WASHINGTON, DC – In a new column, the Washington Post’s’ Greg Sargent breaks down how the Democrats shattered all expectations this midterm election and stumped the red wave. Sargent lays out the top 5 GOP narratives that “went down in flames,” including how, despite “pouring enormous sums” to amplify “invasion” language and anti-immigrant rhetoric, the GOP MAGA strategy did little to help win in marquee House and Senate races. Sargent noted: “Republicans have long enjoyed a presumption of a major advantage on [immigration], but aside from Trump’s 2016 victory, it keeps failing to deliver.”

In the run-up to the midterm election, Republicans and right-wing media employed a surge in anti-immigrant and white nationalist rhetoric — echoing “open borders” and “Great Replacement Theory.” According to The New York Times, BPI Media found that Republicans “outspent Democrats on immigration-related ads on streaming services and traditional television nearly 15 to 1 — with $119.4 million compared to Democrats’ $8.1 million.”  And on the debate stage with millions of voters watching, Republican candidates, like failed candidate Mehment Oz, decided to use their airtime to double down on disingenuous attacks and incendiary language about the border and immigration.

Despite the GOP’s best efforts to use hateful attacks on immigration to divide America, exit polls show voters, especially battleground Latino voters, rejected Republicans’ extremist rhetoric and remain overwhelmingly pro-immigrant. In fact, a national poll of over 12,000 voters found that voters, across all racial and ethnic groups, want Congress to take up protections for Dreamers in the lame duck. By more than a 2-to-1 margin, (68% to 32%) voters say they support Congress taking immediate action to provide permanent legal status to DACA recipients and Dreamers.

And now with the House still projected to be taken over by MAGA Republicans, Sargent argues that there is “zero time to waste” to find consensus on an issue the majority of Americans want to get done and some Republican politicians support. He makes the case for Democrats and Republicans worried by the MAGA wing to use the lame-duck to build a bulwark before extremism pushes the GOP further out of touch with the American public. As  Kerri Talbot, deputy director at the Immigration Hub added, “failure to support dreamers and the asylum system now means ‘more chaos later.’’

Washington Post: Opinion: 5 big GOP narratives just went down in flames

By Greg Sargent

November 9, 2022

“Shattering the expectations of, well, just about everybody in U.S. politics, as of Wednesday afternoon a Democratic hold of the House cannot be ruled out, and Democrats are somewhat favored to keep the Senate.

We might not know either outcome for days, but we already know this: The vaunted “red wave” never materialized.

Beyond the demise of the “red wave” storyline, five other big media narratives just went down in flames. Here’s what we have learned instead:

[…]

4. “Invasion” language did little for Republicans

House Republicans poured enormous sums into ads depicting the migrant “invasion” in the vilest of terms. Republicans have long enjoyed a presumption of a major advantage on this issue, but aside from Trump’s 2016 victory, it keeps failing to deliver. The border was central in the 2018 and 2020 elections, and Republicans lost both (though with House pickups in the latter).

Some will argue that Democrats neutralized immigration this time by keeping some of Trump’s border policies, and it’s true that the party hasn’t made a case for its own immigration vision. Still, GOP confidence that President Biden’s “disastrous open border” would spark major electoral repudiation, giving Republicans space to hyper-radicalize their base around the issue, has proved wrong.

And if Blake Masters loses in the Arizona Senate race — after openly embracing “great replacement theory” and running ads featuring the most lurid and militarized “invasion” imagery imaginable — that will only add more evidence against the political effectiveness of this GOP strategy.

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To read the full article, click here.

Washington Post: Opinion: 5 ways to ‘crazyproof’ the country against the chaos of a GOP House

By Greg Sargent

November 10, 2022

Although Democrats shocked the political world by overperforming in this week’s elections, there’s still a good chance Republicans will end up controlling the House. If so, there will be zero time to waste: Lawmakers should use the lame-duck period before the new Congress is sworn in to build safeguards against a GOP-controlled House’s capacity to sow full-blown chaos.

This imperative doesn’t apply just to Democrats. Plenty of Republicans, particularly in the Senate, discern the threats posed by a GOP House. They could join Democrats in acting for the good of the country — and for the good of their own party as well. Political scientist Jonathan Bernstein calls thisthe “crazyproofing agenda,” and, in at least some of these cases, that’s not much of an overstatement.

Here are five ways Congress can act in the lame-duck period, if necessary:

[…]

3. Avert chaotic gridlock on immigration

McCarthy has already threatened that a GOP House will refuse any action on immigration until Republicans deem the border secure — which they never, ever will.

But some Senate Republicans support a compromise that would pump new funding into adjudicating asylum claims at the border and also into removing migrants who don’t qualify. The lame-duck Congress could try to pass something like this combined with protections for hundreds of thousands of people brought here as children, which some Senate Republicans also support.

Current protections for “dreamers” are likely to perish entirely fromcourt challenges, which would bean abominable humanitarian outcome. The asylum system badly needs more money and staffing. But after running a campaign saturated with vile “invasion” language, a Republican House cannot be expected to help dreamers and would surely only support something like a full rollback of asylum.

In the lame duck, Democrats can prod GOP senators to act on these fronts. Kerri Talbot, deputy director at the Immigration Hub, tells me failure to support dreamers and the asylum system now means “more chaos later.”

[…]

To read the full article, click here.

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The Immigration Hub is a national organization dedicated to advancing fair and just immigration policies through strategic leadership, innovative communications strategies, legislative advocacy and collaborative partnerships.