Trump exaggerates the MS-13 menace and Republicans say his tough talk is political gold
(The Star Toronto Raptors)

WASHINGTON – When U.S. President Donald Trump used the word “animals” last week in a way that left it unclear whether he was talking specifically about members of the MS-13 gang or broadly about unauthorized immigrants, he caused an uproar.The kind of uproar he likes.He got to claim that Democrats who called his comment dehumanizing were taking the side of a brutal gang. He got to lambaste the media for allegedly twisting his words.And he got that same media to devote a few more news cycles to the subject of illegal immigration.Heading into the congressional midterm elections in November, Trump has returned to the immigration-heavy message that helped propel his own victory two years ago. Even with a roaring economy, he seems to be betting that control of Congress depends on a lot more of his graphic talk about gruesome gang murders of teenage girls.Democrats hold a consistent (though shrinking) lead in polls of voters’ midterm intentions. Elections last year and early this year suggest that the Democratic base is far more motivated than the Republican base.“This is a base election,” said Republican strategist Ford O’Connell. “The goal of the midterm is to fire up your base without hacking off independents. The one issue outside of (the threat of) impeachment that fires up Republicans and doesn’t hack off independents is discussion about illegal immigration.”Trump launched his 2016 campaign by calling Mexican immigrants criminals, “rapists” and bringers of drugs. He was widely accused of racism. Talking about MS-13, which is partly composed of unauthorized immigrants and does indeed commit crimes, gives him a way to harness the same fears about dangerous Latino foreigners while also retaining a just-talking-facts defence against the charge of bigotry.His critics say they are not fooled. Trump, they say, is not only strategically stoking xenophobia but a xenophobe himself. “It kind of f ...