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Everyone loves the classics—Frankie Beverly. Celia Cruz. Dinah Washington.

“Before I Let Go!” “Bemba Colorá!” “What A Diff’rence A Day Made!”

But some hits should stay in the dustbin of history, as this story is not about music, but about an old campaign playbook.

Whose idea was it to bring back Willie Horton?

Yes, it’s 1988 all over again, and the GOP is touting “tough on crime” (and the dog whistle of “tough on Black and brown people”) to scare up some votes this November.

From the Associated Press via PBS:

“Black political leaders have criticized the ads as racist and reminiscent of past Republican campaigns that used dog whistles to appeal to suburban white voters. Trump made the message explicit when he invoked the infamous 1988 ‘Willie Horton’ ad and displayed dozens of mugshots of men of color on a jumbotron during a rally …”

The Willie Horton story, for those not old enough to remember, is that an image of a Black man was used as “the face” of out-of-control crime in America. It was a political attack ad used to damn Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis in 1988.

The ad worked, as old racist tropes often do in this country. While many Black politicians and leaders condemned the commercial, it didn’t stop George H.W. Bush from becoming the 41st president of the United States. 

In fact, some credit it with helping him win.

Today’s GOP is facing both low approval ratings and the possibility of MAGA voters staying home, as many Americans are disaffected and upset over President Trump’s mismanagement of our country. We’re mired in a war of choice in Iran. All the wealth is concentrated at the top. Our immigration policies are both cruel and inhumane. And government agencies originally designed to serve or protect us—from the Food and Drug Administration to the Department of Health and Human Services to the National Weather Service to FEMA—are collapsing from within.

Who knew that diarrhea lettuce would be so unpopular? 

So, as Republicans face the possibility of losing both houses of Congress, desperate times call for desperate measures.

Time to go back to the drawing board and start playing the GOP’s greatest political hits.

The new slate of attack ads is AI-produced and heavy on Democrats allegedly wanting to “defund the police.” And while “Willie Horton” is sometimes still Black, other times he’s Latino or an immigrant being accused of destroying America from within. This, of course, ignores that if you’re white, you’re more likely to be attacked, defrauded, killed, or maimed by another white person, as most crimes are intraracial. 

It also ignores the reality that crime across the country is down. Because of this, the GOP—they do control all three branches of government, after all—could feasibly run on that, but some of the safest large cities are Democratic strongholds, while some of the most violent ones, like my hometown of St. Louis, Mo., are in red states.

It’s a mixed bag, and not the surefire hit some are hoping it could be.

Said Republican Sen. Thom Tillis to the Associated Press: “I don’t see that bubbling up as a major issue for the voters.”

And he’s probably right!

According to a Marquette poll in July, crime was ranked as a priority for only 2 percent of all voters, well behind inflation, the economy, the war in Iran, and about five other issues.

So while the old playbook is dusted off, it remains to be seen whether it’ll be a hit in November.

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