In my Nov. 6th general election post-mortem I was blunt in blaming at least five demographic culprits for the Harris loss - which propelled a power-mad, retribution- seeking felon and traitor into the White House. At No. 2 I blamed Latino voters, writing:
"Too many Hispanic voters turned stupid and failed to see that the cringe-worthy dumping on Puerto Rico - at the Madison Garden Trump rally - was by extension a dumping on them. The same way that Trump's vile castigating of migrants as "vermin" and also planning to "deport millions of immigrants". Do they really believe they're " immune" from deportation because of a card? Think again and look at fascist regimes through history! But no, they feel because they are nice and 'legal' they can afford to vote against their fellows striving to be free, but perhaps doing it the wrong way by crossing the border. Bottom line here: Kamala lost some 25% of the Hispanic vote compared to Biden in 2020."
Now we read in Mark Penn and Andrew Stein's WSJ piece ('The Secret Salsa Of Trump's 2024 Comeback', March 11, p. A15), that it was almost entirely a shift in the Hispanic vote that cost Kamala the election. As they write:
"If the Latino vote hadn't shifted Harris would have won with 293 electoral votes.
And in effect kept the power mad, unhinged, senile felon freak out of power - and likely in Rikers- once and for all. But it was, alas, not to be. According to CNN exit polls, as the authors point out, Biden out-polled Trump in 2020 by 65% to 32%. A 23 point advantage. But four years later: "Kamala Harris' lead was only 5 points, 51% to 46%."
As the authors note:
"That 18-point shift is far greater than the move in Mr. Trump's favor among blacks (2 pts.) or Asians (12 pts.). And Mrs. Harris actually narrowed Trump's advantage with white voters by 2 points."
Adding: "Latino votes were decisive in most of the states that switched from Biden to Trump."
Even in blue states the shift was notable though these were not determinative in the election. Thus:
"Trump narrowed his margin of defeat by nearly 9 points in the Golden state (CA), and more than 10 points in the Empire State (NY)"
But while the authors are long on the exit poll and other stats they are short on the reasons. But I am not short on those reasons, as we later learned of Musk pumping over $200 m into Trump's coffers to spread false memes and lies - like about trans people and immigrants. Thus, we now know why and how the Latinos lost their minds and senses and went for a power mad autocrat in perhaps the most critical election of the last 40 years. Putting all of us at risk as Dotard craters the economy, devastates the Constitution and rule of law, all while his co-prez Musk rat goes on a chainsaw rampage with federal agencies.
In Michael Lewis' book, The Fifth Risk, his interviews of former Trump staffers (from 2016) exposed an unqualified, unskilled, low class degenerate and grifter whose sole claim to fame was his manipulation of others. Oh, and starring in a 3rd rate reality TV show. From his losing casino operations - whose victims states had to often bail out - to his bogus Trump University, to his steaks with the consistency of shoe leather, everything about him reeked of fakery and mendacity. Yet the Latinos tilted toward him in a disastrous fashion. Why?
On the one hand one can point to Trump's feral vocal yelping and bombast that somewhat belies his 78 1/2 years. In the words of blogger Jaime O'Neill:
"Trump just intuitively knows how to ring the bells and stoke the fires of the racists, misogynists, the avaricious and the ding-a-lings drawn by the alluring sounds of his voice as he calls the hogs to the troughs."
One can also lay blame on the Latino 'machismo' obsession which both Musk and Trump exploited in swing state ads, i.e. featuring school kids having their sex changed - entering a school - coming out trans. This burrowed into the Hispanic brains' fear centers (amygdalas), and created a magnitude of lie Kamala could not counter. At least not in the time she had. Also helped in the macho realm was Trump's narrow escape from assassination in July, with him emerging with raised fist yelping "Fight, fight, fight!" E.g.
That iconic fist pump literally grabbed the susceptible Latinos by their lizard brains and cojones precipitating a response in the former:
"What a MAN! He cheated death! We want him as our leader not some woman named Kamala!"
Add to this being snookered into seeing fellow Latino immigrants as a threats and the proverbial die was cast for electoral disaster. This despite the fact statistics tell us immigrants as a whole are less likely to commit crime than native Americans as a whole. Yet a majority of Latino Trump voters believed that immigrants have caused the rise in the crime rate.
One wonders now as federal agencies are savaged and the Hispanics stand to lose their health care and more, how much buyer's remorse remains. And as I wrote in my Nov. 6 post:
"Do they really believe they're ' immune' from deportation because of a card? Think again and look at fascist regimes through history!"
Probably they still believe Dotard is their 'savior' but as time goes on and their 401ks rumble, and health care access and home values shatter, they may finally being to rue their choice. Hey, we may actually be seeing the first signs, i.e.
Trump's 2nd-Term Approval Rating With Hispanics Slips to Record Low: Polls
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by Jaime O’Neill | March 12, 2025 - 5:32am | permalink
People still clinging to their sanity have been trying for years to explain Donald Trump to themselves, in print, in conversation, or as they walk around muttering to themselves, trying to parse the words of a guy who is, by nearly any reckoning, mean, mad, and amoral. Also uncouth.
Trump just intuitively knows how to ring the bells and stoke the fires of the racists, misogynists, the avaricious and the ding-a-lings drawn by the alluring sounds of his voice as he calls the hogs to the troughs.
- by Robert Becker | April 2, 2024 - 6:07am | permalink
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