2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: A white privileged trump voter told me this [View all]hueymahl
(2,626 posts)Trump was able to position himself to the left of Clinton on several issues by taking populist positions.
He did it on foreign policy, where he came across as isolationist while Hillary came across as a globalist just fine with continuing the policy of intervention.
He did it (incredibly) on bank regulation by attacking tax breaks for VC's and alluding to fighting (in a racist way) the international banking cabal. Hillary's history of speeches to big banks killed her here - no other candidate could he have done this with).
He did it on trade (and this was the big one) where he came across as the hero of industrial workers who as going to save blue collar jobs. And if there was one area that killed Clinton, it was her position on free trade (which I happen to agree with, but it lost her the rust belt).
These are not the only reasons Hillary lost, but they were certainly important ones. In the end, he ran a populist campaign that appealed not only to our baser instincts but to the fears of a block of voters that should have been solid Dem votes - blue collar union members. That Hillary lost this group, really is inexcusable.