How an Iowa family helped Dan Balz understand the Trump phenomenon

It was January 2016. Before any votes had been cast. Donald Trump had spent months leading the Republican primary polls. Longtime Washington Post reporter Dan Balz met a family in Iowa that helped "crystallize" Trump's appeal with voters in America's heartland. The Swearingen family had been lifelong Democrats and voted for Barack Obama, but Trump was their candidate of choice this time. "Donald Trump was talking to a group of people who were different than many of the people we were used to seeing at political rallies and that he was tapping into something that most other candidates didn't realize was there to be tapped," Balz remembers.