A handful of observations about this image and the ad:
1. The image, meant to evoke Mexican's storming the U.S. but actually showing migrants trying to enter a Spanish enclave in Morocco, was obviously selected to invoke invading hordes. But why the aerial view? The tiny swarming figures evoke more an infestation -- of vermin, or bacteria -- than a human endeavor. As Alexander Hurst noted recently in Donald Trump and the Politics of Disgust, Trump is a germophobe who often expresses disgust with bodily fluids (sweat, urine, breast milk, menstrual blood) -- traits that correlate with xenophobia. His most grossly abusive statements and images connect with his base on a gut level. This image is his campaign in a gutshell.
