Actually serves pretty well if one's goal were to further destabilise things. People have already been convinced that illegal immigrants are to blame for all economic problems (even though it is easier to prove the extreme opposite through a cursory search on the internet), maybe if the downward slope is gentle enough, people won't start doubting the efficacy of the initially applied solution. Maybe the point was to get them to the next level, get them angry at something else after everything is done with the false problem.

I just don't see Trump actually wanting what's his version of "best" for the country. I think he's on a power play, and the country's just the kindling.

Maybe I'm talking complete nonsense, but this feels like a... logical escalation. To what, I cannot fathom, although we've seen similar movements preclude Totalitarian/Authoritarian regime solidification periods before, where the desperate masses clung to the wrong solution.