There are times when I, too, succumb to this sort of dystopian doomthink. But I don’t discern confidence in Trump’s latest anti-immigrant bombast. He and embattled GOP House incumbents have resorted to the tactic of fearmongering because it’s the last available option in the playbook. For the better part of this year, and certainly since the public-relations disaster that was his administration’s family-separation policy at the southern border, Trump has trumpeted favorable economic indicators like quarterly GDP growth and low unemployment as well as his accomplishments (relatively speaking) abroad, on trade and NATO.

There is no doubt that the GOP would be sticking to this message of uplift if they thought it would close the deal in November. But, given the surge in Democratic enthusiasm the past two years, they realize it does not. So our attention is turned, again, to migrants at the border. And, oh, let’s not forget the other source of desperation stench. In a stark contrast to the 2014 midterms, when they captured the Senate, Republicans are mendaciously running toward ObamaCare (or least that portion of it that is increasingly popular with the public).