>> today arrested six men and accused them of plotting with the militia group to capture and kidnap governor gretchen whitmer of michigan -- the fbi today arrested six men. there will be a news conference this afternoon at 3:00 p.m. eastern. .ive coverage here on c-span >> this afternoon, joe biden and kamala harris campaigned in arizona, the day after the vice presidential debate. watch live coverage beginning at 5:00 p.m. eastern on c-span, online at c-span.org, or listen on the free c-span radio app. an opinion editor for the hill newspaper and thehill.com, and his new book, " journey into the heart of a divided nation." that included stops in pennsylvania, ohio, michigan. in pennsylvania, ohio, michigan. what did you see, what did you hear? would i found, you

not be surprised, a divided country. talking to many people, and many people over those three years, very few people have changed their mines about president trump. those who supported him for years ago support him today. those who opposed him in 2016 still oppose him. it is not that people's views of the president have not changed, but where they have, people have a more extreme and, i say, deeply entrenched view of the president, so if they voted for him, started liking him now, they love him. if they sort of opposed him in 2016, now they hate him. i was say that is a product of our tribal nature of our politics. people use words like we are divided, polarized, but i think " is a better word to use, where people are loyal to their own group, their own tribe, above all else.

those outside the tribes are going to be attacked and shunned. id when it comes to trunk, had a regular set of questions i would run through, and one question, the answers i got was very, very revealing. if i were talking to a trump supporter, i would say ok, you like the president, tell me about something you do not like, one of the policies you oppose. if i was talking to a trump critic, i was a-ok, fine, you don't like him, is there anything you admire or one of the policies you like coming very often, we would be having a very free-flowing conversation, and it would stop for about 20 seconds as my interview subject would try to think of anything that contradicted their overall impression of the president, and again, that have been reinforced time and time again, how tribal we have become. host: to take that one step further, to complicate all of this, of course, is the vacancy on the supreme court, the

looming battle in the supreme court and senate, and the looming battle of the election. guest: yeah, i think on the vacancy, this is the single most important reason trump was elected. he won 81% of white even delco voters. hisas not because of character. it was not because he goes to church every week. it was because he made very clear promises about what he wanted to do, and he made a promise about appointing pro-life justices to the courts. and he has done that. those voters that are part of his base, white and growing christians, are behind him, because they feel he has done a good job on dominating these pro-life judges. now,nk if he does so before the election, it would only reaffirm their support and kinda validate and vindicate their support for him. host: in the book "on the road in trump's america," you write the following, quote, "african

americans might have groveled about some of obama's policies or actions, but generally, there was no chance that they would not show up for him on election day, much less vote for a different candidate. the bond of solidarity was too strong. similar dynamic is at play with donald trump and when he received from many rural, working-class voters. question ofen the whether and under what circumstances these voters would abandon him." base, yes, and among his white working-class voters and white churchgoing christians, the way i define it, he has a rocksolid support because of that bond of trust and credibility that he formed with those groups, in 2016, that has only grown stronger. , think there is a feeling that among those voters, "trump has our backs." i talked to a lot of farmers in

rural wisconsin, iowa, north carolina, and a lot of them said, you know what? cannlikely as it sounds, i see a lot of myself in trump, because he came from a business background. farm is like a business, who sets a very clear agenda, goes about getting it done, and people identify a lot with him. the word i heard over and over again from farmers and people in agriculture and rural areas is "he listens to us," and "he continues to listen to us. he seems to understand our work. he values our work, our values as well," so things like pro-life and the gun culture and other issues. so they don't feel like he is talking down to them, whereas with other politicians, they have always felt that way. rule and with cards to america, you write this --

host: so elaborate on those points, if you would. guest: in talking to people, i would ask -- how would you describe racism in your area? people would give me, in places that were more white, a quizzical look or a bland assurance that things were fine. one woman put it really well. she said -- what race relations? iowa, it is rural 99% white. you are surrounded by counties that are the same way, and you don't travel much outside these areas, you may not have a deep understanding of a lot of a lot of the racial issues that we are dealing with. there may not be a very deep understanding of black lives matter, so i think the idea that people who are racially isolated

are, as a consequence of their , called racists, is wrong, and people resent that. the idea that they are racist just for living in a countryside or voting for donald trump is incorrect, and people are really sensitive about that. but when they are told they are racist, that actually makes them embrace trump even more. host: our guest is daniel i'll let. allott.el his book is "on the road in trump's america: a journey into the heart of a divided nation." let's get to your phone calls. larry from mississippi. withr: my problem christians supporting trump is you can catch him lying, you can plan for them, and they will still call themselves christian. it reminds me of back in the 1960's when they were hanging

black people, they would go to church, hang a black people before they go to church, get out of church, and hang more black people. it is just ridiculous. have a nice day. host: than larry, thank you for the call. we will get a response. guest: i think, and the issue of lying, a lot of people think he has come through on policy, and truck, the irony of the president is we have a president has lied, by one count, 20,000 times. seems like every day is something else. but on the issues that matter most, which are the campaign promises he has made, his supporters feel like he has kept his promises and follow through on them, and that is not something they are used to getting from a president, from a politician. most politicians will say one thing to get elected and then do something completely different when in office. with trump, he set a very clear agenda, and he achieved or tried to achieve almost all of it, and

people really respect that, and they appreciate that. host: next is peter from new york. good morning from valley cottage, new york. good morning, guys, mr. allott. regarding the supreme court, there is no doubt in my mind that if chuck schumer was the majority leader in 2016, mary garland would be on the court right now, so there is no disputing that. number two, i thought you would find this interesting, you know, the conservatives have been playing a clip of joe biden saying that "we believe in truth and not facts," and they are saying it is a gaffe. gaffe, believe it was a i believe it was a freudian slip. you know, take for instance "hands up, don't shoot." we know that was factually incorrect, yet a lot of african americans believe that it actually happened, so i think it

is actually true that people, a lot of people, tribalism is a very accurate description, that people believe what they journal" live every day at 11:00. we take you to a news conference with michigan governor gretchen whitmer, after reports of fbi making arrests after a plot to allegedly kidnap the governor. earlier announced today. live coverture of governor whitmer's news conference on c-span. gov. whitmer: 13 members of two militia groups who were preparing to kidnap and possibly kill me. when i put my hand on the bible and took the oath of office 22 months ago, i knew this job would be hard. but i will be honest, i never would have imagined anything like this. i want to start by saying thank