Donald Trump reverted to type with his immigration speech, delivered shortly after his visit to Mexico. After flirting with “softening” his position, the old Trump-style xenophobia was a hit with some, not with others.
Latino Advisors to Trump, We Quit!
It may have come as a surprise to Trump, a guy who loves to fire people, when half of his Hispanic Advisory Board quit after his immigration speech. It came as an even bigger surprise to the rest of us that Trump even had any Latino supporters at this point. “We decided to make a big U-turn to see if we could make him change. We thought we were moving in the right direction,” said Alfonso Aguilar, the president of the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, “we’re disappointed. We feel misled.”
This is how I feel: disappointed and misled https://t.co/7wqVBFwEjB
— Alfonso Aguilar (@amigoaguilar) September 1, 2016
They may be the only people in the entire country who were surprised that Trump “pivoted” a full 360 degrees.
“Taco Trucks On Every Corner”
Trump apparently has a few Latino supporters left. One of them is not-ready-for-primetime Marco Gutierrez, founder of Latinos For Trump. Asked during an interview on CNN whether he worried that Trump’s immigration speech might alienate Latino voters, Gutierrez seemed more worried about an invasion of food Trucks offering Latin cuisine. “My culture is a very dominant culture. And it is imposing, and it is causing problems,” said Gutierrez, himself a Mexican immigrant. “If you don’t do something about it you are going to have taco trucks on every corner.”
But, Marco, you say that like it’s a bad thing.
Trump’s “Very Implicit, Almost Explicit” Message to White Nationalists
Trump’s immigration speech was a huge hit with the white nationalists and white supremacists who backed his campaign from the start. Jared Taylor, publisher of the white nationalist publication American Renaisance, tweeted that Trump’s speech was, “almost perfect.”
#TrumpAZ Hell of a speech. Almost perfect. Logical, deeply felt, and powerfully delivered. Now watch how the media twists it.
— Jared Taylor (@jartaylor) September 1, 2016
Taylor did not tweet alone. Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke tweeted his support.
@DrDavidDuke Whitey-whitey, white-itty-white white!
— Neko Case (@NekoCase) September 1, 2016
Duke had Andrew Anglin, vocal Trump supporter and editor of the local neo-Nazi website “The Daily Stormer” on his show, to discuss Trump’s speech. According to Duke, Trump’s speech “was a very implicit, almost explicit” signal “that we’ve got to take America back and that we’ve got to defend the heritage of the people that created America,” because “there is a purposeful effort to ethnically cleanse us from the land our forefathers created and built.”
They Must Be Carefully Taught
“You’ve got to be carefully taught to hate and fear,” says the song from the musical South Pacific. A new video by Media Matters shows that Donald Trump’s rhetoric is teaching our children just that.
Maybe they need to be just as carefully taught not to hate and fear. Rape Exists Because Women Are Weak? Oh, boy. Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway — who appears to spend more time in front of television cameras than actually managing her boss’s so-called “campaign — really stepped in it. And the worst part is that she, of all people, should have known better. Not because she’s a woman, but because back in 2012 she quit Todd Akins’ campaign after his “legitimate rape” comment. Bringing her on board was supposed to take care of Trump’s “woman problem,” but not when she goes around suggesting that rape happens because women aren’t physically strong enough.
Defying Trump’s right-wing agenda from Day One
Inauguration Day is here, and at Truthout, we plan to defy Trump’s right-wing agenda from Day One.
Looking to the first year of Trump’s presidency, we know that the most vulnerable among us will be harmed. Militarized policing in U.S. cities and at the borders will intensify. The climate crisis will deteriorate further. The erosion of free speech has already begun, and we anticipate more attacks on journalism.
It will be a terrifying four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. But we’re not falling to despair, because we know there are reasons to believe in our collective power.
The stories we publish at Truthout are part of the antidote to creeping authoritarianism. And this year, we promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation, vitriol, hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please show your support for Truthout with a tax-deductible donation (either once today or on a monthly basis).