Donald Trump had intended to run a re-election campaign based on a strong economy and a socialist opponent. Both have disappeared in the past month. However, the US president still has his ultimate weapon of xenophobia.

Trump this week tweeted that he would “temporarily suspend immigration” into America. When he signed an executive order two days later, it was only applicable to people seeking green cards to emigrate to the country permanently, not to temporary workers, and there were a lot of loopholes.

Trump was attacking immigration again because, he stated, he was putting America and its workers first. 

In 2016, a nativist, populist message helped him win the presidency. He tried the same strategy in the 2018 midterm elections for Congress with mixed results. Now, that his handling of the deadly pandemic is heavily scrutinized and the economy is in freefall, critics say he is all set to bet the White House on his capability to stir nationalist and racist sentiment without any subtlety.

Besides antipathy to globalized trade, Trump is said to be a politician of few core political beliefs and little ideology.

Trump also declared his signature issue: “I would build a great wall, and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me, and I’ll build them very inexpensively, I will build a great, great wall on our southern border. And I will have Mexico pay for that wall.”