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.
Help us Prepare for Trump’s Day One
Trump is busy getting ready for Day One of his presidency – but so is Truthout.
Trump has made it no secret that he is planning a demolition-style attack on both specific communities and democracy as a whole, beginning on his first day in office. With over 25 executive orders and directives queued up for January 20, he’s promised to “launch the largest deportation program in American history,” roll back anti-discrimination protections for transgender students, and implement a “drill, drill, drill” approach to ramp up oil and gas extraction.
Organizations like Truthout are also being threatened by legislation like HR 9495, the “nonprofit killer bill” that would allow the Treasury Secretary to declare any nonprofit a “terrorist-supporting organization” and strip its tax-exempt status without due process. Progressive media like Truthout that has courageously focused on reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza are in the bill’s crosshairs.
As journalists, we have a responsibility to look at hard realities and communicate them to you. We hope that you, like us, can use this information to prepare for what’s to come.
And if you feel uncertain about what to do in the face of a second Trump administration, we invite you to be an indispensable part of Truthout’s preparations.
In addition to covering the widespread onslaught of draconian policy, we’re shoring up our resources for what might come next for progressive media: bad-faith lawsuits from far-right ghouls, legislation that seeks to strip us of our ability to receive tax-deductible donations, and further throttling of our reach on social media platforms owned by Trump’s sycophants.
We’re preparing right now for Trump’s Day One: building a brave coalition of movement media; reaching out to the activists, academics, and thinkers we trust to shine a light on the inner workings of authoritarianism; and planning to use journalism as a tool to equip movements to protect the people, lands, and principles most vulnerable to Trump’s destruction.
We urgently need your help to prepare. As you know, our December fundraiser is our most important of the year and will determine the scale of work we’ll be able to do in 2025. We’ve set two goals: to raise $110,000 in one-time donations and to add 1350 new monthly donors by midnight on December 31.
Today, we’re asking all of our readers to start a monthly donation or make a one-time donation – as a commitment to stand with us on day one of Trump’s presidency, and every day after that, as we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation. You’re an essential part of our future – please join the movement by making a tax-deductible donation today.
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