[...] Issues and enemies

If you tried to deduce the issues of most importance to American voters from the president’s Facebook ads, you would think that the number one concern to voters was not healthcare (as poll after poll shows), but the supposed malfeasances of the mainstream media. The media and its “fake news” are mentioned in 18.25% of the Trump’s 2019 ads – more than any other issue. Trump’s signature issue – immigration and a border wall – comes second, followed by impeachment, the economy, gun rights and the supreme court.

Actual policy proposals and initiatives appear far less frequently, though the campaign did run very small tranches of ads about the First Step Act, paid family leave, “health care choice”, and, interestingly, animal cruelty. Not a single ad mentioned the climate crisis or the environment.

Political enemies and grievances are a common feature of Trump ads. The campaign ran 10 times as many ads that mention the phrase “witch hunt” as ads that mention terrorism, and nearly as many ads warning against “socialism” as ads about his own plans for trade or the economy.

Many ads also single out political rivals by name, with the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, being the most commonly cited (and attacked), followed by the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer; chairman of the House intelligence committee, Adam Schiff; and frequent rightwing bogey-women: the US representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar.

Relatively few of Trump’s ads mention his potential 2020 Democratic opponents, though Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Beto O’Rourke were all mentioned in some ads by name. Warren, who is referred to by two different spellings of “Pocahontas”, was mentioned the most, and the earliest. [....]

I note that they did not note any anti-African-American memes at all, but stressed that the anti-immigrant language was strong and profuse. And that liberals in general are the enemy. They even noted a little promotion of the First Step Act. They could if they wanted to, but didn't. Any racist messaging as to Afro-Americans is surrogate stuff, including Russians. I conclude that the official campaign would be happy to have votes from Afro-Americans who are not liberal and who are anti-immigrant. The man they work for might indeed do different, send different messages, but that is the official messaging.