People really forget/undersell that this was the original groundswell of support for Trump - particularly running against the Nth generation political hack that was Hillary Rodham Clinton in the general, and the Nth generation political hack that was John Ellis ‘Jeb’ Bush in the primary.

Trump also touched the racism/xenophobia lightning rod in ways no mainstream Republican had since the civil right era, either with dog whistles, or c/overt wink-and-nod about “those people”.

[–] Thebeardedsinglemalt 2 points 1 month ago

Trump also touched the racism/xenophobia lightning rod in ways no mainstream Republican had since the civil right era, either with dog whistles, or c/overt wink-and-nod about “those peoply

Keep in mind he built a solid base by posting tons of anti-Obama and pushing the birther stuff long after it'd already been disproven. This resonated hard with with deep seated racism in this country and spread way too fast.