I think that people listen to those who oppose them if there is any semblance of common ground.
The 'birther' example is a good one. Hillary's 2008 campaign started it off and stirred the pot but just not enough to get her over the line. The 'my enemy's enemy is my friend' mindset kicked in and the Republicans thought, hey that's not a bad dirty-trick, we'll use that. Common ground.
With Hillary and Trump there was virtually zero.
Pretty sure that Hillary would not have made that Obama mistake a second time and the newly weaponized Birther 2.0 - Ted Cruz would have been 100% successful.
The next US election depends on what happens to the shattered Democrats in the next 4 years, do they follow UK Labor down the crazy Jeremy Corbyn route to irrelevance or do they attempt to reengage with the workers who deserted them?
