Trump, and Sanders to an extent, are protective isolationists. They both have different ways of showing this, but both candidates have used a major group as a focal point to why this is necessary. Trump does it with foreigners, claiming they take too many jobs/are threatening to our peace. Sanders does it with the rich and large corporations, stating that they drive unfair deals not only for our workers but for workers of other countries. Currently only Clinton is downright open to trade/immigration (as far as we can tell...).
I don't get the vibe of racism from Trump. I think that a lot of his supporters are missing the fine line he walks but he's very "Pro-American". He basically shows love to an 'older tradition of America' in everything he does (Make America Great Again being only one of the slogans that kind of gives you this idea that he's building on). How far back is he going? Well... I think we're talking Eisenhower with Trump for where I think Trump wants America's state of mind. This area of time would basically be where America had some serious single-minded morale and stupid amounts of faith in 'The American Dream'. It also happened to be a period of incredible white dominance, but I'm pretty sure this is irrelevant to his proceeding. The point is, I think this is his goal: A unified American mind, which really relies on trust in the government and a common enemy. He's doing both: He's open and seen as honest, and he's propping up an obvious enemy in ISIS (if not also with Mexico). Remember that Eisenhower was also a really trusted American President: He was a former general, seen as a good religious man and his address to Congress on the Military-Industrial complex is still seen as a fantastic speech that should be heeded. Hell, when Nixon ran for President vs JFK, Eisenhower's few words of support were multiple points at the polls.
Socially, I think he's more towards Lyndon B Johnson as I believe he secretly is interested in Single Payer or Public Option. He's been vocal for single payer before, too. He's one of the few republican candidates openly (or somewhat openly) in support of gay marriage. He was, of course, considered liberal for multiple years and I think that still stands for the most part.
Is it achievable? Actually, yes. Isolationism is ridiculously easy for a president to pull off because one of the few places they're strong is in foreign policy. And for honesty, I think Trump can have his own stupid moments, but I'd probably believe him as fast as I'd believe GWB: I might suspect him to be wrong, but not because he's lying. It isn't Jimmy Carter level of honesty, but I believe he's honest enough in what he believes that people wouldn't question that. And the common enemy isn't something that can be used, it HAS to be solved. This is universal, even outside the USA. ISIS is a big deal and needs to be taken care of. Who knows what he might achieve in policy, but he certainly can achieve this mentality shift.
Now this is where I worry. Trump knows this line between racism and American nationalism. He's toeing it, but he knows how not to overstep. The mentality WILL LEAD to increased racism in America. And unfortunately unless you draw closer to a police state [which requires officers who aren't going to be racist], you're going to have hate crimes. At least until Trump gets to the White House in this case. Probably after, though less so as most people fall off in caring for politics after elections end. I think Obama's presidency has shown a great light on the fact that we haven't solved this issue, especially when we have people who hate him calling him anything from a monkey to a Muslim. I think it gets worse if Trump is there because people will somewhat mirror Trump's personality or use him as justification for their actions.
As an aside: people could use to be offended, to be honest. An entire culture that has been raised to not have their sheltered feelings hurt is just embarrassing. When "safe space" goes from being an area where people can look for help about domestic abuse, rape and suicidal thoughts to some fucking embarrassment of a word that tumblr uses, it is absolutely refreshing to see someone like Trump go out of his way to offend those who need to get some thicker skin. I'd love to rant on how pissed I am about the current state of advocacy. I actually served as an advocate for my college, but focused almost entirely on advocating for the poor and those involved in abusive relationships. You'd go to the advocacy meetings every other week and listen to people bitch about how no one is listening to them or how they're offended by how someone could be homophobic/xenophobic. And then you see programs that do nothing more than yell at you for not conforming to their beliefs and they wonder why people avoid them. Advocacy isn't easy but so many people have done it wrong that it's no wonder words like 'feminists' or even 'transgender', 'Muslim' and 'poor' have gotten negative connotations.
