About 215 community members poured into the Clinton School of Public Service on Wednesday to hear stories from award-winning journalists about how the 2024 presidential election became one of the most expensive and whirlwind races in history.
Josh Dawsey of The Wall Street Journal and Tyler Pager of The New York Times spoke at the school to discuss their book: “2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America.” The book leans on the journalists’ experiences and connections to provide an in-depth look into the 2024 election. Co-written with Isaac Arnsdorf, senior White House reporter at the The Washington Post, the book begins in August 2022 with the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago for classified documents, which the authors say solidified Trump’s decision to run for president again.
James L. “Skip” Rutherford III, dean emeritus at the Clinton School, moderated the conversation and asked a variety of questions about the book, the election and other political topics.
“I think people need to realize that whether you supported Donald Trump or whether you supported Kamala Harris, that this election was certainly very unique, and this (book) is a real study in history,” Rutherford said.
Victoria M. DeFrancesco Soto, dean of the Clinton School, said the event’s nonpartisan environment was one of the great parts of the show, and the book is an important read for people to understand the current political climate, especially with the 2026 midterm elections a year away.
“It’s about discussion, engagement and information, and that is what the goal of the school is, to inform and to train folks to be public service leaders, and in order to be successful public servants, we need to be informed, engaged and understand all sides of the story,” she said.
Patrick Newton, director of marketing and communications at the school, said he hoped audience members leave with a desire to read the book, which he described as “a thoroughly reported account of an important election.” Newton said hosting the tour was part of the school’s mission to hold public programs that are engaging and exciting to the Little Rock community.
“It doesn’t have to be politics, it can be anything that we feel like is a topic that’s going to be exciting and engaging to the community – this one just happened to kind of fall in our lap,” Newton said.
Dawsey’s last trip to the Natural State was in 2019, when he spoke at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. He said a mutual friend of his, who had done a book event in Little Rock, told the duo the capital city would bring a fun and exciting crowd.
“I think it was one of our most energizing and fun events yet,” Dawsey said. “And so we were really happy to be here.”
Several prominent Arkansas political figures were in attendance, including Thomas Franklin “Mack” McLarty III, who served as chief of staff under former President Bill Clinton, and Judd Deere, a former deputy press secretary under Trump. Deere, who said he was asked to work in his White House position thanks to Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a former White House press secretary, said he has known Dawsey and Pager for a long time. He said they are two of the most talented reporters covering Washington politics and the country.
“It was exciting to have them here in Little Rock,” he said. “And for the Clinton school and Clinton library to be able to host it, particularly in my new role as a board of trustees member for the University of Arkansas, I think it’s a credit to the Clinton school to be able to invite these two here as part of their book tour. It’s great to have them.”
In his first trip to Arkansas, Pager — a big fan of presidential libraries — spent time exploring the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum, and said he enjoyed seeing figures he knew from the Biden and Harris campaigns who were part of Clinton’s campaign and White House staff. He said it was a fascinating window into the lives the staff led before he worked with them on a day-to-day basis.
Pager said that because of the Natural State’s rich political history, Arkansas was a great fit for the visit.
“It was sort of surreal in some ways to be in the Bill Clinton library talking about an election like this,” he said, “And so it was great.”
He added that it takes plenty of work and preparation to come to an event in person. While the duo could have done other media forms to connect readers with their book, it has a different feel to really connect with people in person — something he said Wednesday night’s “fantastic crowd and a venue” complemented.
“What we wanted to do with this book was to deliver the definitive and comprehensive story of the 2024 election,” Pager said. “There’s been a lot of discourse in other books about this time period, and so it’s gratifying to see our work connect with a larger audience.”
