities’ rightward shift (globalization, opioids, inflation) doesn’t go beyond what others have written. While well observed and knowledgeable, this pointed plea for a return to local reporting lacks fresh political insights. (July)