TRUMP WISHES US A HAPPY HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH

By Dave Ortiz

Daily Kos Staff

Let’s just be clear from the start: Donald Trump is not going to win the Latino vote. He didn’t in 2016, and he won’t in 2020. 

Sure, he’ll get some Latinos are not a monolith, and there are civilian versions of Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio scattered everywhere - but overall this mierda remains deeply unpopular, “with four out of five registered voters disapproving of the president's performance,” per recent Univision polling.

That being said, Trump made an embarrassing campaign stop in New Mexico to try to win their vote anyway, noting the start of Hispanic Heritage Month, claiming he’s “working night and day” for “extraordinary Mexican Americans,” and touting their low unemployment rate. 

There’s plenty of debate to be had about how much he has to do with that in the first place, but ever notice that really the only time Republicans talk about “the Hispanics” in a non-offensive way these days is when noting this talking point?

Otherwise, it’s “predator,” “alien,” “killer,” criminal,” animal,” and “invasion,” according to an analysis of Trump’s rallies since 2017. The latter has been used by the president of the United States 19 times, and is the same wording used by the white supremacist terrorist who targeted the Latino community in El Paso, Texas. 

But in New Mexico, Trump saved those choice words for another rally on another night, at one point singling out Steve Cortes, a loyalist from his Hispanic Advisory Council, saying, to audience laughter, “He happens to be Hispanic, but I’ve never quite figured it out because he looks more like a WASP than I do.”

Cringe. To think that people like Cortes actually put up with being humiliated in front of an arena like this, all for power or relevancy or safety or who knows. Happy Hispanic Heritage Month, Steve. 

But wait, Trump wasn’t done with you just yet. “I’ll tell you what, there is nobody that loves this country more or Hispanic more than Steve Cortes … who do you like more, the country or the Hispanics?” Trump interrogated from the stage, because of course “the Hispanics” are incapable of treasuring both their heritage and their home.

Cortes, visible to Trump but not the cameras, must’ve motioned something to appease him. “He says the country,” Trump told the audience. 

“I don’t know. I may have to go for the Hispanics, to be honest with you. We’ve got a lot of Hispanics. We love our Hispanics. Get out and vote.” Ah, ”Get out and vote.” 

Cut out those last two words, and there’s never been a more honest statement from Donald Trump about how he truly feels about “the Hispanics.”