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| With Control of Congress at Stake, Trump Reprises a Favorite Theme: Fear Immigrants | With Control of Congress at Stake, Trump Reprises a Favorite Theme: Fear Immigrants |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| WASHINGTON — President Trump’s closing argument is now clear: Build tent cities for migrants. End birthright citizenship. Fear the caravan. Send active-duty troops to the border. Refuse asylum. | WASHINGTON — President Trump’s closing argument is now clear: Build tent cities for migrants. End birthright citizenship. Fear the caravan. Send active-duty troops to the border. Refuse asylum. |
| Immigration has been the animating force of the Trump presidency, and now — facing the possibility that Republicans will lose control of Congress on Tuesday — the president has fully embraced a dark, anti-immigrant message in the hope that stoking fear will motivate voters to show up for his party’s candidates across the country. | Immigration has been the animating force of the Trump presidency, and now — facing the possibility that Republicans will lose control of Congress on Tuesday — the president has fully embraced a dark, anti-immigrant message in the hope that stoking fear will motivate voters to show up for his party’s candidates across the country. |
| Eager to shift the national conversation away from the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre and the pipe bombs delivered to high-profile Trump opponents, the president’s political team has in recent days urged him to use his bully pulpit to ratchet up the nation’s sense of alarm about the dangers of migrants heading for the border. | |
| The president did not need much convincing. On Wednesday afternoon, he tweeted out a 53-second, expletive-filled video that features immigrants charged with violent crimes and images of a throng of brown-skinned men breaching a barrier and running forward. The president’s message was clear: Immigrants will kill you and the Democrats are to blame. | The president did not need much convincing. On Wednesday afternoon, he tweeted out a 53-second, expletive-filled video that features immigrants charged with violent crimes and images of a throng of brown-skinned men breaching a barrier and running forward. The president’s message was clear: Immigrants will kill you and the Democrats are to blame. |
| “It is outrageous what the Democrats are doing to our Country,” Mr. Trump wrote in the tweet, part of a grim warning about the dangers of immigrants that has left some Republicans — including the House speaker, Paul D. Ryan — uneasy heading into Tuesday’s voting. | “It is outrageous what the Democrats are doing to our Country,” Mr. Trump wrote in the tweet, part of a grim warning about the dangers of immigrants that has left some Republicans — including the House speaker, Paul D. Ryan — uneasy heading into Tuesday’s voting. |
| Still, the president’s dark rhetoric has clearly put some Democratic candidates on the defensive, especially in conservative states where Mr. Trump won by wide margins in 2016. In the last several days, Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri, has embraced some of the president’s anti-immigrant messaging as she fights for re-election, telling Fox News that “I do not want our borders overrun, and I support the president’s efforts to make sure they’re not.” | Still, the president’s dark rhetoric has clearly put some Democratic candidates on the defensive, especially in conservative states where Mr. Trump won by wide margins in 2016. In the last several days, Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri, has embraced some of the president’s anti-immigrant messaging as she fights for re-election, telling Fox News that “I do not want our borders overrun, and I support the president’s efforts to make sure they’re not.” |
| White House officials said the president would underscore those same themes on Thursday afternoon when he is expected to deliver remarks about illegal immigration and the need for heightened border security from the Roosevelt Room of the White House before his departure for an evening campaign rally in Missouri. | White House officials said the president would underscore those same themes on Thursday afternoon when he is expected to deliver remarks about illegal immigration and the need for heightened border security from the Roosevelt Room of the White House before his departure for an evening campaign rally in Missouri. |
| For the president, the late-in-the-game focus on immigration is a natural return to the most enduring strategy of his career as a public figure. Using immigrants to generate fear was a central tool that he employed to grab the public’s attention when he was just a celebrity. And it was the key to his winning the 2016 presidential campaign. | For the president, the late-in-the-game focus on immigration is a natural return to the most enduring strategy of his career as a public figure. Using immigrants to generate fear was a central tool that he employed to grab the public’s attention when he was just a celebrity. And it was the key to his winning the 2016 presidential campaign. |
