Movement of the People:  Latinos Pave the Way for a New Viva Trump ‘Trans-partyism’ 

With the latest comment from Democratic Congress Member Vicente Gonzalez, an odor of mendacity has metastasized into the foul odor of utter panic over the increasing abandonment of the Democratic Party by Latinos—long expected to have remained a loyal, silent minority under a so-called “big tent” of race identity politics.  With Gonzalez’ teeth gnashing over shifting political allegiances of “the little brown ones,” Democratic Party leaders and operatives have openly condemned one of the most patriotic sectors of Americans for simply exercising their right to support the candidate of their choice. Their contempt for free thinking Americans maliciously defames any Latino from the already deplorable “basket of deplorables” to a lower ninth level of a Dantean political hell of nativistic, genocidal, scum of the earth for bucking their patronage to the Democratic overlords. 

In an interview with the New Republic newspaper, Gonzalez, representing the 34th Texas district, likened Latinos supporting former President Donald Trump to a hypothetical scenario of “Jews for Hitler.” Gonzalez asserted, “The rhetoric you hear from the Republican Party is shameful and disgraceful for Latinos. And, you know, when you see Latinos for Trump, to me it is like seeing ‘Jews for Hitler,’ almost, you know?”

This turn of phrase is particularly ironic given the Democrats’ purported focus on the “fight for democracy” in the upcoming November election. Yet, it appears that when numerous polls suggest an unfavorable outcome for them, they resort to the most distasteful tactics from their political playbook.

While Gonzalez’s comments received swift criticism from the National Republican Congressional Committee and his Republican opponent, former Rep. Mayra Flores, Gonzalez has continued to stand by his remarks at the time of this writing. However, despite attempts to vilify Latinos who support Trump by Gonzalez and Democratic operatives, their divisive tactics may not gain traction this year.

Bye, bye Miss American Pie:  Latinos continue to wave adios to the Democratic Party

President Biden continues to lose Latino support with increasing numbers saying they are more likely to vote for former President Donald Trump, according to a new poll by The New York Times and Siena College. The poll shows Trump edging out Biden among Latino voters, with 46 percent supporting Trump and 40 percent favoring Biden.  The findings are consistent with the just released USA Today poll showing Biden trailing among Latino voters by 5 percentage points, 39%-34%. This marks a notable shift from the 2020 election when Biden secured 65 percent of the Latino vote compared to Trump’s 32 percent.

Not only are polls showing that voters are walking away from Biden, the Democratic platform, and are more willing to come out of the shadows and publicly state such, but polling is showing that Latinos like Trump personally and his views–particularly on the economy and the border. Apparently unafraid of strong men-and unfazed by Biden’s and the Democratic Party’s efforts to smear Trump as Hitler reincarnate–many Latino voters have cited Trump’s very personality as part of their support for him. Trump’s lead has grown stronger among Latino voters since 2020 despite his legal woes. 

The number of Latinos eligible to vote has increased steadily for two decades, and more than 36 million are eligible this year, an increase of nearly four million in just the last four years, according to the Pew Research Center. Latinos are now at a record high of almost 15 percent of eligible voters.

Since 2020, Latinos are viewed as critical to providing the margin of victory in a presumed close race in critical swing states. While there is not an expectation that Trump will overtake Biden in Latino support, both campaigns recognize that, comparable to Black voters, peeling off a few percentage points among the group could determine the outcome.

Among Latinos, in 2020, 57% said they were Democrats compared to 29% who said they were Republican. Now, just 47% of Latinos consider themselves Democrats, and the percent saying they were Republican has risen to 35%. 

Even the New York Times is writing (warning?) that “…Trump’s growing support among Latino voters is threatening to upend the coalition that has delivered victories to Democrats for more than a decade, putting the politically divided group at the center of a tug of war that could determine elections across the country,”.

So que onda?  What gives?

Now that former President Trump has clinched the nomination as the Republican presumed nominee, and with new leadership at the helm of the national Republican Party, a Viva Trump initiative should launch to further embrace Latinos.

Despite the Biden Administration’s myopic plan to equate an open border as the Latino agenda, the reality is that the Latino Agenda is an inherently American agenda which values freedom, faith, and family.  Even while Latinos support reasonable pathways towards citizenship, Latinos place a high premium on citizenship itself.  Becoming an American is prized for those who have navigated the complex rules and regulations.  Indeed, some of the strongest voices in opposition to Biden’s Open Borders strategy emanate from working-class barrios from south Texas to East Los Angeles who are more likely to feel the immediate impact of a Biden-Harris chaotic and lawless immigration system in their own immediate quality of life, impacting housing, schools, jobs, and crime patterns. 

In a 2020 prescient article in the liberal New Yorker magazine author Geraldo Cadava details how Latinos are making the shift towards Republicanism—even while not fully embracing becoming a Republican in their voting transition. Forty years ago then presidential candidate Ronald Reagan said that Latinos were Republicans who “just don’t know it yet” and appealed to Latinos not on the basis of ethnicity and race, but based on conservative values: family values, work ethic, patriotism, and anti-Communism.

Ironically, while the Never Trumpers today flail to help jumpstart a “No labels” party to stop the former President from returning to the White House, a 2024 Viva Trump campaign should focus on a different type of “no labels” outreach—one of reaching out to Latinos irrespective of whether a D, R or an I or NPP identifies them on a Registrar of Voters roll somewhere. Increasingly, Latinos are manifesting a “trans party” identity in which one doesn’t need to change their “stinking badges” in order to crossover to vote for the candidate who espouses the values to which they most adhere.  

