How Trump Survived and Won America's Heartland
The Radio Free Hillsdale Hour
Hillsdale College
4.8 • 649 Ratings
🗓️ 11 July 2025
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Guests: Salena Zito & Christopher Matsos
Host Scot Bertram talks with Salena Zito, political reporter for the Washington Examiner, about the political ramifications of the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump and her new book, Butler: The Untold Story of the Near Assassination of Donald Trump and the Fight for America’s Heartland. And Christopher Matsos, chairman and associate professor of theatre at Hillsdale College, tells us why theatre should play a role in a liberal arts education and what we can learn by studying theatre through the centuries.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | From the historic campus of Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan, where the good, the true, and the beautiful are taught, nurtured, and honored, this is the Radio Free Hillsdale Hour, bringing the activity and education of the college to listeners across the country. |
| 0:24.9 | I see him hold his ear. I see the blood go across his face. I'm like four, maybe five feet away. And I see him take himself down. He didn't fall down. |
| 0:35.4 | This is your host, Scott Bertram. |
| 0:37.8 | Welcome to the Radio Free Hillsdale Hour, part of the Hillsdale College Podcast Network. |
| 0:44.4 | That was Selena Zito, political reporter for the Washington Examiner and author of the new book, Butler, the untold story of the near assassination of Donald Trump and the fight for America's |
| 0:55.7 | Heartland. We go in depth with Selena Zito today on Butler, here on the program. Selina, |
| 1:02.4 | thanks so much for joining us. Thank you so much for having me. We appreciate talking with you. |
| 1:07.2 | You are previously a Pulliam Fellow here on Hillsdale's campus, which means we've |
| 1:11.2 | actually met in person. We've talked. We have, and I have a deep affection for Hillsdale. That was |
| 1:18.3 | a wonderful experience that I hope I get to do again. I stay in touch with almost all of my |
| 1:24.1 | students, and it was very rich experience. We appreciate your presence on campus and your assistance to our journalism students here. |
| 1:32.4 | The new book is Butler. |
| 1:33.8 | And part of this is a discussion of exactly what happened on that day in Butler, the assassination |
| 1:40.3 | attempt on then candidate Donald Trump. |
| 1:43.7 | You were there. You were a part of it. I don't want to |
| 1:46.4 | spend a good portion of the interview having you relive what happened because that is so a powerful |
| 1:52.0 | inside butler. But if you could, take us through some of your most vivid memories of what you |
| 1:59.0 | experienced that day. Some of my vivid memories are actually comical. |
| 2:05.6 | You know, I'm not the type of person that gets nervous during interviews. |
| 2:11.2 | I tend to be more interested in having a conversation with whoever I'm interviewing, |
| 2:15.5 | whether it is a candidate for president, |
| 2:18.3 | or just someone on the street that I meet and wondering, you know, how life is, how politics |
... |
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