Trump had thought about running for president for years, but the stars aligned for the 2016 election cycle, when the uptick in global migration and the affront of eight years of Obama’s rule created the right degree of resentment against people of color. “I am your voice,” he told Americans who felt economically vulnerable and ill at ease in an increasingly multiracial society, his “protector” persona echoing past rulers who vowed to shoulder the nation’s burdens.
