#JobsNotMobs: Donald Trump doubles down on jobs, immigration to fire up midterm voters as his approval rating soars to highest ever

New York: US president Donald Trump has seized on a new hashtag - #JobsNotMobs - created entirely on the internet and then recommended by Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams - to fire up his base and define the Republican versus Democrat distinction even as his own approval rating has soared to the highest its ever been - 47% - in a latest NBC News -Wall Street Journal poll. Within minutes of Scott Adams suggesting that this would be a catchy coinage for the election cycle, Trump tested it on stage to a rousing reception: “The choice could not be more clear: “Democrats produce mobs, Republicans produce jobs!” Based entirely on Trump role as a ‘master persuader’, Adams had predicted Donald Trump’s possible victory in the Republican nomination process and later the US elections 2016. “They’ve gone so far left, they don’t know what they’re talking about”, says Trump, tearing into the Opposition in a new series of videos.

#JobsNotMobs! pic.twitter.com/U1suRW5j6G

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 19, 2018

This is what it is all about for the Republican Party! #JobsNotMobs pic.twitter.com/8OabccPec5

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 19, 2018

Donald Trump fueled his 2016 campaign with fiery immigration rhetoric, visions of hordes flowing across the border to assault Americans and steal their jobs. Now, in the final weeks before midterm elections, he’s back at it as he looks to stave off Democratic gains in Congress. The #JobsNotMobs hashtag bundles both arguments in one neat package. Currently on the campaign trail in the final bend of the midterms, Donald Trump has returned to his tried and tested battle cries on the campaign trail again: jobs and immigration. Trump is getting plenty of help from the news media to add visual support to his claims. As news networks despatch crews to the US Mexico border to report on an advancing Central American caravan of migrants, Trump has simply pounced on the wall to wall coverage as fresh evidence that his tough immigration prescriptions are needed. “Otherwise, you’ll be dealing with them on your front porch”, he has warned multiple times, forever yanking illegal immigration from the deep recesses of bureaucratic work to front and center in American voters’ lives. Trump’s immigration warnings got a TV boost when some members of the caravan broke through a Guatemalan border barrier with Mexico. A few then got through to Mexican territory, but most were repelled by police with riot shields and pepper spray. [caption id=“attachment_5386921” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of US president Donald Trump. AP[/caption] Absent any trigger event, forecasts for the House and Senate have stabilised as we enter the final bend: Republicans had a 7 in 9 chance of keeping control of the Senate; the House is moving in the opposite direction. Democrats have a 6 in 7 chance of retaking the House. Either party needs 218 seats for a House majority. This comes at a time when the House and Senate elections are going in totally opposite directions. The Senate is looking ruby red, the House seems decidedly on the Democrats’ side. After the midterm elections, there’s likely going to be a piece of the pie for everyone to crow about. Trump, meanwhile is hedging against a potential thumping in the House elections by saying two things simultaneously, one in full public view and one in private: “Get out in 2018 because you’re voting for me” and “the real election is in 2020.” Trump’s ability to frame initial statements that have flex, like the two scenarios about 2018 and 2020, has long been a signature tactic. Trump confidants are bracing for lots of unfiltered, early-morning tweets. “He likes to have fun”, they say, as they ready for their clean-up ops.