Donald Trump and the Republicans have found their scare tactic to drive turnout in the midterm election. A caravan of immigrants from Central America is moving through Mexico heading north. Trump warns of MS-13 gang members and Middle Eastern terrorists, though there’s no evidence of either in the group of 7,000 or so people. It’s 2018’s ISIS and Ebola.
The cable news is all over the caravan though this is not the first and won’t be last. In the past, the caravans have dwindled before reaching the US border. That doesn’t matter. It sells on cable and Trump’s true believers will buy into the threat.
If separating children from the parents was supposed to keep immigrants from coming, they’ve failed miserably. It won’t matter, though. To people who live their lives in fear of people who look different, the images of the caravans is enough to send them to gun store for more ammo and to the voting booth to support more failing immigration policies of the GOP.
Trump’s goal is to change the conversation away from things like the Saudi murder of a journalist and his plan to allow insurance companies to consider pre-existing conditions again. The rest of the GOP is following his lead. They understand that the Democratic base is motivated and they need to energize their base. If making stuff up works, they’ll go with it.
As the Washington Post says, “fear—and falsehoods” are the GOP midterm strategy. That’s all they’ve really got left. Their tax cuts are still unpopular, so Trump is claiming Democrats want to cut Social Security and Medicare when it’s really Mitch McConnell proposing that. Trump is claiming falsely that Democrats are paying for the caravan of immigrants but no GOP leaders are calling him out.
In North Carolina, we’re seeing the same tactics at the legislative level. The State Republican Party is making baseless claims because truth no longer matters. It’s all about winning and they’ll say anything to keep Democrats from doing it.
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
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