Donald Trump Goes Willie Horton on Jeb Bush

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"You guys were one of the outlets who got singled out to balance the ledger": That's what a former Facebook employee said as we dug into recent news that the platform was throttling traffic to certain publishers, including Mother Jones. It's enraging, and since it happened during our fall fundraising drive, we hope the Mother Jones community will stand up for our fearless journalism and send a message with a donation to support it today.

<a href=http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/SPWIRE-AP-S-GLF-NJ-United-States-of-America-242-/e0dd0598012449cea2dbd51bde50168e/18/0>Rich Graessle </a>/AP

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Donald Trump’s latest attack on Jeb Bush may strike a familiar chord for those who remember the 1988 presidential race.

On Monday afternoon, Trump released a video on Instagram that assails Bush for a supposedly lenient stance on undocumented immigration. The video cites a 2014 quote from Bush in which he referred to people who illegally cross the border: “Yes, they broke the law, but it’s not a felony; it’s an act of love.” Then the attack ad flashes pictures of three undocumented immigrants, all charged with murder. (Only one of the trio has been convicted.)

The ad is reminiscent of the infamous 1988 Willie Horton ad, aired by George H.W. Bush supporters, that accused Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis of being soft on crime by supporting a state program that allowed weekend passes for prisoners. (Horton, who was a convicted murderer serving a life sentence in Massachusetts, raped a woman while out on a furlough.) The ad sparked a controversy, with critics claiming it exploited—or fueled—racist sentiments.

Here’s the new Trump ad: