Supporting Donald Trump

Trump, we know, is a conceited idiot with a racist programme and no sense of political complexity. So it was good to read Thomas Frank's guardian article, suggesting that many of his supporters might actually be responding to a rational case. Frank argues that a large part of Trump's attraction to American voters is his opposition to global free trade. Companies move abroad and put people out of work, the  government buys expensive but useless equipment, drugs are sold at too high a price. A survey into Trump supporters found that they were much more frightened than racist. They admired Trump, not because he wanted to build a wall between them and Mexico, but because he was forthright in defying the assumption that prosperity means supporting powerful firms, at the expense of ordinary people. This isn't the Trump we get in news soundbites, but it does help to explain the strength of his support.