Trump

 The 2016 election was characterized by a series of events that were linked with the economic decline that snowballed into the election of Donald Trump due to his clever and targeted campaign. He targeted the Americans who were most affected by this decline, especially workers in the Rust Belt. He used the frustration of Americans who faced job insecurity or in extreme cases, homelessness and connected with them in his campaign. These ideas resonate with the characters we see in Lynn Nottage's "Sweat". 

Due to NAFTA, factories like Olstead moved to Mexico, and immigrants took the jobs of Americans because they simply accepted lower pay. After Olstead's closure, people like Tracy lost their jobs and pensions that they worked their lives for. The deindustrialization captures the desperation experienced by characters in the narrative. For example, while striking against Oldsteds, Jason talks about how "he can hold out another three months. Push comes to shove, I'll sell the bike." () During the 2016 election, Trump expressed strong views against NAFTA, appealing to workers in the Rust Belt, or people like Jason and Tracy in "Sweat".

In addition, to voicing his concerns about NAFTA, Trump also voiced controversial statements on immigration and race. He advocated for stronger border security and proposed the idea of building a wall to keep people from migrating to America. He claimed stricter immigration rules would aid in helping Americans keep their jobs. We see the "us" vs "them" mentality portrayed here. In this scenario, Trump addressed American workers as the "us" and immigrants as "them". This would aid in his election because American workers were used to being considered "them" by their supervisors in the industry. We see this in Sweat when Cynthia can't remember "talking to anyone in the office, except to do paperwork." and that despite working there for the same amount of time as each other, "they're as unfamiliar as a stranger sitting next to you on a bus." (Nottage 47)