As we await the Mid Term elections in the United States with far more interest than we have for decades, it would be well to reflect that Trump might win whatever the result .
If the Republicans looses the House of the Representatives , but as expected holds on to the Senate then Trump may be damaged. However it may be the result he wants because he can then claim he is being thwarted by the Democrats in Congress and appeal to his supporters by raising his right wing rhetoric to an even more sinister level.
To what extent the so called Migrant Caravan has played into Trump's hands his unclear but he has clearly seem it as a political gift.
President Trump has claimed that he "wouldn't be surprised" if billionaire philanthropist George Soros or someone else is funding the caravan of Central American migrants moving toward the U.S."I wouldn't be surprised," Trump told reporters outside the White House when asked if "someone" is paying for the caravan."George Soros?" a reporter interjected."I don't know who, but I wouldn't be surprised," Trump said. "A lot of people say yes."The unfounded conspiracy theory that Soros, a Democratic megadonor, may be providing financial support for the group of migrants has steadily spread among conservatives in recent weeks, The Washington Post reports.Fox News hosts Laura Ingraham, Maria Bartiromo and Lou Dobbs have all raised the idea that the group was receiving outside funding from Soros or politically motivated groups, and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) suggested in a tweet that Soros was paying the migrants without elaborating any further.
Trump on Wednesday denied that he was "fear mongering" about the caravan, which he has painted as an imminent threat to national security and claimed is filled with "thugs," "criminals" and "unknown Middle Easterners."
The group is largely made up of residents of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, and includes many women and children.
"Immigration is a very, very big and very dangerous - a really dangerous topic," Trump told reporters. "And we're not going to allow people to come into our country that don't have the well-being of our country in mind."
I suspect if there is a conspiracy behind the "Caravan"Given that it is probably his party that would benefit from n American backlash against this "caravan" I would not be surprised that the reverse is the truth and it is Trump's Alt-Right supporters in a manner of the The Reichstag fire an arson attack on the Reichstag building (home of the German parliament) in Berlin on 27 February 1933, one month after Adolf Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany.
The truth behind who was responsible but it strengthened the Nazi hand he day after the fire, at Hitler's request, President Hindenburg signed the Reichstag Fire Decree into law by using Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution. The Reichstag Fire Decree suspended most civil liberties in Germany, including habeas corpus, freedom of expression, freedom of the press, the right of free association and public assembly, the secrecy of the post and telephone.[ These rights were not reinstated during Nazi reign. The decree was used by the Nazis to ban publications not considered "friendly" to the Nazi cause.
Today's Guardian has the news that
Donald Trump has stepped up his rhetorical attack over immigration ahead of next week’s midterm elections, using a White House address on Thursday to float what is possibly an unconstitutional clampdown on asylum-seekers – and hinted that even people throwing stones while at the US border could be targeted with military firepower.
In a session lasting almost an hour in the Roosevelt Room, Trump talked tough on immigration but failed to deliver much in the way of specifics. White House aides had previously billed the event inaccurately as a policy announcement.
In lurid language that resembled one of his rally speeches more than a presidential address, he vowed to prevent the “violent” Central American migrant caravan heading to the southern border from “invading” the country. He said a comprehensive executive order would be released next week, though it was not clear what it would contain.
Instead, he made vague pledges that thousands would be held indefinitely in “massive cities of tents” apparently now being built at the border with military assistance. He also implied that in future asylum seekers would only be able to petition the US for safe haven by approaching designated border posts.
In echoes of his divisive rally speeches this election cycle, he pledged to detain those crossing the border unlawfully, rather than using the system known by the stark term “catch and release”, where migrants are released into the community after apprehension, pending their court case.“We are not releasing any more. Big change, as of a couple of days ago … we are going to catch but we are not going to release, they are going to stay with us until the hearing takes place,” he said.
His most inflammatory remarks concerned the actions of US troops at the border, with 5,200 already deployed and possibly 10,000 more to follow. Trump was asked whether they might fire on migrants, and he replied: “I hope not.”
He went on: “They want to throw rocks at our military, our military fights back. We’ll consider – and I told them – consider it a rifle. When they throw rocks like they did at the Mexico military and police, I say consider it a rifle.”Then he added: “Anybody throwing stones, rocks … we will consider that a firearm because there’s not much difference when you get hit in the face with a rock.”
There were some clashes between Mexican police in riot gear and migrants in the caravan as they pushed their way over the border with Guatemala last month. The caravan is still more than 800 miles from the US border.
It is not clear whether the US president has the authority to order troops to respond to stone-throwing with live ammunition through an executive order. But Trump returned to the theme on Thursday night at his latest campaign rally in Columbia, Missouri.
He raised the issue of the caravan, saying to his followers in an air hangar at Columbia regional airport: “Did you see what they did to the Mexican police and military in breaking through the border? These are tough people, they are not little angels and we are not letting them into our country.”
Trump’s remarks indicate that with just five days left before the midterm elections, and with Republican control of Congress in the balance, he has decided to put most of his political eggs into the anti-immigrant basket. His White House comments came a day after he posted on social media a new national political advertisement that attacked the Democrats in starkly racial terms.
Clearly Trump would not like to lose either of the two houses in Congress , but as I said he could turn this around by labeling the Democrats as being soft on immigration.
But the loss of one of the houses will prevent his all ready plans to rule by Executive Order and I will more than welcome if throughout the many ballots from Senator to Dog Catcher our friends in the US vote every ticket against Trump's Republican's
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