The president has employed the same kind of inflammatory language as George Wallace did in the 1968 campaign. Richard Nixon ran that year seeking the middle between the Alabama governor and Hubert Humphrey. LBJ's Paul Stekler talks about the comparison.
"Comparing Nixon to Trump does a disservice to Nixon, who beyond his own demons, was often a brilliant political strategist," said Paul Stekler, the documentary maker who filmed "George Wallace: Settin' the Woods on Fire" and founded the Center for Politics and Governance at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. "And in 1968, having Wallace in the race allowed him to triangulate — but it was a narrow path given how close the election ultimately was."