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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHis Closing Argument to Voters: Fascism
By MATT FORD
October 31, 2018
Its less than a week until Election Day, and Donald Trump is scared. Most polls indicate that Democrats are poised to retake the House of Representatives. From there, theyll be able to unleash a wave of oversight investigations into scandals that his Republican allies in Congress have largely squelched or ignored. Its less likely that Democrats will also win back the Senate, but if so, theyll have veto power over every one of Trumps judicial and executive nominees until 2020.
Republicans are struggling to make the case for retaining power after two years of unified control of the government. The presidents party usually loses seats during the first midterm election, and the unpopularity of both Trump and the GOPs legislative agenda isnt helping. Not only did the Affordable Care Act largely survive an all-out push to repeal it, but many Republican lawmakers are now being forced to defend their votes to strip coverage requirements for people with pre-existing conditions. Most voters also rightly think that the GOPs tax-cut package, once touted as a near-certain midterms boon, was simply a handout to the rich and powerful.
Thus, Trump is trying a different message with voters: a virulent mélange of nationalism and authoritarianism, largely centered on the caravan of several thousand migrants traveling toward the U.S. from Central America. He has likened the caravan to a foreign invasion, and is using it to justify extraordinary measures. He ordered more than 5,000 troops to the border with Mexico on Monday, though their mission is limited and largely theatrical. Hes also reportedly mulling an executive order to close the southern border to asylum-seekers ...
Elected officials have a habit of over-promising and under-delivering during campaign season, but Trumps moves over the past two weeks go far beyond that. Hes deployed the military within the U.S. against a phantasmal threat. After one of his supporters was arrested for sending mail bombs to his political adversaries, the president responded by warning that he could tone up his rhetoric even further. Now hes asserting the power to single-handedly narrow the definitionand thus the protectionsof American citizenship. In effect, Trump is posing a question to the American electorate: What level of racist authoritarianism are you willing to accept? ...
https://newrepublic.com/article/151962/trumps-closing-argument-voters-fascism
Doodley
(9,119 posts)Cirque du So-What
(25,965 posts)Fixed it for ya
Doodley
(9,119 posts)marylandblue
(12,344 posts)Which is already much higher than I would have imagined a fww years ago.