© CNN
Right-wing populists are exploiting the migration issue in both the United States and Europe, but dismissing their arguments would be a mistake. Instead, an honest assessment of the economic and regime-change policies that fuel migration is needed.
Anti-establishment political forces in both the United States and Europe have
seized on the issue of illegal immigration, seen by many voters as a threat to both economic well-being and cultural identity,
as a key component of their electoral strategies. While Donald Trump has made the wall with Mexico one of his priorities and has worked to uphold a ban on immigration from a number of Muslim nations,
in Europe, numerous political parties have been following this script for many years.Drawing on the economic anxiety of the middle class,
tied to fear of being undercut by low-wage work and worries concerning terrorism and cultural changes,
anti-immigrant sentiment has become a key weapon of right-wing populist forces. These forces have drawn on the narrative of governing elites that pursue their own, limited interests, while seeking to hold down the majority of society through
policies that rob them of both economic opportunity and their cultural heritage.
Comment: Further reading: Russia-Gate is state-sponsored paranoid propaganda