Plain English with Derek Thompson

This Small Pennsylvania Town Explains the 2024 Election

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About the episode

Today, a close look at the history of a Pennsylvania town and how that history contains within it the story of the 2024 election. In September, Donald Trump claimed that the city of Charleroi, Pennsylvania, was being overrun by immigrants who brought violence, gangs, and economic destruction. Last month, The Atlantic’s George Packer went to Charleroi to report on what’s actually going on there, and how the issues most important to Charleroi—nativism, immigration, change, working-class decline, and corporate greed—are also the deciding issues of the 2024 election.

 

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Host: Derek Thompson

Guest: George Packer

Producer: Devon Baroldi

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