Ted Rall & Harmon Leon On Their New Book “Meet The Deplorables”

When it comes to politics, I do not identify as a member of a specific political party. This is mainly because I believe that the truth is generally not to the extreme left or the extreme right, but rather somewhere between the two extremes. Ultimately, how someone believes that one political party is entirely correct about every issue is beyond me. So regardless of the things that our current U.S. President may be doing right or wrong, a book like Meet The Deplorables: Infiltrating Trump America is intriguing, as it shows the ignorance of those who unconditionally support everything that a particularly political party is pushing for. You may be shocked to see who is showing up to vote.

As released by 39 West Press, Meet The Deplorables was a collaboration between Harmon Leon and Ted Rall. Leon has authored seven books, produced video content for Vanity Fair and VH1, and written for VICE and Esquire. Rall is a syndicated editorial cartoonist and his 2016 graphic novel Bernie was a New York Times best-seller. I spoke with both Leon and Rall, and highlights of that Q&A are below.

How would you describe your book to someone who hasn’t yet read about it?

Ted Rall: Since the election journalists and media analysts have tried to explain the surprising election of a man who had no political experience whatsoever to the presidency. Why did people vote for him? Too much of the snide answer has been that Trump supporters were racist, xenophobic idiots. For sure, he got more than a few racist bigots to show up to the polls. But he also tapped into a deep ennui, a simmering rage among those who felt ignored by both major parties for years and sought to send a “f**k you” message to the national elites. Harmon travels among and humanizes both these desperate souls as well as the savage and ignorant. You can interview people all you want, but you learn more by walking among them as one of them. It’s an anthropological study, absolutely unique in terms of its insights.

Harmon Leon: You’ve read about these “Trump supporters,” right? Well, for the most part, I went undercover in disguise and infiltrated “The Deplorables,” as Hillary Clinton would call them. My goal was to satirize and humanize this cross-section of Americans who got behind and voted for the man created Trump Steaks; bringing the reader along with so they can live vicariously through my undercover exploits with people they probably wouldn’t get a chance to meet in their everyday lives.

The book is in five sections with chapters about five types of Trump supporters, from pure crazy Trump fanatics who would go out and adorn their bodies with free Donald Trump tattoos from a tattoo parlor in rural New Hampshire, to xenophobic gun stores in Florida that won’t allow Muslims on the premises of their establishment, to Mike Pence’s home state of Indiana; where I followed a meth lab cleanup crew on the job as they, well, cleaned up meth labs in the middle of the Bible Belt.

How long did it take you to write the book?

Ted Rall: Harmon did the infiltrating over the course of a couple of years; I filled in the gaps with edits and analysis sections that round out and try to place his reports into context. My role was more like a fast and furious few months.

Harmon Leon: A large portion of the stories were done over the past two years, leading up to the presidential campaign and beyond. A few chapters are from a few years back, but examine the social climate that was present at the time, which led people to vote for The Orange One. Such as economic circumstances, fear of immigration, and the ideology of the Christian right.

Was there ever any fear on your part about writing an anti-Trump book in this day and age?

Ted Rall: I don’t really do fear.

Harmon Leon: Not really. This is kind of the age to write an anti-Trump book, isn’t it? An anti-Trump book wouldn’t have gone over five years ago. As they say, we live in “interesting times” — and there’s plenty to write about and satirize.

What do you hope to accomplish with the book?

Ted Rall: I wanted to help Harmon contextualize his findings. I’m from the Rust Belt — Dayton, Ohio — so I know what it’s like to watch your hometown die from economic forces and political neglect. It’s disconcerting and depressing. The people who supported Trump deserve to be understood. We need to understand them so we can do better by them, because they’re our fellow Americans and we can’t just ignore each other’s misery. Also, Harmon is funny as s**t and I knew people would love to read this.

