The Trump phenomenon is better understood as an amalgam of three different, largely pathological strains in American history and culture... The first and perhaps most obvious strain is hostility toward immigrants... In the 1850s, the American Party, labeled the 'Know-Nothings' by its opponents, accused Irish and German Catholics of being agents of the pope and a threat... Later in the century, white workers on the Pacific coast led a mass campaign against Chinese newcomers, whom they blamed for undercutting wages... Federal lawmakers affirmed their bigotry by excluding any Chinese laborers... In the 1920s, fears of Slavs, Jews, Italians, and others suspected of being hostile to America's white 'Nordic' heritage persuaded Congress to impose quotas that all but banned immigrants... Trump's attacks on 'rapists and murderers' crossing the southern border and on potential Muslim terrorists jetting across the Atlantic belong to this long and ignominious tradition.

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "The Trump phenomenon is better understood as an amalgam of three different, largely pathological strains in American history and culture... The first and perhaps most obvious strain is hostility toward immigrants... In the 1850s, the American Party, labeled the 'Know-Nothings' by its opponents, accused Irish and German Catholics of being agents of the pope and a threat... Later in the century, white workers on the Pacific coast led a mass campaign against Chinese newcomers, whom they blamed for undercutting wages... Federal lawmakers affirmed their bigotry by excluding any Chinese laborers... In the 1920s, fears of Slavs, Jews, Italians, and others suspected of being hostile to America's white 'Nordic' heritage persuaded Congress to impose quotas that all but banned immigrants... Trump's attacks on 'rapists and murderers' crossing the southern border and on potential Muslim terrorists jetting across the Atlantic belong to this long and ignominious tradition." in the context of "Michael Kazin, "Trump in Context" (14 December 2015), Dissent" to mean that wisdom is timeless.