University of South Carolina alumnus Josh Dawsey (’12 journalism) works at the forefront of United States politics. As a reporter for The Washington Post, he has covered the White House extensively, even gaining the occasional ire of his main subject, President Trump.
Dawsey earned a reputation as a tough but fair reporter for The Daily Gamecock during his years at USC. His experience as a student in the South Carolina Honors College and the School of Journalism and Mass Communications equipped him with the skill and resourcefulness to excel in his career – first as a reporter for major national news outlets and now as an author.
He has twice won the Pulitzer Prize for his reporting with teams from The Washington Post, and he went on to interview the newly reelected Trump at Mar-a-Lago in the wake of his successful 2024 presidential campaign.
In his new book, 2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America, Dawsey and his co-authors (Tyler Pager and Isaac Ansdorf, who were also reporters for The Washington Post during the election) tell the story of the tumultuous 2024 election season, drawing on hundreds of interviews with campaign insiders.
The book is already a best-seller, debuting at No. 4 on The New York Times best sellers list for Combined Print & Ebook Nonfiction. The publication calls it “a well-paced, thorough and often (darkly) humorous account of the two-year campaign season that began when Donald Trump announced he was running for president again…”
Dawsey, who now reports for The Wall Street Journal, shared in an interview with CNN’s David Chalion that writing the book allowed the journalists to have deeper conversations with key players on the campaign trail. While they only had a momentary phone call with Biden and Harris declined an interview after the election, Dawsey got to sit down with Trump to get his perspective.
“And he told me in the interview for the book, he said, ‘You know one of the reasons I had to win was if I lost, my life was not gonna be pleasant.’ And I think he saw that as an existential reason to run,” Dawsey said.
The team’s incredible access to their sources makes 2024 stand out among other books about the election. The Kirkus Review says, “With deep reporting and strong analysis, this might emerge as the definitive title on a hugely consequential election.”
Dawsey was recognized last year by the Honors College as a Distinguished Honors Alumni. “I look back at my four years at USC as both formative and fulfilling, and I feel so lucky to have benefited from the advice of so many professors and mentors,” Dawsey said.
For more information on the book, visit Penguin Random House online.