Ultimately, I think Reagan got the votes of what came to be called Reagan Democrats by imposing sanctions on Japan. I suspect something similar will have to happen with respect to China and other countries with which we have sizable trade deficits. The GOP needs to show voters that it is not the party of plutocrats. Reagan put in protective trade barriers on semiconductors, cars, motorcycles and machine tools - all highly visible industries that employ masses of people. It is possible to dislike the UAW without hoping for Detroit's destruction. Ultimately, Bush had sounder political instincts than Romney in pushing through a financial bailout for Detroit. Romney crusaded against Detroit's rescue and that ultimately sank his candidacy. The optics of a multimillionaire pushing for the destruction of hundreds of thousands jobs many Americans aspire towards were simply not good - whites stayed home in droves, to the extent that the black turnout exceeded white turnout by 10% in 2012.
By pushing amnesty, the GOP is not only killing its future by importing tens of millions of Democrat-leaning voters - it's driving white turnout even further down, by showing white voters that it not only wants their jobs to go abroad; it also want to replace them with foreign workers right at home.
“Ultimately, I think Reagan got the votes of what came to be called Reagan Democrats by imposing sanctions on Japan.”
I hate to tell you, Japan was hardly on the voters’ minds in 1980. The Iranian hostages, the Soviets in Afghanistan, economic disasters, a soaring crime rate, and smug Democrats too long in power and out of touch created that tsunami. It had nothing to do with Japan.