ELECTION/IMMIGRATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Donald Trump is waging one of the most inflammatory closing arguments of any modern campaign, lacing his midterm rhetoric with easily disprovable claims that are building on the fact-challenged foundation of his presidency. With just two weeks to go before the midterm election, the President is doing what he does best, seizing national attention with a flood of outrageous and improbable lies that drown out rivals, leverage his brawling personality and rip at fault lines of race, identity and patriotism. Above all, Trump is hardening his line on immigration, the explosive issue that is usually a winner for him, in a strategy designed to drive his loyalists to the polls to defy ominous midterm omens that haunt every first-term president. There are signs the scorched-earth blitz is working as Trump’s approval rating ticks up, offering Republicans the possibility of increasing their Senate majority and longer-shot hopes of clinging to their control of the House.”
–Stephen Collinson, “Trump’s midterm campaign of fear,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, October 22, 2018 1:10 pm