Trump and the GOP have decided on their closing argument for the 2018 campaign. They’re banking that they can further fire up or scare the Republican base into the polls by fanning the flames of bigotry against immigrants. They’ve created a horror story of an immigrant invasion heading this way from Central America. The president is ordering 5,000 troops to defend us from what will likely be 1,000 or so impoverished families seeking political asylum. Today, Trump says he will issue an executive order ending birthright citizenship, a direct assault on the Constitution.
In North Carolina, the GOP is following Trump’s lead. They dropped a mailer attacking a Democratic patent attorney as an immigration lawyer. The hit piece accuses J. D. Wooten of “helping illegal aliens avoid deportation and stay here illegally.” There’s not one thing true in the mailer but truth has been a casualty of the Trump GOP.
All of this fiction is designed to juice the Republican base heading to the polls. Republicans have control of both Houses of Congress and the presidency yet don’t have anything to run on. Instead, they’ve got scare their base into the polls with made up horror stories.
The MAGA bomber and the shooting in Pittsburgh seem to have ended any momentum Republicans gained from the Kavanaugh hearing. Like the Comey letter two years ago, the events give pause to independent voters. Back then, people who might have been reluctantly leaning toward Hillary Clinton were given second thoughts. The President’s irresponsible response to the tragedy and bomb threats serve the same purpose for undecided voters who may have been leaning toward the GOP.
The mood is reflected in polls coming in this week. In the Gallop poll, Trump’s approval fell from 44% positive, 50% negative to 40% positive, 54% negative. The NPR/PBS poll yesterday shows the generic Congressional ballot growing in favor of Democrats. In the Arizona senate contest, Democrat Kyrsten Sinema leads Republican Martha McSally by six. In the Florida governor’s race, Democrat Gillium is up six over Republican Di Santis
Trump’s trying take the narrative back by issuing outlandish orders that draw attention to the imaginary threat of immigration. He wants to go into the week talking about his executive order regardless of whether he can do it or not. His base believes his lies and anyone contradicting him is the enemy. I can only hope other voters are seeing through his BS.
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 >
0 Comments