Heading into 2018, GOP House candidates have quadrupled down on Donald Trump's racist formula from 2016, making nativist anti-immigrant messages central to their campaigns. USA Today, which analyzed data from Kantar Media, writes:
Republicans have aired more than 14,000 campaign ads touting a tough Trump-style immigration platform so far this year. The barrage underscores why House GOP leaders worry that passing a legislative fix for undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children, referred to as DREAMers, would put GOP candidates at risk heading into the fall election.
“I’ll end sanctuary cities to stop illegals from taking our jobs … and use conservative grit to build the darn wall,” Troy Balderson, a GOP state senator running for Congress in Ohio, promises in one such ad.
On the other side of the aisle, Democrats are rallying around expanding health care access across the country and shoring up Social Security as their main midterm themes.
“We need Medicare for all, to make absolutely certain that what happened to my family never happens to yours” California Democrat Paul Kerr says in on TV spot that begins by recounting how his family was financially devastated by medical bills after his mother was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders championed that kind of single-payer universal health care system in the 2016 election. [...]
“It sometimes feels like the two parties are talking to two different countries,” said Kyle Kondik, a political analyst with the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics. [...]
Democratic candidates have focused overwhelmingly on health in their advertising so far, running more than 26,000 ads on the subject. Of those, more than 8,500 Democratic spots promise to protect or expand Medicare, the Kantar data shows.
Democrats and Republicans aren't just talking to two different countries—they're talking about two different countries.
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One is a country of scarcity—there are not enough jobs to go around so it's every person for themselves as the nation is divided up between winners and losers. And Republicans are promising their mainly white base voters that people of color and immigrants, in particular, will end up on the losing end of that equation.
The country Democrats envision is one where everyone gets the resources they need in order to participate in our democracy, grow our nation, and make it stronger. That all starts with making sure everyone can access the health care they need in a country where no one is left behind. It’s a message that’s deeply relevant to people of all races, rural and urban, in an economy where nearly full employment hasn’t necessarily translated into healthcare benefits and financial security yet for many Americans.
The choices couldn’t be more stark this November, thanks to Trump’s rabid takeover of the Republican party and a GOP base that’s now primed to point fingers at others rather than look for mutual solutions among ourselves. It’s not just divisive, it’s toxic. Vote!