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Trump pushes economic hope, immigrant fear in election final run
INDIANAPOLIS, Nov 3, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – With four days to save the
Republican Party’s grip on Congress — and his own dominance of US politics –
– Donald Trump unleashed his two main weapons Friday: boasts about the
economy and fear-mongering over immigration.
Trump flew to West Virginia and Indiana for campaign rallies, with more
planned on the weekend and Monday. Less than 24 hours earlier, he was in
Missouri.
“It will be a very exciting five days,” Trump said at the White House
before departing on the Marine One helicopter.
Trump said his Republicans are in a good position ahead of Tuesday’s
midterm congressional elections, particularly with new employment figures out
showing the economy booming.
But polls point to the Democrats capturing at least the House of
Representatives, threatening Trump with the specter of an opposition finally
able to block policies and dig into his highly opaque personal finances.
The campaign trail Friday also saw arguably the one Democrat able to match
Trump’s sheer media star power — his predecessor in the White House Barack
Obama.
Obama, employing his trademark oratorical flourishes, spoke in Florida,
where Democrats and Republicans are locked in a series of tight races,
telling supporters to “cut through the lies, block out the noise.”
“Out of this political darkness, I see a great awakening of citizenship all
across the country,” Obama said.
– Celebration and fear –
Trump, who has brought an unprecedented brand of populism and
confrontational politics to the White House, clearly enjoys a fight. The
latest job figures gave him a golden opportunity to crow over what he near
daily claims to be the world’s “hottest economy.”
“Wow! The U.S. added 250,000 Jobs in October – and this was despite the
hurricanes,” Trump heralded in a typically high-energy tweet. “Unemployment
at 3.7%. Wages UP! These are incredible numbers. Keep it going, Vote
Republican!”
Equally good news for Trump and his bid to spread that elusive voter feel-
good factor was that wages appear to be strengthening — a sign that average
Americans may be enjoying the fruits of economic growth.
He also signaled that a budding trade war with China — which he says will
force Beijing to drop what Washington has long considered unfair barriers and
theft of intellectual property — will end with “a very good deal.”
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“We are getting much closer to doing something,” he said.
– Scorched earth –
But if on one hand the president touts the United States as a land of
plenty, with jobs for all, on the other he’s doing everything possible to
stir fear and loathing.
Even as illegal immigration dips to a quarter of what it was in 2000, Trump
claims that the country literally faces an “invasion” of Central Americans.
He has ordered regular army troops to the US-Mexican border, announced
“tent cities” to detain people demanding political asylum and claimed power
to scrap the right to citizenship for anyone born on US soil — until now
considered protected by the US Constitution.
Referring to a group of a few thousand impoverished Central Americans
currently trying to walk to the United States through Mexico, Trump says the
nation could be “overwhelmed.”
But Obama decried Trump’s deployment as a “political stunt.”
Obama said the deployment was serving to “get folks angry and ginned up,”
adding: “There’s just constant fearmongering to distract from the record.”
On Thursday, Trump said soldiers would respond to migrants throwing stones
as if they were attacking with firearms — suggesting that deadly force would
be used.
He pulled back Friday, saying US troops “won’t have to fire.”
Another eye-catching moment has been Trump’s tweet of a campaign ad
starring a clip of a real-life illegal immigrant named Luis Bracamontes, who
killed two sheriff’s deputies in California in 2014 then laughingly bragged
about the murders in court.
The ad, seeking to underline Trump’s repeated argument that the Democrats
will encourage hardened criminals into the country, says Democrats allowed
Bracamontes to enter the US and “Democrats let him stay.”
The Sacramento Bee newspaper in California reported, however, that records
show the cop killer was deported before sneaking back into the country —
under Republican President George W. Bush.
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