rather than our own 1% - who look amazingly like Trump himself. Like RW populists George Wallace (though a Democrat he certainly qualifies) and Pat Buchanan before him, he appeals to the racist/nativist streak in too many people.
We trade less than any country in the world (other than 2 small African ones) but what is the cause of our economic problems - trade according to Donald. We have a lower percentage of immigrants than Canada, Germany and Sweden, but what causes our economic problems - too many immigrants according to Donald.
The 'beauty' of Trump's RW populism is that while he distracts us with scapegoating of foreigners - both the ones who immigrate here and the ones who stay home and work - he preserves what really enriches our 1%: regressive taxes (his plan would be more 'trickle-down' tax cuts for the rich), weak labor unions (Donald loves him some 'right-to-work') or a flawed safety net (OK, while his plans are 'oddly' vague they might not be as bad as your typical republican's).
Canada, Germany and Sweden would tell Donald (if he cared what they thought which he doesn't) that trade and immigration do not hurt the middle class as long as you have high/progressive taxes, strong unions and an effective safety net. Of course, if a country does not have those things the domestic economy (75% of the US economy has nothing to do with trade) does not benefit the 99% as well. Without them the 99% benefit little from trade or from the domestic economy. (FDR would say that was the flaw in Coolidge's and Hoover's high-tariff, no-trade policy in the 1920's.) And that is the RW populist secret that Donald protects with his "Look over there! Is that a foreigner taking your job?"
Like FDR Bernie would, I think, go after our 1% with higher taxes, a better safety net, legal support for labor unions and better regulation of corporations and the finance industry. Like FDR Bernie would see that with the benefits of domestic and international-linked parts of our economy being redistributed to all and not just the 1%, he would push for us to be more like Scandinavia in terms of how we negotiate and trade with the rest of the world.
= new reply since forum marked as read