Marsha Blackburn Is Who We Thought She Was

Election Day is a little more than a week away, and polls show the U.S. Senate race between Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn and Democrat Phil Bredesen could be a close one. So, naturally, Blackburn is stirring up anti-immigrant bigotry apparently in hopes that it will give her supporters an extra bit of motivation to get to the polls on Nov. 6.

No, really — this seems to come naturally to her.

In case you've missed the cable news frenzy, or President Donald Trump's frequent demagoguing, there is a so-called "migrant caravan" slowly making its way from Honduras toward the United States. The group, which reportedly swelled to around 7,000 people but is now said to be closer to 4,000, is made up mostly of people from Honduras and Guatemala. Many of them are women and children, who are fleeing violence, poverty or both in their home countries.

Dara Lind, an essential immigration reporter for Vox, published an explainer on the caravan and issues surrounding earlier this week. You should read it if you want to better understand what is an undoubtedly a complicated situation, no matter what your views on immigration policy.

Of course, Blackburn — like Trump — is not interested in a discussion about these migrants that is complicated or nuanced at all. What she is eager to do is use the situation, and the visuals of a large mass of poor brown-skinned people, to scare old Fox News viewers and make sure no MAGA voter in the state of Tennessee lacks motivation to vote.

Read more: https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/pith-in-the-wind/article/21029148/marsha-blackburn-is-who-we-thought-she-was