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Trump is desperate to change the subject after a week of right-wing violence, so he is sending 5,000 troops to the Southern border to scare voters about an imaginary immigration threat.

The Wall Street Journal reported:

The U.S. military is preparing plans to deploy 5,000 troops to the southwest U.S. border in anticipation of a caravan of would-be asylum seekers and migrants currently moving northward in Mexico, U.S. officials said Monday.

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The new figure is a major increase from initial estimates of 800 troops and would represent a military force equal to about one-third the number of customs officials currently working at the border. The military sent about 2,000 National Guard troops to the area earlier this year.

Trump has constructed a false narrative that the migrants are invaders. He has falsely claimed that there are terrorists in the caravan. There are no terrorists. The caravan consists of extremely poor men, women, and children fleeing the poverty and violence of their home countries.

Trump is trying to create a national security threat before the election

Trump is trying to rally the country around him before an election by creating a national security out of nothing. The 5,000 troops are a political stunt that is a waste of taxpayer money. Trump isn’t just trying to mobilize Republican voters. The president is also trying to change the media coverage. The president is going to desperate and extreme measure to get the country and the press to stop talking about the right-wing violence that his rhetoric has inspired.

Donald Trump only knows how to divide and stoke fear. Trump doesn’t know how to govern or lead. The troops to the border are his version of an October surprise, but voters aren’t going to be fooled by a diversion into taking their eyes off of the real issues that matter on election day.

Sending troops to the border highlights Trump’s political desperation, not a national security threat.

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