The 'us and them' divide worked for Putin and it will work for Trump | World news | The Guardian

The 'us and them' divide worked for Putin and it will work for Trump | World news | The Guardian Another informative read.

I have the privilege of being able to convey messages from the future to my friends in the US and Europe.

For someone like Trump or the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, xenophobia is only a means of mobilisation, not an end in itself... Trump and Putin are ecumenical nationalists.

...they are not bound by logic or intellectual decency. Their constituencies have short attention spans, and don’t notice when their leader switches from hating to ... co-opting... That’s what Putin has done with former Chechen independence fighters, who are now playing a key role in his machine of terror.

The anti-Trump marches ... last weekend were all about minority rights... Trump’s spin doctors will have no problem breaking up this movement, pitting its diverse components against each other, the same way Putin did with the Bolotnaya Square protests in 2012.

To beat him, Trump’s opponents need to start everything anew and unite under more universal, and unifying, slogans.

I subscribe through the Guardian's iOS app, which seems to have a discounted rate. Maybe it's time to upgrade to full fare.