'This campaign it felt like you were in the post-truth era,' Franken says. 'So you can imagine my frustration when Trump, an entertainer (sort of), quickly showed not only that he had no knowledge about the details of public policy, but that he had no interest in learning the details of public policy.'Īdd to that the fact that Franken once wrote a book about conservatives, called Lies And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them. You know, as a sign of respect to the voters,' Franken writes. 'I figured it was especially incumbent on me, an entertainer, to prove that I knew stuff. 'It took me forever to learn how to do that,' Franken says.Īs an entertainer who ran for federal office as a political rookie, Franken was in a position to be uniquely puzzled by President Trump's march to the White House. What they care about is their kids' education and whether they're going to go bankrupt if they get sick.' ' 'They'd say, 'No, no, no - just pivot! Just say, 'Minnesotans don't care about the polls.

His campaign staff quickly shut that down. 'If someone said, 'Why are you 20 points behind?' I explained, 'Well, you know, we have a long time to go.' ' Remembering voters' names ('Here's a tip: if you want to get an officeholder to dislike you, go up to him or her and say, 'I bet you don't remember my name.' ')įranken says the strangest skill to learn was the art of the 'pivot' - essentially, ignoring reporters' questions.nstead of guzzling a dozen raw eggs, I'm being driven five hours to speak for five minutes at the Otter Tail County convention.') but instead of jumping rope, I'm eating hot dish at an assisted living facility. Campaigning ('Imagine the training montage from a Rocky movie.Raising money ('It's not uncommon to have three straight hours of call time scheduled as part of your day.Your purchase helps support NPR programming.

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