How big a role did race and religion play? I'm genuinely curious because the mainstream media won't talk about it, perhaps out of a sense of political correctness. But it seems odd that they're framing the election as a referendum on economics, when the Trump campaign didn't even float a coherent economic agenda.
As I mentioned in another thread, the Republicans switched from "the immigrants are stealing your jobs" to "the immigrants are stealing your cats."
It played a role in giving people an outlet to attach their anger to, the same as it did in 1930s Germany. But the economics came first and are still dominant in the majority of Trump voters I speak with. The vocal minority pushing the racism and anti-LGBT stuff are not representative.
It's like you and I are reading from the same book! - If I just go off what I see online, most of the loudest anti-trans voices, and most of the racists, I'm more or less convinced have never met or gotten to know any trans people or any black people. It's a certain amount of willful ignorance on their part.
I don't think it's plausible, on the face of it, that the party would risk transparently directing the full force of its campaign message to an insignificant fringe. Maybe they know the composition of their voting base better than we, who are inclined to only see the best in people, do.
As I mentioned in another thread, the Republicans switched from "the immigrants are stealing your jobs" to "the immigrants are stealing your cats."