Trump’s hatred for immigrants translates into Spanish

None of the racist taunts of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump were lost in translation. They dripped from his lips in English and then were translated into Spanish.

Trump appeared in a forum on October 16, which was broadcast live on the Spanish-language network Univision. The week prior, his challenger, Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris, answered questions in the same format, but in Tampa.

Trump’s event was held in Miami, which, according to polling, just might be the only Latino-heavy city where he can find a solid percentage of Hispanic voters favorable to his views.

That’s largely due to the lingering effect of the late Fidel Castro and the propensity of Cuban-Americans to continue voting Republican even as the Cold War is increasingly in the rear view and the GOP turns starkly anti-immigrant.

Trump, with his Florida home of Mar-a-Lago, knew that it was friendly turf, although the network brought in undecided voters from around the nation to ask questions. One might think that the former president would have the insight to dial his usual rhetoric down, to lighten up the usual talk that broadly paints any group of brown or Black-skinned immigrants as rapists, murders, insane asylum escapees — generally people who will ruin the United States by their mere presence.

But, you guessed it, Trump didn’t do that. He couldn’t because this is who he is. Believe him.

He looked at the Latino men and women chosen to ask the questions straight into their eyes. He didn’t waver; he didn’t deflect.

He leaned into his regular slate of illogical lies and conspiracy theories, telling the Spanish-speaking audience exactly what he thinks of them, of us, of anyone he perceives as a foreigner, who, in his perception, doesn’t love the U.S.

Jorge Velazquez, 64, told Trump that he’d spent his life working a job that is mostly done by undocumented people, the stooped labor of picking strawberries and cutting broccoli. Born in Mexico, but now living in California, Velazquez asked Trump about his plans for mass deportations of such immigrant workers, questioning who will do those jobs in their place and what will happen to grocery prices?

A wise politician might have realized the cue and graciously thanked the man for his labor, for keeping the nation fed, even adding that such workers deserve fair and safe working conditions and, most importantly, an assurance that an adequate number of visas are available for enough of these workers to gain entry into the nation legally.

That’s not how Trump replied.

First, he bragged a lie, claiming that during his time in office there were adequate ways for farm workers to enter and work legally. No, not true then, or now.

Then he began to swirl into his defaming takes on immigrants.

Trump: “They’ve released hundreds of thousands of people that are murderers, drug dealers, terrorists, they’re coming in… nobody knows who they are, where they come from, and the people that are most against it are the Hispanic people.”

For extra punch, Trump then claimed that those undocumented people are taking jobs from African Americans and other Latinos. This isn’t true. Those jobs go to the undocumented precisely because native-born people won’t do this work, often because they have other safer and higher paying options.

During the same broadcast, Trump also claimed that the January 6 attack was “a day of love,” insulting the 140 members of law enforcement who were injured and the four lives lost while his supporters swarmed the U.S. Capitol.

He also drilled into tales about Springfield, Ohio, repeating the widely debunked myth that Haitians there have been eating people’s pets.

He knows no shame.

Univision is a solid, respectable broadcast network. And, as is so true to Latino culture, the people respectfully addressed Trump, bending verbally to offer him a cordial tone.

No one tried to argue with Trump or take him to task. They let him reply in his usually rambling manner.

They knew he was speaking from his heart. Sometimes it’s best to let people show you who they are, how they really see you, with no sugar coating.

Trump casually fills the airwaves with despicable lies, trying to pit races and ethnicities against each other, U.S.-born versus foreign-born. Latinos will always be the target, even when he needs our votes to win.

The only unknown is how the 36.2 million Latino voters in the U.S. will reply on Nov. 5. A majority lean Democrat, but differing subcategories do not. Older Cuban Americans are more reliably Republican, evangelical believers also, and those who identify as politically independent are an unknown factor.

Still, it shouldn’t matter how a Latino voter identifies.

All they need to do is listen. Trump’s lies, the bravado, his insistence on an immigration narrative that doesn’t align with reality, all of it translates clearly: He doesn’t deserve our vote.

Readers can reach Mary Sanchez at msanchezcolumn@gmail.com and follow her on Twitter @msanchezcolumn.

©2024 Mary Sanchez. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.