"And so a large contingent of people who sat way in back in high school history class and now need to blame foreigners for their lack of progress in the world..."

Well no. They, along with the left, blame trade deals made by the elite that allowed corporations to export US manufacturing jobs to cheap labor countries, then import the goods back into the US. As both Trump and Sanders have pointed out. 

US working-class people are tired of being screwed by people who don't care about them, people like Hillary Clinton. Democrats have been enthusiastic supporters of these trade deals, including Bill & Hillary Clinton and Obama, who is still pushing the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). Hillary now claims to be against it, but she was for it until Bernie Sanders came along and upset her corporate-friendly plans. So was her VP choice. Her delegates on the convention platform committee refused to put anything in the platform against the TPP.