Migrant caravan fearmongering is the new Ebola panic mm4a.org/4cJ 
GOP seeking a winning issue in midterm elections and settling on irrationally stoking fears, right-wing propagandists pushing out deranged conspiracy theories, prominent involvement by Donald Trump, media saturation, especially on TV -- it's October 2014 all over again.
Journalists eventually realized that their coverage was irresponsible, and Obama's Ebola handling was vindicated. But the GOP strategy worked -- they took the Senate and gained seats in the House.
Like Ebola, the caravan is a real issue that deserves attention. It's also 1,000 miles away, and will probably get dispersed like the last one did. It's been at the top of the news agenda because Trump wanted it that way. He gave oxygen to a Fox News pet issue & media followed.
Also like Ebola, the proposed Trump/GOP remedy would make the problem worse. Travel bans from the West African nations would have worsened the epidemic. Cutting aid to Central America would almost certainly increase migration from those nation. This is demagoguery, not policy.
In 2014, Republicans won the midterms and stopped talking about Ebola. With that, after spending weeks whipping the public into a panic, TV producers lost interest in the story and the coverage cratered. We’re about to find out if they learned anything from that failure.
