{"id":186858,"date":"2018-10-24T05:32:04","date_gmt":"2018-10-24T09:32:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=186858"},"modified":"2018-10-24T05:32:04","modified_gmt":"2018-10-24T09:32:04","slug":"boogeyman-trump-plays-voters-fears-stoke-turnout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/10\/24\/boogeyman-trump-plays-voters-fears-stoke-turnout\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Boogeyman’ Trump plays to voters’ fears to stoke turnout"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cThe wrong person coming in after me sitting right at this desk can destroy it very quickly,\u201d Trump said. (File Photo<\/a>: Donald J. Trump\/Twitter<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Mob rule. A socialist takeover. Terrorists marching on the U.S. border.<\/p>\n

As President Donald Trump embraces the role of electoral boogeyman, he’s making closing arguments to midterm voters that increasingly resemble a Halloween horror story.<\/p>\n

The candidate who won the White House in part by harnessing many Americans’ anxieties is offering dire warnings about what life would look like if Democrats gain control of Congress.<\/p>\n

Using racially charged language and sometimes questionable information, Trump argues that Democrats will plunge the country into socialism, imperil the social safety net, raise taxes and welcome millions of people pouring into the U.S illegally.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt stake in this election is whether we continue the extraordinary prosperity that we’ve all achieved, or whether we let the radical Democrat mob take a giant wrecking ball and destroy our country and our economy,\u201d Trump said at a rally in Houston on Monday night. He’s warning of Democratic \u201cmob rule\u201d and predicting a stock market crash if Democrats retake control on Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n

Trump’s doomsday predictions come as Republicans seek to counter months of rising Democratic enthusiasm. The GOP has seen its own increase in energy since the politically charged confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Party leaders now believe they can increase their majority in the Senate, although control of the House remains within Democratic reach. Trump is looking to minimize any losses with a pitch that echoes his dark 2016 campaign rhetoric.<\/p>\n

In a post-labour Day election briefing, GOP pollster Neil Newhouse warned the White House about an enthusiasm gap between Democrats and Republicans. He suggested that the GOP emphasize to voters the potential consequences of Democratic control of Congress on issues like abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Trump has taken that message to heart in recent weeks, White House aides say.<\/p>\n

The scare tactics run the risk of motivating Democrats or turning off moderates in the suburban races that could decide the House majority. But the White House sees the fear factor as a winning strategy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to talk about national security, border enforcement and justices. It’s the themes and policy points that will drive people out,\u201d said former Trump campaign aide Sam Nunberg. \u201cThese are stark choices. We have to provide stark choices.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a recent Associated Press interview, Trump projected confidence about the upcoming elections, declaring: \u201cIt feels to me very much like ’16,\u201d referring to his presidential win.<\/p>\n

At rallies and on Twitter in recent days, he has focused on Central American migrants making their way to the southern U.S. border. The caravan is a \u201cgift\u201d to Republicans, Trump believes. He’s told confidants that it is the party’s best closing argument heading into the midterms, according to a Republican close to the White House who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to publicly discuss private conversations.<\/p>\n

Trump believes the images of the caravan that have become a fixture on cable news networks \u2014 and particularly Fox News, the preferred network of his most loyal supporters \u2014 are riling up the same voters who turned out for him two years ago.<\/p>\n

He has further heated up his rhetoric by suggesting, without presenting evidence, that the Democrats are behind the caravan and claiming that Middle Easterners \u2014 an apparent allusion to terrorists \u2014 are also in the travelling mass of migrants.<\/p>\n

Vice-President Mike Pence sought to bolster Trump’s claims Tuesday, saying at a Washington Post event that it \u201cis inconceivable that there are not people of Middle Eastern descent in a crowd of more than 7,000 people advancing toward our border.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump later denied he was using the caravan to stoke electoral fear. \u201cNo, not at all,\u201d he said. \u201cI’m a very nonpolitical person, and that’s why I got elected president.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump’s White House is reinforcing the president’s dark view of life under Democratic leadership. On Tuesday, his Council of Economic Advisers issued a report on the costs of socialism that said the \u201cMedicare for All\u201d plan being promoted by some Democrats would harm economic growth.<\/p>\n

The report highlights the severe troubles of Venezuela amid hyper-inflation and shortages of basic goods \u2014 one of the president’s preferred examples for criticizing Democrats despite that oil-dependent nation’s clear differences with the U.S. economy. Kevin Hassett, chairman of the council, said his team decided to craft the report this summer because \u201csocialism is something that we’re reading about in the news.\u201d<\/p>\n

At a recent campaign stop, Trump said: \u201cDemocrats support a socialist takeover of health care that would totally obliterate Medicare.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seeking to emphasize his \u201cAmerica First\u201d approach to foreign policy, Trump went a step further than usual this week, condemning so-called globalists, and embracing the politically fraught term of \u201cnationalist.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know what I am? I’m a nationalist, OK? I’m a nationalist. Nationalist. Nothing wrong. Use that word. Use that word,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

Don’t expect the alarmist campaign to stop on Election Day.<\/p>\n

Trump told the AP that his themes will be central as he looks ahead to his own battle for re-election, under the slogan \u201cKeep America Great.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe wrong person coming in after me sitting right at this desk can destroy it very quickly,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 Mob rule. A socialist takeover. Terrorists marching on the U.S. border. As President Donald Trump embraces the role …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":182808,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-186858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-w","mauthors-catherine-lucey","mauthors-zeke-miller","mauthors-jonathan-lemire","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186858\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}