|
Hispanic
leaders
want GOP
field to
condemn
Trump's
'idiocy'
Steve
Peoples
Associated
Press
Updated
WASHINGTON
-
Hispanic
leaders
are
bristling
at the
largely
tepid
response
by
Republican
presidential
candidates
to
Donald
Trump's
characterization
of
Mexican
immigrants
as
rapists
and drug
dealers.
Several
2016
contenders
have
brushed
off
Trump's
comments
while
others
have
ignored
them.
Marco
Rubio, a
Florida
senator
who is
Hispanic,
denounced
them as
"not
just
offensive
and
inaccurate,
but also
divisive,"
after
declining
for two
weeks to
address
the
matter
directly.
Another
Hispanic
in the
race,
Ted
Cruz,
said
Trump is
"terrific,"
"brash"
and
"speaks
the
truth."
It's an
uncomfortable
moment
for
Republicans,
who want
more
votes
from the
surging
Latino
population.
And it
could be
a costly
moment
if more
candidates
don't go
beyond
their
Donald-will-be-Donald
response
and
condemn
him
directly,
said
Alfonso
Aguilar,
a
Republican
who
leads
the
American
Principles
Project's
Latino
Partnership.
"The
time has
come for
the
candidates
to
distance
themselves
from
Trump
and call
his
comments
what
they
are:
ludicrous,
baseless
and
insulting,"
Aguilar
said.
"Sadly,
it hurts
the
party
with
Hispanic
voters.
It's a
level of
idiocy I
haven't
seen in
a long
time."
So far,
Trump
has paid
less of
a
political
price
than a
commercial
one.
The
leading
Hispanic
television
network,
Univision,
has
backed
out of
televising
the Miss
USA
pageant,
a joint
venture
between
Trump
and NBC,
which
also cut
ties
with
Trump.
On
Wednesday,
the
Macy's
department
store
chain,
which
carried
a Donald
Trump
menswear
line,
said it
was
ending
its
relationship
with
him.
Other
retailers
are
facing
pressure
to
follow
suit.
On
Friday,
the
NASCAR
motorsports
series
said it
will not
hold its
season-ending
awards
ceremony
at the
Trump
National
Doral
Miami.
The CEO
of a top
NASCAR
sponsor,
Camping
World's
Marcus
Lemonis,
had said
he would
not
participate
in the
awards
ceremony
if it
were
held at
a
property
owned by
Trump,
whom he
criticized
for
"recent
and
ongoing
blatantly
bigoted
and
racist
comments
... in
regards
to
immigrants."
In his
speech
last
month
marking
his
entry
into the
Republican
race,
Trump
said
Mexican
immigrants
are
"bringing
drugs.
They're
bringing
crime.
They're
rapists.
And
some, I
assume,
are good
people."
The
businessman
has
refused
to back
down,
although
he
insists
his
remarks
were
misconstrued.
"My
statements
have
been
contorted
to seem
racist
and
discriminatory,"
he wrote
in a
message
to
supporters
on
Thursday.
"What I
want is
for
legal
immigrants
to not
be
unfairly
punished
because
others
are
coming
into
America
illegally,
flooding
the
labor
market
and not
paying
taxes."
His
original
comments,
though,
did not
make a
distinction
between
Mexicans
who came
to U.S.
legally
and
those
here
illegally.
His
rhetoric
may
resonate
with
some of
the
Republican
Party's
most
passionate
voters,
who have
long
viewed
illegal
immigration
as one
of the
nation's
most
pressing
problems.
But the
2016
contest
brings
opportunity
for the
party to
make
inroads
with
Hispanics,
with
several
Latino
candidates
and a
former
Florida
governor,
Jeb
Bush,
who has
deep
Latino
ties and
speaks
Spanish
and
hasn't
been shy
about
using it
in the
campaign.
Even so,
Bush has
said
little
more
about
Trump's
comments
than
that
they
were
"wrong."
"Maybe
we'll
have a
chance
to have
an
honest
discussion
about it
onstage,"
Bush
said
last
weekend
while
campaigning
in
Nevada,
referring
to
Republican
presidential
debates.
Rev.
Gabriel
Salguero,
president
of the
National
Latino
Evangelical
Coalition,
is
paying
keen
attention
to how
the
candidates
respond
to
Trump's
"xenophobic
rhetoric."
"We're
listening
very,
very
closely,
not just
what
candidates
say but
what
they
don't
say -
the sins
of
commission
and the
sins of
omission,"
he said.
Among
2016
contenders:
-New
Jersey
Gov.
Chris
Christie
called
Trump's
comments
"wholly
inappropriate."
But in a
subsequent
radio
interview,
he said
Trump is
"a
really
wonderful
guy
(who's)
always
been a
good
friend."
-Former
Texas
Gov.
Rick
Perry
said: "I
don't
think
Donald
Trump's
remarks
reflect
the
Republican
Party."
-Cruz
said he
likes
Trump
and
thinks
NBC "is
engaging
in
political
correctness"
in
breaking
ties
with
him.
-Rubio
said the
next
president
"needs
to be
someone
who
brings
Americans
together
- not
someone
who
continues
to
divide."
-Wisconsin
Gov.
Scott
Walker,
former
Arkansas
Gov.
Mike
Huckabee,
former
technology
executive
Carly
Fiorina
and
retired
neurosurgeon
Ben
Carson
have
been
silent.
Not
since
the 2004
re-election
campaign
of
President
George
W. Bush
has a
Republican
presidential
candidate
earned
as much
as 40
percent
of the
Hispanic
vote.
Mitt
Romney
got a
dismal
27
percent
in the
2012
contest
against
President
Barack
Obama. |