Donald Trump delivered a loud, angry, and vile speech on immigration on Wednesday, one that, as my colleague Isaac Chotiner noted, should make it impossible to view the GOP nominee as “anything but a demagogue.” And how did some of Trump’s biggest Hispanic backers feel about it? Apparently, not much better than Isaac did. Via Politico:
Several major Latino surrogates for Donald Trump are reconsidering their support for him following the Republican nominee’s hardline speech on immigration Wednesday night.
Jacob Monty, a member of Trump’s National Hispanic Advisory Council, quickly resigned after the speech. Another member, Ramiro Pena, a Texas pastor, said Trump’s speech likely cost him the election and said he’d have to reconsider being part of a “scam.” And Alfonso Aguilar, the president of the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, said in an interview that he is “inclined” to pull his support.
“I am so sorry but I believe Mr. Trump lost the election tonight,” Pena, a pastor at Waco’s Christ the King Church, wrote to senior Trump and Republican National Committee leaders in an email obtained by Politico. “The ‘National Hispanic Advisory Council’ seems to be simply for optics and I do not have the time or energy for a scam. … I will pray over the next couple of days but it is difficult to [imagine] how I can continue to associate with the Trump campaign.”
According to CBS News contributor Leslie Sanchez, roughly half of the advisory council is considering quitting in protest:
And here was Tony Suarez, a member of Trump’s evangelical advisory board and the executive VP of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference:
This isn’t the first time that Trump’s immigration rhetoric has lost him allies among Hispanic conservatives. Early last month, a spokesman for the Florida GOP quit to take a job with a conservative nonprofit. “[M]oving on gives me a great, new opportunity to continue promoting free market solutions while avoiding efforts that support Donald Trump,” Wadi Gaitan, a former senior House Republican aide who focused on Hispanic affairs, said then. And back in June, Ruth Guerra, who had been the Hispanic media director for the RNC, quit to join a conservative group focused on electing conservatives to Congress.
Trump’s claim that “Hispanics love me” was always an absurd one—but it looks even more so following a speech where he yet again made it clear how he feels about them.