Ironically, while Democrats are advocating open borders for the world to enter American soil, a Viva Trump campaign should cleverly initiate a political “open borders” campaign to welcome anyone willing to traverse a political longstanding border—even if one doesn’t identify as Republican. After all, it’s the behavior—not the party identity—on which the campaign needs to focus to bring Latinos into a realigned big tent which welcomes all, including political migrants.  This is particularly important as many Latinos are unwilling to change their identity but want to vote for a Trump presidency.  While many efforts continue to launch new voter registration drives—and these should continue—a simultaneous effort should be launched to reach those who, for whatever reason, are not yet ready to leave the Democratic Party but who wish to cast a Trump vote.  

With a focus on values, rather than the multicultural program of ethnic/race identity and loyalty, a Viva Trump momentum can only grow.  As Cadava pointed out four years ago, Democrats misunderstand the aspirations of immigrants even as they claim to champion them.  Overwhelmingly, immigrants come to the United States to find economic and religious freedom, and because they believe in America’s promise of equal opportunity and inclusion. Latino support for Trump has increased because the red MAGA cap ignores color, granting a greater degree of truth to being treated as an American rather than as an interest group.  I am often reminded of my father, Ignacio Chavez Romero, who proudly served as part of the Greatest Generation in World War II.  It was a segregated army in which he served, and when he returned home to New Mexico overt segregation still existed. It didn’t deter him. Fully bilingual and proud of his heritage, he considered himself to be an American who, while distrusting politicians, understood that he worked the railroads to pave a better future for his children. A proud Kennedy Democrat, his love for his country was unassailable. When he was buried, an American flag draped his coffin. Were he still alive today, he would not recognize his country—nor the party he supported each election. 

Latinos are a patriotic community, and if you look at the names of the dead after any war, you will note the high numbers of Latinos who served and gave blood for this country. We support policing, even while we fight to reform abuses and ensure that we are respected by the officers—increasing numbers of whom are Latinos and Latinas—in those ranks. Democratic Party-led efforts to defund the police fell flat in our neighborhoods. We often are disproportionately the victims of crime—committed by surnames we share in our own neighborhoods.

The Latino Agenda is an American Agenda

Rather than viewing Latinos as an identity group based on skin color, Latinos have recognized that Trump—in a remade Republican Party that is built around blue collar, working-class Americans and their needs—embraces Latinos as Americans first. Somos Americanos has been a dream for Latinos in a country that for decades, segregated them, isolated them, defamed them, and treated them like disrespected hired help to pick the crops for the folks on Martha’s Vineyard. Just recently, this view was shamefully spoken out loud during a Congressional hearing by New York Democratic Congress Member Jerry Nadler while talking about how important it was to pass an immigration bill.

Undoubtedly, Trump’s economic populism is his main appeal to Latino voters who feel the bite of Bidenomics. Less likely to be college graduates, they are being forced to pay the student debt “relief” Biden has shifted on his more affluent college-going base. Despite significantly lower college entrance and graduation rates, Latino children remain trapped in lower performing schools.  Yet, Latinos are among the strongest supporters of school choice options, including charter schools and state-run Opportunity Scholarships.  But these pathways to educational freedom and success are blocked by Biden due to his subservience to national teachers’ unions and the alphabet soup of education bureaucrats who have turned an American public education system into a public works program for the unionized.

 Latinos are very entrepreneurial and support growing their businesses.  Latino small-business owners make up one of the fastest growing segments of American business owners. Latinos, under Trump, enjoyed reduced rates of unemployment and poverty, increased rates of homeownership, and rising family median incomes. Those gains have been lost under Bidenomics.

“Trans-partyism”

Latinos understand that “the Republican Party today has become Donald Trump’s Party,” with Latino voters agreeing on this by 56 percent to 17 percent according to a recent Wall Street Journal poll.  

Latinos increasingly shifting their political allegiance away from the Democratic Party toward the Republican Party, are increasingly feeling comfortable to “crossover” to vote a Republican ticket even as they choose to remain identified as Democrats. This is largely being driven by a desire for economic prosperity, educational freedom, and a sense of American identity.

The backlash against Latinos walking away from the Democratic Party that was unleashed by Rep. Gonzalez will continue to cast a shining light on the shifting of political loyalties that already began to show in the 2016 election when significant numbers of Latinos defied the Democratic party label and chose to cast votes for Donald J. Trump. From Latinos’ 71 percent support for President Barack Obama in 2012 to 66 percent for Hillary Clinton and 59 percent for Joe Biden in 2020, Democrats are losing hold of Latinos, the fastest-growing segment of the electorate. 

Historically, the Democratic Party claimed to be the party of the working-class—the little guy—and pocketbook issues were essential.  John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama in his first presidential run were aspirational—they embraced the American Dream. Not anymore. The Democratic Party has lost its moral compass with working class voters in America of which Latinos are a vital part.  Knowing this, Latinos represent a movement of the people to the R side of the political equation, looking for a more inclusive “big tent” which identifies us as Americans, even while still maintaining historic political roots they are unwilling to yet relinquish. A new model of “trans-partyism” is on the table this November, whereby Latinos can identify as they please while voting how they choose.  A Viva Trump movement, well organized, funded and strategic can deliver on this movement, and in the process of such, irrevocably alter not only the tectonic plates of Latino empowerment, but American politics for generations to come.