Political campaigns are about winning. It's about winning in order have the power to impose your policy preferences. We believe in the righteousness of our policy preferences. We believe that our societies will be better off if things are run our way, regardless of our political leanings. We all think we are right. This is even more true for the people who work on political campaigns, which makes it tempting to believe that the ends justify the means.

When President Donald J. Trump took to Twitter to tell four progressive Democratic congresswomen—known as 'the squad'—that if they don't like the U.S., they should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came” the story hurtled around the world. At first blush, it appeared to be vintage Trump impulsively tweeting his outrage. But, according to people close to him, this open racism is actually a campaign strategy. Yes, this is worth repeating:Trump believes that stoking racism among his base of older white, voters is a winning strategy for 2020. And he's not wrong: it worked for him in 2016.

I hardly have to remind anyone in Spain that this is not a U.S. phenomenon, but a pattern we're seeing across Europe as well. Leaders rail against political correctness, which resonates with those who feel aggrieved because polite society doesn't allow them to vocalize the worst of what runs through their heads. While the whole concept and practice of political correctness deserves its lumps, when political leaders such as as Trump, Matteo Salvini, Marine LePenn and Santiago Abascal effectively give people permission to be brazenly racist, they open up a vicious cycle of resentment that begets more resentment. And doing so as a campaign tactic is not only campaign malpractice but morally repugnant.

I have spent much of my career working on campaigns, which I love because when voters go to the polls to express their preferences, it constitutes the most basic building block of of democracy. Campaigns aim to persuade voter's choices and therefore play a critical role in democracy. This privilege comes with responsibility even if campaigns have been mostly held in check by public opinion. Like the media, which has its own set of responsibilities as democracy's fourth estate, campaigns should also be held to higher standards and duly called out for stirring up the worst in people in the pursuit of electoral victory.

Trump's calculation is that riling up older white voters will drive them to the polls on November 3, 2020 and that this group plus some Latino voters will be enough for him to capture a narrow electoral college victory similar to what he pulled off in 2016. This goes back to one of the principal questions we all had after his election in 2016: how would he govern and who would he govern for? He has proven, over and over again that he governs only for his base of loyal voters. This is in contrast with most American presidents who, even if an impossible promise, nonetheless have asked for unity and vowed to be a president for everyone.

This tactic thrives on creating as much division as possible. Trump's calculation is that 'the Squad' is his best target while the Democrats are still seeking a candidate. It doesn't matter that all four of them are American citizens. Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib were born in the U.S. while Ilhan Omar, was born in Somalia, came to the U.S. as a 10 year old child and is a naturalized American citizen. That all of us are Americans, even if we have a different accent or religion is the most American of our beliefs. But in the name of winning, because after all, that's all that matters to Trump, he is willing to exploit the ugliness that lies in some people's hearts.

It also doesn't matter that of the four of them, only Ocasio-Cortez and Tlaib identify as democratic socialists, he is painting them all and by extension, Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic Party, as socialists. In fact, aids say he has bragged about being able to 'marry' Pelosi and the Democratic Party to 'the Squad.' While younger Americans are more and more amenable to the idea of socialism, it is still a toxic label for older white Americans. While this might be more standard campaign fair—Republicans have been hurling the S-word at Democrats for a long time—the racist notions that underpin the entire attack are what makes the whole thing repugnant.

The whole world follows U.S.presidential elections not just because they are internationally consequential but also because they are a spectacle fueled by enormous amounts of cash. Good or bad, political parties from all over study these campaigns and spin the takeaways into tactics that work in their own countries. This isn't the first and won't be the last of racism as a campaign strategy.

This op-ed was published in Spanish on July 25, 2019 in El Pais.