US midterms: Voters amped up for ‘most racist’ elections

Millions of American voters are preparing to cast their vote in the 2018 midterm congressional elections on Tuesday, which according to some observers is by far the “most racist” election in modern history.

Aggressive campaigning for elections has a long history in the US, where candidates use anything at their disposal to bash their rival and make their way into the position they are vying for.

But under President Donald Trump, the 2018 campaign is taking an ugly turn to dark places.

Fueled with Trump’s vitriolic remarks against racial and religious minorities as well as immigrants, this year’s elections are overshadowed by hatred and bigotry.

Last week, Trump tweeted an incendiary video to spread fear against migrants, claiming that his opponents at the Democratic camp were responsible for the 2014 murder of two police officers at the hands of an immigrant in California.

Produced by a consultancy firm in Washington, the 53-second video stated: “Illegal immigrant Luis Bracamontes killed our people! ... Democrats let him into our country ... Democrats let him stay.”

Using the likes of this video, television ads and online posts, the president and his Republican party have been carefully executing their scare tactics in the hope of gaining more votes for the crucial November 6 vote.

The president is no stranger to such tactics given that he announced his intentions to run for the White House in 2015 by calling Mexicans migrants rapists and criminals.

“The difference we’re experiencing right now is twofold. One, we live in a post-truth environment because of Trump, so there is zero concern or consideration whether or not any of these things that [the adverts] are actually saying or not are actually true,” Republican strategist and media consultant Rick Wilson was quoted as saying by The Guardian on Sunday.

“[Secondly,] there’s been a long, slow collapse of trust in public institutions, in particular political institutions, and that is something that poisoned the atmosphere for a long time before Donald Trump came along.”

Trump has also been using this tactic to scare voters of a migrant caravan that is currently making its way through Mexico to reach the US border.

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The president has even sent thousands of military troops to the border with Mexico in order to repel the migrant wave, a move that is heavily criticized by Democrats as a “stunt” to woo voters.

The toxic rhetoric has spilled over into various races for the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Last week in a heated Tennessee Senate race, Tea Party Republican and longtime Trump supporter Marsha Blackburn released an attack ad littered with false information about the caravan and accused her Democratic rival, Phil Bredesen, of endangering national security by supporting the group.

Echoing Trump, the ad claimed the group was filled with “gang members … known criminals … people from the Middle East … possibly terrorists.”

In Georgia, a closely-fought gubernatorial race between Republican Brian Kemp against Democrat Stacey Abrams has also been stained by racism.

Kemp, a staunch Trump supporter, has posed in several of his ads with his large pickup truck, claiming, “I’ve got a big truck just in case I need to round-up criminal illegals and take them home myself.”

Recent research into attack ads used in 2010 and 2012 US elections shows that they play an important role in persuading undecided voters and driving turnout.

Maybe that’s why this year’s race is already predicted to become the most expensive in terms of campaign costs and the largest in terms of voter participation.

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