With just 19 days left until the 2018 midterm elections, crucial to both Democrats and Republicans but especially to a president trying desperately to hold on to his place in the White House, the rhetoric is ramping up. For all his focus on trade and the economy, Trump needs at this point to fire up his racist fanbase with issues they can understand.
Right on time, a group of brown people headed toward the U.S. border. Enter Trump and his fearmongering racist tweets.
The “innocent until proven guilty” advocate who also leads crowds in chants of “lock her up” has decided that the way to rile his base is to insist that there are members of a caravan of refugees from El Salvador are definitely criminals. Credible allegations of sexual assault shouldn’t be weighed too heavily to allow for “due process,” but sending the military to the border to threaten the poorest people is okay if the president says they’re criminals.
It’s rhetoric that Trump’s GOP cronies are sure to seize upon. Former Speaker Newt Gingrich wanted badly to exploit the death of Mollie Tibbets for a midterm fight, but her family quickly shut that down. Now, the caravan of migrants provides an all-new opportunity to spread fear and racism among the right.
Newt Gingrich: Two words will define the 2018 election – Kavanaugh and caravan (via #Hannity) pic.twitter.com/MNMRDPeBAi
— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) October 18, 2018
GOP midterm candidates are already seizing on the story to attack their Democratic opponents. So far, that doesn’t seem to be working very well.
A president who will take babies out of the arms of their parents, however, is liable to do anything to win an election.
Twitter was appalled by Trump’s rhetoric. See some of their comments below:
Featured image via Flickr by Gage Skidmore under a Creative Commons license
