When Republicans aim to rile up their base going into an election, racism has always been a main strategy. More specifically in recent years, the so-called migrant ‘caravans’ have been a recurring theme. Vox reported that the Fox News propaganda network mentioned the caravans nearly 40 times in the days leading into the 2018 midterms. “Yet on Wednesday’s edition of Fox & Friends, it was mentioned just once in passing.”
This could be a strategy for one Republican candidate in particular. TIME reports that Peter Thiel-funded Republican Senate nominee Blake Masters “is betting on an immigration outcry” to help him defeat Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly in Arizona, going so far as to claim that the former astronaut is “personally responsible for the worst border crisis our state and our nation have ever seen.” Personally responsible!
Blake Masters is full of shit, and he’s only going to get more offensive. Especially because he wants to talk about anything but the radical opposition to abortion that he’s now trying to hide as he heads into the general election.
RELATED STORY: Blake Masters is trying to disappear his extreme opposition to abortion
Campaign Action
Like Daily Kos’ Laura Clawson reported last Friday, Masters has scrubbed his website of “his very well-documented positions” on abortion after securing his party’s nomination earlier this month.
“For example, Masters’ website no longer says, ‘I am 100% pro-life,’” Clawson wrote. NBC News had been first to catch wind of sneaky Blake. “It no longer describes his support for ‘a federal personhood law (ideally a Constitutional amendment) that recognizes that unborn babies are human beings that may not be killed’ or for ‘the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act,’ which criminalizes abortion after 20 weeks, or ‘the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, the SAVE Moms and Babies Act, and other pro-life legislation.’”
CNN reported that a person close to Masters hilariously said the Thiel sock puppet looked at his policy page as sort of “living document.” Or maybe an Etch-A-Sketch, others might say.
Like Clawson noted, Masters has also made it clear what he thinks about abortion rights, and it’s that he thinks they’re “demonic.” Masters did not at all like Kelly repeating his words back to him in a recent ad, and falsely claimed in his own rebuttal that “Mark Kelly is lying about my views on abortion.” Once again, the ad was quoting Masters’ own words. It is Blake Masters who is a liar.
"If Blake Masters thinks that he can quietly delete passages from his website and disguise just how out of touch and dangerous his abortion stance is, he's in for a rude awakening," Kelly campaign spokesperson Sarah Guggenheimer told CNN. "No embarrassing pivot can hide the truth: Masters has called abortion 'demonic,' a 'religious sacrifice,' and backs a national abortion ban. Arizonans know the truth and won't fall for this." Masters also holds extreme views on immigration, supporting a border wall and proclaiming “no citizenship for people who come here illegally, ever.” But most Americans support a pathway to citizenship.
Kelly currently holds a lead in the polling, and Masters won’t close that gap based on his extremist record on abortion. So, expect the pace of his anti-immigrant rhetoric to get kicked up a few notches. When he’s already released racist ads pushing white supremacist conspiracy theories, he has nowhere to go but to get even more extreme. America’s Voice previously noted that Masters has in fact “put forth some of the most vile and overt” ads. He tweeted one with the caption “end the invasion,” using the exact same white supremacist rhetoric spewed by racist mass murderers.
“Masters is far from the only Republican feeling the impact that abortion politics are having on the midterms,” NBC News reported. “Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel fretted about the post-Roe Democratic small-dollar advantage in a call to donors that Politico reported Wednesday.”
Abortion rights, gun safety, and the our planet are all at stake in this election. We must persuade Democratic voters to turn out in November. Click here to volunteer with Vote Forward and write personalized letters to targeted voters on your own schedule from the comfort of your own home, without ever having to talk to anyone.
RELATED STORIES:
Ad from Peter Thiel-funded Arizona Republican echos 'white replacement' and 'invasion' conspiracies
Senate candidate Blake Masters claims it’s ‘Black people' responsible for U.S. gun violence
GOP officials use white supremacist rhetoric in pushing Arizona governor to attack asylum-seekers
