With polling showing an uncomfortably close race between Nevada U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and Big Lie pusher Adam Laxalt, the latter is pulling out all stops in his effort to defeat the chamber’s first Latina U.S. senator. Particularly after the June report revealing that Laxalt, Nevada’s former attorney general, said it was “sad” that the state wasn’t extreme on abortion.
So like other Republicans, he wants to talk about immigrants. Wait, not talk about immigrants, but actually lie about immigrants. He’s doing it with help of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), led by Rick Scott, he of the great Medicare scam. The NRSC, of course, is helping because it already has its history of spreading anti-immigrant bullcrap.
RELATED STORY: Sizable numbers of Americans are believing lies about migrants and fentanyl, so-called open borders
Immigrant rights advocacy group America’s Voice said that the joint Laxalt-NRSC ad “relies on a host of lies frequently repeated by the GOP, including around the issue of ‘lethal opioids’ like fentanyl and the falsehood that President Biden and Democrats have ushered in open borders.”
That last part is particularly bold lie from Laxalt, who has vocally defended the debunked Title 42 policy that continues to be used to quickly deport many asylum-seekers in violation of their rights. The Biden administration sought to end this policy in May, and return the asylum system to how it was before Stephen Miller squashed it with his thumb in spring 2020. But Republicans went to court to block the president.
“While ‘lethal opioids’ like fentanyl are indeed a deadly serious matter facing Nevada and the country, the Laxalt ad and most GOP ads on the topic advance flat-out lies in their political exploitation of the issue,” America’s Voice said. “It’s another Republican attempt to distract attention away from issues that are hurting them, like abortion and access to guns, with racist scare tactics around crime and immigrants in the midterm homestretch.”
Notably, Border Patrol union president Brandon Judd makes an appearance in the ad, he of racist “great replacement” conspiracy theory fame. Judd, an active border agent, seems to have quite a bit of time to politick for Republicans, earlier this year appearing in a vile ad where failed candidate Jim Lamon shot at an actor portraying the president. Lamon then reveled in the outrage that followed.
Also—Nevada isn’t even at the border? America’s Voice notes that it’s “no surprise” that Laxalt and Judd seem to be buddy-buddy. The former Republican attorney general last year claimed that “the left wants to radically transform this nation and they want to destroy the values that made this country a great nation.” This, folks, is replacement theory bullshit.
“Adam Laxalt and Republicans across the country are intentionally peddling lies and dangerous disinformation that dehumanizes people and creates the conditions for racist political violence,” America’s Voice political director Zachary Mueller said. “Yes there are serious and urgent challenges around fentanyl. Yes, there are important discussions about managing the border in a safe, orderly and humane manner. But we need solutions, not scapegoats or ugly attempts from those peddling white nationalist conspiracies to distract voters with fear in the campaign homestretch.”
The Nevada Independent reported in June that Laxalt had earlier that month called Roe vs. Wade “a joke,” “a total, complete invention,” and that “its return back to the states is important.” Laxalt has claimed in an August opinion column that he doesn’t support a federal ban, but during the June remarks said, “We are not a pro-life state, and we got work to do on that.”
Peter Thiel puppet, Blake Masters, also really wants to talk about immigrants rather than his extreme abortion stance, going so far as to falsely claim that Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly in Arizona is “personally responsible for the worst border crisis our state and our nation have ever seen.” Personally responsible! But like Daily Kos’ Laura Clawson recently reported, Masters scrubbed his website of “his very well-documented positions” on abortion after securing his party’s nomination last month. “For example, Masters’ website no longer says, ‘I am 100% pro-life,’” Clawson wrote.
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