Trump is riding the same wave that's carrying all kinds of fringe politicians to electoral success all over the western world. Basically, there have been a very large number of losers from globalisation and mass immigration. For the most part these can be categorised as the white working class. They've seen a systematic assault on their standard of living while at the same time being subjected to a barrage of racism/bigotry allegations when they tried to raise their objections to the new normal, and as a result they feel that nobody is speaking for them. The financial crash of 2008 brought these issues to a head but nothing has improved in the meantime for these people, so they're beginning to be receptive to simplistic arguments from populist politicians. Belittling them, which has been the stock response from our media and political elites, hasn't really worked, it's just served to make them more angry. Cynically attempting to manipulate their anger has had some limited success (see the Tea Party phenomenon), but ultimately this has also backfired when it became obvious that nothing was actually being done to advance their interests. The end result is Donald Trump.
Ultimately I think we're seeing a backlash against the liberal free-trade agenda which has dominated our politics for the last 30 years. Both of the main parties in the US are poorly positioned to benefit from this since both are in it up their necks. I daresay the establishment in the form of Hillary will ultimately prevail, but this is just the beginning.
Ultimately I think we're seeing a backlash against the liberal free-trade agenda which has dominated our politics for the last 30 years. Both of the main parties in the US are poorly positioned to benefit from this since both are in it up their necks. I daresay the establishment in the form of Hillary will ultimately prevail, but this is just the beginning.