Migrant caravans
If the Republicans hang on to one or both houses of Congress tomorrow, they'll have Honduras partly to thank. The closer the migrant caravan got, the more Donald Trump talked it up. "If you want more crime and more caravans," he said yesterday, "vote Democrat. It's simple." Some Republicans, though, fear that he is overplaying this hand. Similar thoughts apply in the CR. Andrej Babiš uses different language ("Migration cannot be a human right."), but the effect is similar. His opposition to the U.N.'s Global Compact for Migration feeds into his previous thesis that migration will be the main topic of the EU elections in May, but is it too much too soon? With new migration falling, how can Babiš maintain the momentum? The challenge for the new European Platform and others is to convince voters that they have a better solution that involves "solidarity and responsibility" without creating the chance for Babiš to use a version of Trump's "caravan" argument against them.
Glossary of difficult words
to talk something up - to promote something;to overplay one's hand - to make a mistake due to the belief that one's position is stronger or better than it really is;
to feed into - to reinforce; to have an influence on the development of something.