| Now, with polls showing Democrats ahead in many critical House races, Mr. Trump is using presidential brute force to all but take over the campaign communications strategies for Republican candidates across the country. In tweets, rally speeches, interviews, campaign ads and off-the-cuff remarks to reporters, the president has made immigrants the singular object of his attention. | Now, with polls showing Democrats ahead in many critical House races, Mr. Trump is using presidential brute force to all but take over the campaign communications strategies for Republican candidates across the country. In tweets, rally speeches, interviews, campaign ads and off-the-cuff remarks to reporters, the president has made immigrants the singular object of his attention. |
| In just the last few days, Mr. Trump has vowed to shut down the southern border to migrants claiming asylum and deploy thousands of active-duty troops to block the entry of a Central American caravan of families that is still hundreds of miles from the border between Mexico and the United States. | In just the last few days, Mr. Trump has vowed to shut down the southern border to migrants claiming asylum and deploy thousands of active-duty troops to block the entry of a Central American caravan of families that is still hundreds of miles from the border between Mexico and the United States. |
| He has pledged to build tent cities along the border to indefinitely hold immigrants that he falsely describes as mostly criminals, gang members and felons who pose a danger to voters in the United States. And he has mused about ending birthright citizenship with an executive order, despite opposition from within his own party and broad criticism from legal scholars. | He has pledged to build tent cities along the border to indefinitely hold immigrants that he falsely describes as mostly criminals, gang members and felons who pose a danger to voters in the United States. And he has mused about ending birthright citizenship with an executive order, despite opposition from within his own party and broad criticism from legal scholars. |
| Mr. Trump is betting that a relentless focus on the threat he envisions from south-of-the-border immigrants, combined with his repeated assertion that Democrats are to blame for letting them into the country, will energize conservative supporters. And he is hoping that the dark imagery will not alienate suburban voters — especially women — who have already been abandoning Republicans in droves. | Mr. Trump is betting that a relentless focus on the threat he envisions from south-of-the-border immigrants, combined with his repeated assertion that Democrats are to blame for letting them into the country, will energize conservative supporters. And he is hoping that the dark imagery will not alienate suburban voters — especially women — who have already been abandoning Republicans in droves. |
| It is a risky bet. Last year, the Republican candidate for governor in Virginia lost after running dark ads warning of the dangers of marauding, MS-13 gangs in the state. And some congressional Republicans have grimaced at the president’s determined effort to shift the conversation away from issues like low unemployment, tax cuts, conservative Supreme Court justices and reduced regulation. | It is a risky bet. Last year, the Republican candidate for governor in Virginia lost after running dark ads warning of the dangers of marauding, MS-13 gangs in the state. And some congressional Republicans have grimaced at the president’s determined effort to shift the conversation away from issues like low unemployment, tax cuts, conservative Supreme Court justices and reduced regulation. |
| At the beginning of the week, Mr. Trump’s campaign put out a 60-second television ad appealing to the message those Republicans have advocated. It featured a suburban woman who frets about the possibility that the economic recovery could be fleeting. But the attention paid to that ad was quickly overtaken by the president’s comments about the dangers of the Central American caravan and his new ad about the cop-killing immigrant. | At the beginning of the week, Mr. Trump’s campaign put out a 60-second television ad appealing to the message those Republicans have advocated. It featured a suburban woman who frets about the possibility that the economic recovery could be fleeting. But the attention paid to that ad was quickly overtaken by the president’s comments about the dangers of the Central American caravan and his new ad about the cop-killing immigrant. |
| The dueling spots represent two completely opposite messages Mr. Trump is pushing to two different audiences in the run-up to the midterm contests, with a two-pronged strategy to match. | The dueling spots represent two completely opposite messages Mr. Trump is pushing to two different audiences in the run-up to the midterm contests, with a two-pronged strategy to match. |
| By launching a television ad that is expensive to produce and to broadcast, the president’s campaign was making a direct appeal to a demographic that is hostile to Mr. Trump — and the biggest source of worry for Republicans battling to hold onto their seats — with an economy-based message that omitted any mention or picture of the president. | By launching a television ad that is expensive to produce and to broadcast, the president’s campaign was making a direct appeal to a demographic that is hostile to Mr. Trump — and the biggest source of worry for Republicans battling to hold onto their seats — with an economy-based message that omitted any mention or picture of the president. |
