If there's been any identifiable theme coming out of Donald Trump's disastrous few weeks of campaigning, it's that more and more Americans are fed up with his anti-immigrant rhetoric.

“Coming from a troubled place does not mean that we are criminals,” Abdifatah Ahmed said to loud cheers at a Friday protest in Portland, where at least 4,000 Somalis live. “So we will stay here, and, you know, in November we will vote.” The City Hall demonstration attracted about 400 people and included chants of “more love, no hate,” and signs that read “I love my neighbors” and “No place for racism.” Portland Mayor Ethan Strimling, who tucked a copy of the Constitution in his shirt pocket, welcomed the city’s Somali residents.

This is after Trump launched into yet another anti-immigrant tirade last week, this time accusing Somali Americans in Maine and Minnesota of being "a rich pool of potential recruiting targets for Islamist terror groups." Because, apparently, he'll now be honing his anti-immigrant speeches to insult individual groups in individual states as being a threat to America; that appears to be his notion of state-by-state "campaigning."

It also seems hand-tailored to drive a wedge between Trump and any remaining Republicans who want to hang on to their much-cherished "moderate" labels. Maine's Sen. Susan Collins called the statements "particularly unhelpful." So, you know, take that, Donald Trump. I'm not sure how how the big orange gasbag will ever recover from being called unhelpful.

Elsewhere, though, there's a deep anger at Trump's continued demonization of immigrants. And Trump may be in danger of turning the election into precisely what every other Republican does not want to see: a national referendum on the party's embrace of that racism.

[Hodan Hassan] said Trump’s remarks breed fear in the community — and have inspired a determination to take part in the election. “Statements like that will drive people to hit the polls and vote for his opponent,” she said. “In his twisted way, he is empowering us.”

I don't think Trump can win this fight, and his persistence in trying borders on bizarre. He's predicated his campaign on the theory that he'll be able to elevate xenophobia into a dominant political movement, but that only works if none of the targets fight back. And guess what? It ain't the primaries anymore. Come November, all the folks who are not xenophobic Republican Fox News viewers get to vote too. And it won’t just be Donald Trump they’ll be voting against.