It is outrageous what the Democrats are doing to our Country. Vote Republican now! https://t.co/0pWiwCHGbh pic.twitter.com/2crea9HF7G
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 31, 2018
President Donald Trump knows how upended his administration is going to be if a blue wave does indeed sweep through the country in next Tuesday’s midterm elections. So with just five days to go, he’s pulling out all of the race-baiting, fear-mongering stops, and no mass shootings or pipe bomb threats are going to stop him.
To that point, on Wednesday evening Trump tweeted the above campaign ad with footage of the murder trial of Luis Bracamontes, who was was sentenced to the death penalty back in April for the killing of two California police officers. The footage of Bracamontes, a Mexican immigrant who was deported but eventually returned to the country, is then interspersed with footage of the caravan of migrants making their way up through South America to seek asylum in the United States.
“Illegal immigrant Luis Bracamontes killed our people. Democrats let him into our country. Democrats let him stay,” the ad states in bold letters. “Who else would Democrats let in?”
The rhetoric was seen as especially hypocritical by many, considering the aforementioned rash of domestic terrorism across the country last week, after a Trump supporter (and supporter of Trump-uttered conspiracy theories) was arrested over a pipe bomb campaign. Others made comparisons to a similar fear-mongering tactic made by George H. W. Bush exploiting convicted felon Willie Horton thirty years ago in the 1988 presidential campaign.
Either way, the ad quickly drew outrage on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/pattymo/status/1057754678551867394
This ad is Straight up #Racist. Straight up lies. I didn’t serve my whole life to defend this. I’m so ashamed of America. I shame Republicans can’t feel burns my souls. #VoteThemOut https://t.co/5mDHbmyv9g
— Malcolm Nance (@MalcolmNance) November 1, 2018
https://twitter.com/jkuhnhenn/status/1057760919139352576
This is a despicable fear mongering ad.
Worse than Willie Horton.
🤬🤦🏽♀️ https://t.co/0rjiEnLGwy— Tara Setmayer 🌻 (@TaraSetmayer) October 31, 2018
Response of @JeffFlake to this new Trump ad: “This is just a new low in campaigning. It’s sickening.” https://t.co/f6oyjId6O7
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) October 31, 2018
An American man shot nearly 500 people and killed 58 just one year ago in Las Vegas and Donald Trump hasn’t even been able to ban bump stocks.
Make America Safe Again: Vote for Gun Sense candidates: https://t.co/IQGlNEFqf1 https://t.co/cZW1W0lSrK
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) November 1, 2018
https://twitter.com/Barlow4Congress/status/1058026643489472512
naked racism is outrageous https://t.co/1WiENgLN43
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) October 31, 2018
https://twitter.com/JonLemire/status/1057986979147776001
This is basically Willie Horton all over, right? https://t.co/2SGYoIIaID
— The LeBron James of Pig Feet. (@GeeDee215) November 1, 2018
A lot of people are comparing this new fear-mongering Trump ad to the infamous Willie Horton ad from 1988. In fact, it's a whole lot worse.https://t.co/VL2PlM4qSI
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) November 1, 2018
This is a sign of desperate, failing GOP leaders. Lacking a compelling vision for America and actual solutions for modern challenges, they resort to fear-mongering, lies and bigotry. On November 6th, we must teach them that this is no longer a winning strategy in America. https://t.co/ZM3Rowg1Pn
— Evan McMullin 🇺🇸 (@EvanMcMullin) October 31, 2018
All people can do now, at this point, is get out and VOTE on Tuesday.