Donald Trump’s much-ballyhooed immigration speech last night was a blatant effort to revive the “Willie Horton” strategy that parlayed a then-losing George H.W. Bush to win election. That strategy was developed by former Fox News chief Roger Ailes, now a Trump advisor.

AlterNet’s Adele M. Stan explains the similarities:

In the late summer of 1988, Republican presidential nominee George H.W. Bush was way down in the polls, compared with his Democratic rival, Michael Dukakis. So the Bush campaign came up with what would prove to be a winning theme: tying the Massachusetts governor to a weekend furlough granted a black prisoner serving a life sentence for murder in his state. The prisoner, named William Horton, went on a crime spree after fleeing to Maryland, raping a white woman and assaulting her husband. Bush campaign operatives conducted focus groups that revealed that support for Dukakis evaporated among white voters once they were told the story of the Horton furlough.

In the late summer of 2016, Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump was down in the polls, compared with his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. So the Trump campaign came up with what its operatives hope will be a winning theme: tying the former secretary of state to crimes committed by undocumented immigrants. In a speech delivered to an Arizona rally of mostly white cheering Trump supporters, the GOP standard bearer repeatedly referred to American citizens who had lost their lives at the hands of undocumented criminals, and then brought to the stage the loved ones of some who had been killed. After each of the family members—mostly mothers—of the deceased testified for Trump, he kissed her and brought the next one to the podium.

Roger Ailes has denied involvement in the Horton ad but there’s little doubt that he had a hand in shaping the overall strategy. As the Bush campaign’s then-media strategist, Ailes was famously quoted as saying, “”The only question is whether we depict Willie Horton with a knife in his hand or without it.’”

Ousted in disgrace from Fox News this summer, Ailes and the Trump campaign have denied his involvement there, too. But it’s pretty clear that he's got his finger in the pie.

There are plenty of differences between Clinton and Dukakis and between Bush and Trump. But Ailes is a constant that can’t be ignored.

A Mother Jones article notes that Dukakis has called his failures to adequately deal with the barrage of attacks Bush aimed at him (including, by the way, rumors about his health) as “huge mistakes.” Mother Jones also notes that Bill Clinton learned those lessons and formed a war room to respond quickly to attacks.

Let’s hope Hillary Clinton hasn’t forgotten.

Correction: This article erroneously claimed Bush was re-elected in 1988.

Donald Trump caricature by DonkeyHotey via Creative Commons license.