Trump Returns to an Old Formula: Lies and Hatred

Midterm elections are approaching. The first major election since Trump took office, our current political landscape could shift dramatically depending on the results.

If Democrats can take back control of the House of Representatives — or even the Senate — that could have a major effect on Trump’s ability to pass legislation.

The damage that Trump has created since he’s been president has motivated a record number of women and people of color to run for office. Democrats are banking on this new wave of hope, and for candidates to assert progressive ideas and policies on the state and federal levels.

With many media outlets forecasting a potential “blue wave” in favor of Democrats, Republicans are ramping up their campaigns to secure their majority in Congress.

Among these Republicans is President Trump, who has benefited tremendously from our current GOP Congress.

Congress has given Trump the green light to pass an enormous tax cut for corporations and the ultra-wealthy, stood by as he’s separated thousands of immigrant children from their parents who are seeking asylum in the U.S., and confirmed Supreme Court Justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh amid massive protests around credible sexual misconduct allegations against him.

With more to-do’s to check off his conservative agenda, such as building a border wall between Mexico and the U.S., Trump cannot afford to lose the Republican majority in Congress.

So, in an effort to get his supporters excited to vote for Republican candidates, he’s returning to tactics that have worked pretty well for him: lying and hatred.

Within the past month, President Trump has lied about creating a plan for a middle-class tax cut, when in reality he signed a tax bill that will create a $2 trillion federal budget deficit by helping millionaires and billionaires.

Similarly, the Trump administration is considering writing trans people out of Title IX, a federal civil rights code that bans sex discrimination in federally funded schools, by defining “sex as either male or female, unchangeable, and determined by the genitals that a person is born with.”

This act could reverse life-saving protections for transgender people across the nation. But to Trump it’s worth it, because he knows these types of actions rally up his evangelical base.

It doesn’t stop there — it also extends to Trump’s signature issue, immigration.

It’s no accident that just because of the upcoming election, he made a public promise to end birthright citizenship, an ironclad constitutional provision. That means babies who are born in this country to immigrant parents would no longer be granted automatic citizenship.

Not to mention, he’s sending 5,000 troops to the border to “fend off” a caravan of migrants and refugees, half of whom are women and children.

It’s obvious that Trump’s willing to put up a dirty fight to maintain the Republican majority in Congress. Will it have an impact on the outcome of the election? Or will voters turn out for candidates who promise to protect everyone in our country, including the most marginalized?

Well, that’s up to us.

This article originally was published on Otherwords.org