Donald Trump, fearing Democrats will take the House, and maybe the Senate too, has been in manic mode.
Will impeachment hearings soon begin? Will Congress soon exercise proper and required Constitutional limits on a man who acknowledges none? How does the term #LameDuckDonald strike you?
In a feverish state, Trump is flying from rally to rally, with an 11 rally blitz announced, leading up to Tuesday's midterm elections. Based on recent Trump rallies, anti-immigrant attacks and anti-media attacks will highlight each Trump performance.
In the last few weeks, Trump's ranting and hatred about immigrants seem to have reached new highs, or are they new lows?
Though Republicans have been in control of both the House and the Senate for all of Trump's time in office, efforts to pass immigration reform have failed, largely due to his inability to work effectively with Congress.
In its place have been Trump bans on immigrant groups by religion and nationality and an end 13 months ago to DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, leaving roughly 700,000 young undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children that DACA protects from deportation with ongoing uncertainty about their future.
Frustrated by his inability to impose his will on the internationally protected rights of people to seek asylum, and needing red meat for his base, Trump, more and more unhinged, has ricocheted from frantic solution to frantic solution to stop the refuge families fleeing gang violence and domestic abuse.
He recently has threatened 1) to close the border entirely, 2) to cut off financial aid to the Latin American nations where the migrants originated; 3) to undo the Constitution to rid of "birthright citicizenship."
America, like 30 other countries, recognizes anyone born on its soil as a citizen.
Trump has also announced he will send 10,000-15,000 group to our southwest border to greet the "caravan" (a Trumpian term), or to use another Trump term (adopted by the murderer in Pittsburgh on Saturday and tweeted out by Trump, stop the “invasion."
Nevermind that the migrant groups making their way north are more than a month and a half from the American border.
Nevermind that best estimates say there are only 4000 unarmed immigrants, mostly women and small children, many of whom may choose not to come or be unable to make the whole journey north (see sample tweets and images below by Washington Post Latin American correspondent Kevin Sieff).
Nevermind that the migrants have broken no laws and are exercising their internationally protected rights to seek refuge.
Nevermind that US law forbids our military from physically detaining individuals at the border.
This show of force is not just red meat, but expensive red meat for Trump MAGAts, charged to the American taxpayer.
Here was Trump last night in Florida, vilifying both the immigrants and the Democratic Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum with familiar false charges:
“Andrew Gillum wants to throw open your borders to gang members, human traffickers and criminal aliens."
He then stood proudly as his clone candidate, racist Ron DeSantis led the crowd in “Lock Him Up" chants against Gillum, modeled on those the Trump cult frequently generates at the mention of his 2016 presidential opponent, Hillary Clinton.
Trump and Ron DeSantis in Tampa. DeSantist, who opened his gubernatorial campaign warning Florida “not to monkey this up" against his African American opponent, last night led the crowd in chants of “Lock Him Up" against Andrew Gillum.
To Trump, our military are props in his propaganda war against immigrants.
So too is the Democratic Party. “A vote for Democrats is a vote to liquidate America's borders," he said in Florida last night.
While speaking in Montana last Thursday, Trump even implied that the Democratic Party is paying migrants to come into the United States in time to vote in the Midtems.
"A lot of money's been passing through people to come up and try to get to the border by election day, because they think that's a negative for us," Trump said. Earlier that day, he tweeted that the "assault on our country by Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador" is being "led" by Democrats.
In Nevada on Saturday, Trump alleged that Democrats are offering illegal immigrants luxury cars. "They want to give them cars, they want to give them driver's licenses," he said. "I said last night … What kind of car will they supply them? Will it be a Rolls Royce?"*
Where falsehoods on Democrats happen at a Trump rally, can an attack on our free press be far behind?
Expect more of the “CNN sucks" chants heard in Tampa last night though next Tuesday.
Yesterday, Trump even had the audacity to release a video turning his unwelcomed visit to the crime scene in Pittsburgh into an election promo. As the world knows, 11 members of the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh were gunned down there as they worshipped, by a Trump-radicalized supporter this past Saturday.
To Trump, Tuesday's election serves only his own narcissism. It also endangers his self-conceived right to complete power in a country which long has been a great and welcoming Democracy.
Can we take our nation back? That is up to us, and us alone.
We know who Trump is. He shows us that everyday.
Vote.
#Midterms2018
#EverythingIsAtStake.
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November 1, 2018
Post Script. Yesterday, Trump even joined in to amplify the conspiratorial, anti-Semitic charges that the billionaire George Soros is paying for the refuges to come.
As he left the White House, Trump was asked whether he thinks somebody is funding the migrant caravan that is slowly making its way through Mexico toward the U.S. border.
"I wouldn't be surprised, yeah. I wouldn't be surprised," Trump responded.
Asked whether the funder could be Soros, Trump said: "I don't know who, but I wouldn't be surprised. A lot of people say yes." (Source, Washington Post, November 1,)
The New York Times today comparably reported Trump "grinned on Friday when supporters at the White House responded to his attacks on Democrats and "globalists" by chanting "Lock 'em up" and yelling " George Soros." " Globalist" is a common anti-Semitic dog whistle for Jewish. Soros is Jewish.
Vote.
#Midterms2018
#EverythingIsAtStake
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