Harmon Leon: My goal was not to solely openly mock these people, but try to meet them and try to see where they were coming from, and understand their thought process. Obviously, I don’t agree with the ideology of the majority of people I met while writing the book, especially the racists; but I wanted to at least see the world through their lens and have a bit of humanity for the characters. It’s easy to openly mock Trump supporters, like shooting fish in a barrel. It takes a little more restraint to let them unfold their case – and then let them hang themselves with their own words.

From a liberal perspective, as the saying goes, if you’re not outraged then you’re not paying attention. And there’s plenty to pay attention to in Meet The Deplorables. As we saw with the Roy Moore senate race, people were outraged and took action for change. In general, this whole Trump trainwreck will simply be a blip on the political spectrum — which will hopefully motivate Democrats to get their shit together.

Do you have plans for another book?

Ted Rall: Not for now, but one never knows.

Harmon Leon: When we started putting the book together back in July, we thought we better hurry and get this project out as soon as we could, because we didn’t know how long Trump would last in office. We thought there was a good chance that he would be gone by now. Well, he’s not gone. So we just have to see how the next few months play out. There was quite a few chapters that didn’t make the final cut due to space, so if we do a follow-up book, we’d already have a good start. For the good of humanity, I’d much prefer not having Trump in office, thus there would be no need for a follow-up book.

Books aside, any projects you are currently working on?

Ted Rall: My next book is a comix biography, Francis: The People’s Pope, out on Seven Stories Press, March 13, 2018. I’m working on a new graphic novel with Pablo G. Callejo. It’s almost half-finished. And I have this Moby Dick of a prose novel I’m getting closer to harpooning.

Harmon Leon: I produce videos and have a live multimedia solo show based on stories in the book called Harmon Leon Infiltrates Trump America. The show ran for a month last summer at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland and will also be running at a comedy festival in New Zealand. In New York, I run a monthly storytelling series called: TALE at the Red Room above the KGB Bar, and produce a podcast called Comedy History 101.

When not busy with work, how do you like to spend your free time?

Ted Rall: I like playing chess, bicycling, binge-watching smart TV shows like Black Mirror, and reading biographies and political histories that are so heavy you’ll break your toes if you drop one on your foot.

Harmon Leon: I’m in a soccer league. I like that. Also doing artwork and photography and being nice to the elderly.

What’s the last concert you attended for fun?

Ted Rall: Nick Lowe, solo and acoustic. He was amazing, obviously.

Harmon Leon: As opposed to not fun? I saw a honky-tonk band last night at one of my favorite local bars, Skinny Dennis.

Finally, Harmon, any last words for the kids?

Harmon Leon: Remember to stand up for the underdog — and stick it to “The Man!”

SHARE ON FACEBOOK SHARE ON TWITTER

Tags: Donald Trump, Harmon Leon, Hillary Clinton, Meet The Deplorables, Mike Pence, Nick Lowe, President Trump, Ted Rall

About the Author

Darren Paltrowitz Darren Paltrowitz is a New York resident with over 20 years of entertainment industry experience. He began working around the music business as a teenager, interning for the manager of his then-favorite band Superdrag. Since then, he has worked with a wide array of artists including OK Go, They Might Be Giants, Mike Viola, Tracy Bonham, Loudness, Rachael Yamagata, and Amanda Palmer. Darren's writing has appeared in dozens of outlets including the New York Daily News, Inquisitr, The Daily Meal, The Hype Magazine, All Music Guide, Guitar World, TheStreet.com, Businessweek, Chicago Tribune, L.A. Times, and the Jewish Journal. Beyond being "Editor At Large" for The Hype Magazine, Darren is also the host of weekly "Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz" series, which airs on dozens on television and digital networks. He has also co-authored 2 published books, 2018's "Pocket Change: Your Happy Money" (Book Web Publishing) and 2019's "Good Advice From Professional Wrestling" (6623 Press), and co-hosts the world's only known podcast about David Lee Roth, "The DLR Cast."