Finkel: Trump’s status as a Washington outsider is a big part of his appeal to voters who remember life in the Soviet Union

(Quartz) “I think he represents what I am for,” says Sirota, her eye fixed on the window facing the street, watching for potential customers. “I like what he promises, I think he can deliver.”

Donald Trump has been popular with many here in the Brighton Beach neighborhood of Brooklyn, where he earned 84% of the Republican vote in the primaries—the sixth-highest share in the city. Brighton Beach is one of the oldest enclaves in New York for immigrants from the former Soviet Union—so much so, that it is sometimes called “little Odessa.” The main thoroughfare steps away from Sirota’s salon is lined with Russian bookstores, clothing boutiques, delis, and butchers. Restaurants and cafes line the streets serving pirogi, borscht, house-cured herrings, and caviar. […]

Evgeny Finkel, an assistant professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, said these voters “see the Republican Party as more hawkish in their foreign policy towards the Soviets and more willing to stand up against communism.” […]

Finkel says Trump’s status as a Washington outsider is a big part of his appeal to voters who remember life in the Soviet Union, where an intuitive distrust of politicians was rampant. “There is a tendency to believe that politicians are crooked,” says the Ukrainian-born Finkel, “and therefore Trump has an appeal as an outsider from the business world.” […]

There’s “a degree to which Trump’s anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant rhetoric resonates with them,” said Finkel. “There is a certain degree of xenophobia, especially anti-African American and anti-Mexican. […]