| The immigration video, which relies solely on news clips and stock footage, includes courtroom footage of Luis Bracamontes, a twice-deported Mexican immigrant sentenced to death this year for killing two California law enforcement officers. It was meant to speak to Mr. Trump’s anti-immigrant base, which rallied behind his racially tinged messages starting with his 2015 speech announcing his campaign, when he singled out Mexican immigrants as criminals and rapists. | The immigration video, which relies solely on news clips and stock footage, includes courtroom footage of Luis Bracamontes, a twice-deported Mexican immigrant sentenced to death this year for killing two California law enforcement officers. It was meant to speak to Mr. Trump’s anti-immigrant base, which rallied behind his racially tinged messages starting with his 2015 speech announcing his campaign, when he singled out Mexican immigrants as criminals and rapists. |
| “You put an ad out like that, that gets a lot of press and it reaches one group of people — the base — while the other ad is going after a totally different group of independent Republicans,” said Jim Innocenzi, a Republican media strategist. | “You put an ad out like that, that gets a lot of press and it reaches one group of people — the base — while the other ad is going after a totally different group of independent Republicans,” said Jim Innocenzi, a Republican media strategist. |
| Two people close to Mr. Trump declined to say whether it was made by the White House video unit or someone on the campaign. But one White House official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said that it had been in the works for several days, and was released on Wednesday as a distraction to change the cable television chyrons from coverage of the Pittsburgh synagogue attack and the pipe bombs mailed to Mr. Trump’s political critics. | Two people close to Mr. Trump declined to say whether it was made by the White House video unit or someone on the campaign. But one White House official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said that it had been in the works for several days, and was released on Wednesday as a distraction to change the cable television chyrons from coverage of the Pittsburgh synagogue attack and the pipe bombs mailed to Mr. Trump’s political critics. |
| While Mr. Trump’s overt racial appeals on immigration have made some of his advisers uncomfortable, most recognize that the issue resonates deeply with the Republican base, and did long before the president showed up as a candidate. Mr. Trump has complained bitterly for days to advisers that he no longer had control of the message and that Republicans had seen their momentum thwarted for the midterms. | While Mr. Trump’s overt racial appeals on immigration have made some of his advisers uncomfortable, most recognize that the issue resonates deeply with the Republican base, and did long before the president showed up as a candidate. Mr. Trump has complained bitterly for days to advisers that he no longer had control of the message and that Republicans had seen their momentum thwarted for the midterms. |
| The immigration video provoked such outrage that it spawned a flood of news coverage — or, in the parlance of political consultants, “earned media,” meaning the Mr. Trump did not have to spend any money to get public attention for it. It drew charges of racism and comparisons to the infamous Willie Horton ad produced by supporters of George Bush during the 1988 election. Mr. Trump pinned the video to his Twitter feed, ensuring that it would be the first thing his 55.5 million followers would see, and as of Thursday afternoon, it had 3.42 million views. | The immigration video provoked such outrage that it spawned a flood of news coverage — or, in the parlance of political consultants, “earned media,” meaning the Mr. Trump did not have to spend any money to get public attention for it. It drew charges of racism and comparisons to the infamous Willie Horton ad produced by supporters of George Bush during the 1988 election. Mr. Trump pinned the video to his Twitter feed, ensuring that it would be the first thing his 55.5 million followers would see, and as of Thursday afternoon, it had 3.42 million views. |
| “These days, with everything being so segmented, you can reach so many different audiences so many different ways, and in this case, my guess is this is exactly the reaction they were looking for,” Mr. Innocenzi said, referring to the outraged responses that have driven news coverage of the immigration ad. “It accomplished the goal.” | “These days, with everything being so segmented, you can reach so many different audiences so many different ways, and in this case, my guess is this is exactly the reaction they were looking for,” Mr. Innocenzi said, referring to the outraged responses that have driven news coverage of the immigration ad. “It accomplished the goal.” |