Great point. I think it's more an accident of history than a calculated strategy that Trump just happened to hook the Sarah Palin/Tea Party/Angry White Men vote. Trump has nothing in common with these people. He wouldn't know a duck call from a fishing pole. He's at the bottom rung of the east coast financial elite; notice there's almost never a picture of him not wearing a suit, nevermind Carhartts and camo. 

But as the saying goes, “Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.”

This is the appeal of Trump. These sad, sad people think his wealth will somehow rub off on them. Amazingly, I do believe that they see a bit of their own struggles in him. Except that Trump was gifted $200 million dollars in real estate when he was 30 years old, and he's never known what a gallon of milk costs. He is about as far from their reality as can be imagined... but that's his con.