02-12-2017, 05:19 PM
(02-11-2017, 12:55 PM)SomeGuy Wrote: I also think you should consider that it would be very difficult to explain Trump without the financial crisis and Obama.
I don’t see this. Opposition to immigration arose during the Bush administration, particularly in response to the 2005 immigration reform protests. When Trump announced his candidacy, he started with immigration because he knew it was a winner. I believe Trump actually feels most strongly about the trade issue, but he only brought that up later, and it was never the winning issue immigration was. At his events the biggest applause line was build the wall. Trump connected immigration with scary terrorism--the same formula used to justify immigration restriction in 1924. The 2008 panic added an extra dimension to the election, but I don’t see it as central. I believe Trump could have beaten Clinton even if 2008 had never happened.