In the early 1990s,  globalism resulted in a slow and devastating labor shift in America. Previously stable, middle class American manufacturing jobs relocated to foreign countries. Since then, middle American labor has been in a decline. Following the devastation, Democrats in power promised compensation and other solutions. Over the Obama administration, rhetoric regarding immigration became increasingly euphemized. Despite the deportation of millions immigrants, the issue still stood. American manufacturers continued to turn their backs on their own country and relocate their labor force off of American soil.

To justify this, American manufacturers pleaded that there were American labor shortages, a fallacy explained by Dr. Michael Teitelbaum, a researcher.

“[To attract] workers, the employer may have to increase his wage offer. … So when you hear an employer saying he needs immigrants to fill a “labor shortage”, remember what you are hearing: a cry for a labor subsidy to allow the employer to avoid the normal functioning of the labor market.”

Fed up with the moderate establishment kleptocracy, former President Donald Trump faced issues that struck a chord with Americans. This chord related with millions of Americans leading him to gain massive support, thrusting these issues into the mainstream. Unfortunately, instead of facing corporate leaders or soft government policy, he blamed Mexican and South American immigrants. He instantly turned a potentially blockbuster issue into something most Americans were not willing to accept.

However, the built up animosity for immigration led many people to take the xenophobic route, splitting the country to polar opposites even on a relatively uniting issue. This seems to be a common theme in Trump’s presidency, bringing to the forefront issues that can unite the American people towards progress, and turn it into something very ugly, taboo, and divisive.