Trump not "Exceptional"
Trump: A Graphic Biography

http://www.solidarity-us.org/site/node/4858
Date Written:  2017-01-01
Publisher:  Against the Current
Year Published:  2017
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX21526

Book review of Ted Rall's Trump: A Graphic Biography.

Abstract: 
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Excerpt:

Rall rightly begins the book not with Trump, but focuses instead on the context from which his campaign became possible. He situates nativist tendencies that have fomented in the country for years as the foundation from which Trump is able to rail against immigrants both from Latin America and the Middle East.

Well-worn phrases from Trump, like "they're killing us at the border" and his pledges to deport 11.3 million people without documentation, are astutely juxtaposed with Stalin's removal of (for example) Tatar and Polish populations in the Soviet Union, as well as Hitler's desires for forced removal of ethnic populations in Germany. It is through these parallels that we gain a clear sense of the possibilities during Trump's presidency.

Trump's alignment with right-wing populism is also situated within a larger socio-political context. For instance, we are reminded that the financial collapse of the housing market is still having devastating effects on people's lives despite extraordinary gains by the wealthy.