Donald Trump set to fall back on xenophobia with re-election plan in tatters

[Judi Lynn]

The president had been intending to campaign on a strong economy and facing a socialist opponent but scapegoating foreigners has worked for him before

by David Smith in Washington
Sun 26 Apr 2020 04.00 EDT

Donald Trump had been intending to run a re-election campaign based on a strong economy and a socialist opponent. Both have vanished in the past month. But the US president still has his ultimate weapon: xenophobia.

Trump this week announced in a late-night tweet that he would “temporarily suspend immigration” into America. Two days later, when he signed an executive order, it only applied to people seeking green cards to move to the country permanently, not to temporary workers, and there were plenty of loopholes.

But by then the headlines had been written, the outrage expressed and the objective achieved: Trump was cracking down on immigration again because, he claimed, he was putting America and its workers first. The exercise was arguably less about policy than politics.

A nativist, populist message helped him win the presidency in 2016. He tried it again in the 2018 midterm elections for Congress with mixed results. Now, with his handling of a deadly pandemic under scrutiny and the economy in freefall, critics say he is ready to bet the White House on his ability to stir nationalist and racist sentiment with little subtlety.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/26/donald-trump-xenophobia-re-election-campaign-2020

[beachbumbob]

1. trump making new democratic voters each day and most likely helping to kill off republican voters

No new GOP supporters are being made

[Bernardo de La Paz]

2. Doesn't matter where or how virus originated. tRump FAILED to DEFEND the USA. . . . nt

[Harker]

3. China already has a wall. n/t