Current Events > Do you think Barack Obama's presidency caused the rise of Donald Trump?

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I want to know what you think.

I'd like to think that Barack Obama didn't directly cause the election of Donald Trump. But Obama and his party lost control of Congress. Perhaps voters didn't like Obama's policies, which led to the Republicans winning the presidency in 2016? However, Obama had a strong approval rating near the end of his two terms and Congress didn't. By that logic, voters should have chosen the Democratic president. So maybe Trump's election had very little to do with the Obama presidency.

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Nah Bush

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republicans hated a black president so much that they cult worship a racist birther from reality TV.

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It's no coincidence the most blatantly racist xenophobe won the Republican candidacy after a black president.

Well, I think Trump's campaign came directly from Obama clowning him. intentional or not he used the birther movement to attract crazies to the far right which supported the Republicans. Then he spoke out loud what racist America wanted to say bout Obama from day one. So you have the old Sarah Palin loons mobilizing behind Trump .

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Every presidency caused the rise of Donald Trump.

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There are so many factors but I think there was some white backlash at being culture shocked by the first black president that did come into play.

It's a shame. In 2008 I really thought the country was moving in a positive direction. So much for hope.

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I dont think it didn't but not on it's own. Trump presidency always felt like the next step after Bush for the Republican party. I think it's time we stopped pretending like Trump is some sort of anomaly, just as we did with W, Sr, Reagan, etc. We're already at the "no one they elect after this could be this bad" phase and we're setting ourselves up for disappointment pretty early lol
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RoadsterUFO posted...

Not directly, but years of bad policies intended to protect jobs at home also lead to killing off the creation of new jobs at home. As a result, a significant bulk of the country rallied behind anti-trade populists like Bernie and Trump that falsely equate the outsourcing of dead industries on trade deals and immigrant labor. People wanted answers and hope, even if they were false.

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Trump is a reality TV star that knows how to work the media. I don't think Obama's presidency led directly to Trump in any way. I think Trump identified a large enough portion of the voting base that felt disenfranchised that he was able to rise in popularity very quickly as the only person directly addressing those people.

It's easy to forget that the vast majority of his campaigning in swing States was done in factories, warehouses, and hangars talking directly to Blue Collar voters and telling them that their concerns were real and that he was going to keep their jobs around. These are the same people that were written off as deplorables, people clinging to their guns and bibles. People told that their jobs were going away and they were just going to have to deal with it. Combined with Hillary's sense of entitlement and the fact that she chose not to visit a number of key swing States until her "I lost" book tour and it created the perfect storm for Trump to rally a base.

Take election night as an example. Trump spent his final hours in a warehouse in a swing state talking directly to Blue Collar voters while, at the same time, Hillary was partying with Obama and high-profile celebrities. The contrast hit directly at everything Trump had been talking about.

Now, in all fairness I'm not going to pretend that there was no racism involved at all. Rather, that people who will claim that it was entirely driven by racism are missing the entire point of his initial campaign and how he was able to draw so many people.

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