Sudden tax cuts, invading horde are campaign nonsense

We all can debate whether Campaign 2018 has been any worse — any more inane or dishonest — than what’s been typical in recent years. Especially in these final days, the TV ads and mailers on both sides grow ever more negative, the accusations more outrageous.

Partisans toiling in the political trenches ( some would say gutters) probably aren’t breaking any new ground.

What does stand out this year is the rhetoric by the guy at the top. Presidents always are political, they always campaign for their parties in the midterm elections and, depending on how things are going, they all can get carried away.

But with his series of last-minute Hail Mary passes aimed at firing up his base, President Donald Trump truly is making history, and not in a good way. His promises and threats are entirely unrealistic and based neither in law nor logic. They serve only to make us frightened, angry or both.

They aren’t real, they can't happen, and voters should not be fooled. Consider this recap:

• Here comes another tax cut! Even as the dust settles over the $ 1.5 trillion tax cut Congress passed mainly to the benefit of the wealthiest Americans, Trump told a Texas rally his administration would be "putting in" an additional 10 percent tax cut for middle-income earners. Fact: Only Congress can enact a tax cut, and it isn’t in session.

• A horde of invading aliens is on our doorstep, the president says, so he is sending 15,000 U. S. Army troops to stop them while offering no evidence to support claims that the migrant group is salted with terrorists, rapists and drug dealers. Fact: Journalists who have traveled with the mass of migrants report that they are desperate, exhausted families trying to escape brutal violence in Central America.

It remains unclear what the Army troops will do at the border because federal law prohibits them from acting as a police force on U.S. soil.

• Trump will end "birthright citizenship" — the principle that people born here are U.S. citizens, regardless of their parents’ status — by executive order. Fact: This right is enshrined in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution and change would require either a new constitutional amendment or a drawn-out court battle.

The president knows that many immigration opponents resent socalled "anchor babies" because of the perception that they help undocumented families stay in this country, so he’s willing to make unfounded statements to sway voters into supporting Republicans for whom he campaigns.

As wiser heads prevail upon the president, he likely will backtrack from these and other claims after the election, denying he said them or shifting the message to whatever straw man he builds next to knock down and present himself as the hero. He already has acknowledged that any tax-cut vote, even a purely symbolic one, will come after the election.

We urge all voters to avoid the caustic rhetoric and lies in all of this year's campaigning and seek facts and candidates who deal in facts. Voting isn't easy.

Doing homework before going to the polls is challenging amid all of the noise, especially when some leaders try to purposely mislead us. But being an informed voter is more important than ever.

Seek reliable sources providing verified facts. Vote with and for facts.