Trump plan to win the shutdown: Emphasizing threats posed by migrants

In conversations throughout Friday, political advisers and allies of the president said that they would again trumpet instances of chaos and violence on the southern border in order to pressure congressional Democrats into agreeing to add billions of dollars in border wall funding as a condition for reopening the government…

One senior administration official described their shutdown comms strategy as a “caravan redo”—in reference to how Republicans spotlighted and demonized a group of migrants coming traveling to the U.S. southern border in the lead-up to the midterm elections. (The strategy failed to stop the blue wave that occurred.) The official said that Trump and the Republican Party would “draw contrasts” between their draconian immigration policies and the Democrats’ more inclusive approach.

According to two administration officials, the White House intends to send advisers and surrogates throughout the shutdown standoff out on national television to hammer Democrats and to accuse them of wanting illicit drugs, terror, and “trafficking” pouring over the southern border.