Insofar as Trumpism was understood, it was seen as a side-effect of poverty, ignorance and educational failure. A cry from people who deserved sympathy, but who should never be allowed to set the terms of political debate.
Capitalism is a funny name which lefties give to basic freedom.
It's easy, almost comforting, to dismiss Trumpism as the cry of laid-off men in rust-belt states shaking their wrinkled fists at the juggernaut of modernity.