Originally Posted: November 5, 2018
Jeffrey Engel, director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University is quoted in this article.
What’s at stake?
Democrats warn that the midterm elections on Tuesday will undermine the future of America’s democracy unless President Trump’s authoritarian instincts are curtailed. Republicans argue that the nation’s sovereignty is at risk if Democrats prevail.
“Fear is the dominant issue, bar none,” said Jeffrey Engel, director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University.
That’s particularly remarkable because the economy is strong and the nation doesn’t face an instant foreign policy crisis, although there are trouble spots around the world. Instead of a sense of peace and prosperity, though, the final weeks of the campaign have been dominated by violence and conflict: the mass murder of worshipers at a Pittsburgh synagogue, the mailing of improvised explosive devices to more than a dozen leading Democrats, the images of a caravan of Central American asylum-seekers making their way across southern Mexico.
The campaign has crystallized clashing visions of what defines the nation: America First, or an increasingly diverse melting pot? READ MORE