Read the full AV report: 2022 GOP Messaging Tracker: Analysis of Republicans’ Nativist Narrative Leading into the General Election
Washington, DC – More voices are highlighting the embrace by Republican candidates of political nativism and vile white nationalist conspiracy theories.
In The Border Chronicle, Melissa del Bosque writes, “How the GOP’s ‘Invasion’ Fever Stokes Violence and Undermines Democracy (excerpted below):
“In the last several months, GOP leaders have embraced “the great replacement,” a fringe white nationalist belief, according to which white Americans are threatened by an “invasion” of black and brown immigrants. This has served as a key messaging strategy to win back the House and Senate in November.
…To date, more than 546 ads and political messages repeating “white replacement” and “migrant invasion” lies have been aired during the 2022 election cycle, according to America’s Voice, a nonprofit that focuses on immigration reform. The group has been tracking anti-immigrant and nativist campaign ads since 2018, collecting them in its searchable GOP ad-tracker database.
… ‘If you get your supporters to believe there’s an invasion of migrants coming to replace white voters,’ [America’s Voice Political Director Zachary] Mueller says, ‘and Democrats are importing 20 million illegal aliens, as Masters said in his ad, then, well, if Masters loses, he can say it was because of this invasion and these undocumented immigrants voting in our elections.’
…Since 2018, when Mueller first began tracking anti-immigrant messaging during the Trump era, it has only grown more vitriolic, he says. ‘Whether it’s the invasion rhetoric or talking about troops on the border, they are courting real political violence … ‘These political leaders are encouraging political violence. They need to be held accountable.’
Writing for Daily Kos, Gabe Ortiz highlights the recent America’s Voice political report in, “GOP ads are fully embracing nativist rhetoric used by racist mass killers, report shows.”
“Republicans have three main attack lines: open borders, fentanyl, and ‘invasion,” America’s Voice said. “All three are based on lies and disinformation.” “While immigration will not be a top issue for a majority of all voters, it is an important issue for the MAGA base, and Republicans believe immigrant-bashing favors their electoral prospects,” the America’s Voice report said. “To that end, GOP candidates across the country will continue to insert into the debate dangerous anti-immigrant rhetoric that has already led to violence.” The group has in fact identified hundreds of ads featuring “invasion” rhetoric, which should be noteworthy considering it’s been spewed by numerous racist mass killers.
… “Republicans are indulging in the worst kind of White nationalist rhetoric,” America’s Voice Executive Director Frank Sharry told The Washington Post. “And an issue they thought would win over swing voters is at best a base mobilizer for voters they already have.”
Leading fact checking site PolitiFact recently covered the lies at the heart of the GOP’s nativist messaging – many of which are unfortunately gaining traction among some segments of the country. But as PolitiFact finds:
“As the November midterm elections near, political candidates and TV ads are pushing inaccurate and misleading claims about immigration. And according to an NPR/Ipsos poll, a significant number of Americans believe these falsehoods.
About 1,000 adults in the U.S. were asked whether they believed a variety of claims about immigration, including whether there was an invasion at the southern border and whether most of the fentanyl entering the U.S. was smuggled in by migrants crossing the border illegally. Those assertions are not true.”
PolitiFact then fact checks a host of common GOP messaging assertions on immigration and the border, finding that despite Republican assertions: “The southern border is not open;” “There is no invasion at the southern border;” “Most fentanyl entering the U.S is not being smuggled by immigrants illegally crossing the border;” “Immigrants are not more likely to commit crimes than people born in the U.S.;” “Immigrants in the U.S. illegally are ineligible for most federal benefits;” and “The government is not secretly flying immigrants around the country.”
- Read the AV report, “2022 GOP Messaging Tracker: Analysis of Republicans’ Nativist Narrative Leading into the General Election”
- Check out our America’s Voice GOP Ad Tracker: http://gopadtracker.com/
