Los Angeles Times
By Lisa Mascaro
July 1, 2015
When
Donald Trump disparaged Mexican immigrants as “rapists” and
drug-runners during his presidential announcement, the slurs were
initially dismissed as just another
outrageous pronouncement from the blustery billionaire.
But
as Latinos reel in anger and celebrities and corporate sponsors drop
their associations with Trump, the Republican Party's other presidential
hopefuls face an increasingly
uncomfortable choice: engage with Trump and elevate his already high
visibility, or stay silent and risk appearing to condone his statements.
So far, most have said little, hoping the controversy will fade.
It's
the latest Latino problem for the GOP, which will have great difficulty
winning the White House if it fails to expand its overwhelmingly white
base to include minorities.
The problem will only worsen if Trump continues to do well enough in
polls to qualify for the party's televised debates.
On
Wednesday, the controversy mounted as retailer Macy's announced it was
severing ties with Trump, joining broadcasters Univision and NBC. The
moves reflected the growing
clout of Latino consumers as well as corporate America's declining
tolerance for racially inflammatory remarks.
Trump
fired back characteristically, saying that Macy's and NBC had “totally
caved,” and that their moves show they “support illegal immigration.”
Republican
strategist Ana Navarro said most Republicans viewed Trump's remarks as
“cringe-worthy,” but were reluctant to speak out.
“It's
like getting into an argument with your crazy, distant uncle at
Thanksgiving,” she said. “Why do it when you know he's crazy and you
only see him once a year? Most
Republicans would prefer to close their eyes and hope that when we open
them again, Trump will be gone. Problem is, he's surging in polls and
the backlash to his comments is getting bigger and longer. He is the
toothache you can't get rid of.”
Frank
Sharry, executive director of the immigration advocacy group America's
Voice, said he was surprised that GOP leaders had not come out more
strongly against Trump.
“Can you imagine if he was talking about Jews? African Americans?”
Sharry said. “Would the GOP stand up? Of course they would. ... But the
silence of the GOP on this is defining the party.”
The
flare-up could be a foretaste of what the GOP can expect when the
party's presidential debates start next month. With 14 major GOP
contenders in the race already and
two more on the way, the publicity-loving Trump may have every
incentive to interject something inflammatory as a way to stand out.
Trump
now ranks second after former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush among Republicans
nationally, according to a CNN/ORC poll released Wednesday, and he ties
for second in the early
nominating states of Iowa and New Hampshire, according to other
surveys. That's well above the threshold Trump would need to participate
in the first debate in August on Fox News.
Having
him on stage would be “a nightmare scenario” for the GOP, said
Republican strategist Rick Wilson. “Trump is like a trap for us.”
“There's
a segment of people in my party who find this sort of spittle-flecked
populism appealing — the bluster of a bellowing, screaming loudmouth —
because they think
that's the way to win,” Wilson said. “They're frustrated about a lot of
things in the Republican Party. But this is not a solution to their
problem. This is a solution to [Democratic front-runner] Hillary
Clinton's problem.”
Trump
has refused to back down or apologize, telling Fox News this week that
his June 16 remarks — in which he characterized those crossing the
U.S.-Mexico border as mostly
criminals, drug-runners and rapists — are “totally accurate.” He filed a
$500-million lawsuit against Univision for announcing it would drop
coverage of the Miss USA pageant, which Trump co-owns.
Trump's
comments have ricocheted across Latino communities in the United States
and abroad, reminding many of past GOP attitudes — including 2012
Republican presidential
nominee Mitt Romney's suggestion that immigrants in the United States
illegally should simply “self-deport,” and Rep. Steve King's (R-Iowa)
assertion that young people coming to the United States had “calves the
size of cantaloupes” from carrying drugs across
the border.
Among the GOP candidates, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) defended Trump, calling him “terrific” and saying, “He speaks the truth.”
Bush,
whose wife is Mexican American and who has openly courted Latinos, has
said little publicly beyond a response he gave in Spanish over the
weekend to a reporter's
question after a town hall meeting in Nevada.
“I
do not agree with his remarks,” Bush said, according to a translation
provided by the campaign. “They do not represent the values of the
Republican Party and they do
not represent my values. The man is wrong.”
Sen.
Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), whose parents are from Cuba, has not directly
weighed in but appeared last week to downplay the importance of Trump's
remarks, calling Trump
“an incredibly entertaining person.”
Gov.
Scott Walker of Wisconsin, another leading Republican candidate, though
undeclared, said the controversy highlights the need to tighten border
security. “People want
to come here because America is a country full of opportunity — good
people and bad are coming across our border,” Walker said.
A
spokesman for the Republican National Committee dismissed Trump's
comments as last week's news. But privately, GOP officials are deeply
concerned that the controversy
will expose the party's bitter divisions over what to do about the
nation's immigration problem.
“The
Republican Party has worked so hard to try to be inclusive, and to have
someone like this spout hate, it just turns everything backward,” said
Abel Maldonado, a Republican
former lieutenant governor of California. “Him out there giving hate
speech and calling himself a Republican is music to Hillary Clinton's
ears.”
Bush
and Rubio are widely considered to be the party's strongest candidates
for fixing its strained relationship with the fast-growing Latino
electorate.
Rubio
supports some sort of pathway to citizenship for those here illegally,
but after a conservative backlash he backed away from a comprehensive
immigration overhaul
he helped craft in Congress in 2013.
Bush
said in 2014 that illegal immigration should be seen not as a “felony”
but as an “act of love” by families seeking to reunite. But his views
have shifted over the
years on a path to citizenship, leaving his current approach uncertain.
Most
of the rest of the crowded GOP field, with the exception of
immigration-reform supporter and long-shot candidate Sen. Lindsey Graham
of South Carolina, are running
to the right in a way that may appeal to conservative primary voters
but not necessarily to the broader electorate.
Cruz
wants to undo President Obama's executive actions that are helping
millions of immigrants temporarily stay in the country without threat of
deportation. Walker, who
once voiced support for a pathway to citizenship, now has called for
those here illegally to “go back to their country of origin” and apply
to reenter legally.
Ruben
Barrales, the director of Grow Elect, a political committee that
supports Latino Republican candidates in California, said Trump's
remarks may provide an opening
for other GOP candidates, notably Bush and Rubio, who “are actually
talking about hope and opportunity and reaching out to Latino voters.”
The
eventual GOP nominee will probably need to capture more than 40% of
Latino voters to reach the White House, strategists say, a mark not hit
by a Republican since George
W. Bush's 2004 reelection.
That
becomes increasingly difficult if the party is seen as hostile to
immigrants, especially as Clinton has promised to uphold Obama's
executive actions and to create
a citizenship pathway. Most Americans, including Republicans, back that
approach to citizenship.
Democrats have pounced on the opportunity to use Trump's comments against the GOP.
“As
long as Republicans fail to denounce the hateful and divisive comments
made by Donald Trump, it will only confirm the GOP's hostility toward
the immigrant and Latino
community,” said Rep. Linda T. Sanchez (D-Whittier), the chairwoman of
the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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