On Thursday’s “CNN News Central,” Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) reacted to President-Elect Donald Trump’s success among Hispanic voters, especially in the Rio Grande Valley and along the border by stating that Republicans “tried to convince all Americans, including Latinos, that, hey, these people are not like you, these people are coming to hurt you, to harm you.” And “You have a lot more misinformation and disinformation that is being pumped out and often sold and sometimes accepted as truth. And that’s very powerful and it moves people.”
Co-host Boris Sanchez asked, “Given your view of that self-reflection among Democrats and the view of Republicans having scapegoated migrants, I’m curious to get your thoughts on Latino voters, especially in the Rio Grande Valley, because Trump had a near sweep of border counties there. What did Trump do right and how much do you attribute his success to his stance on immigration?”
Castro answered, “Well, again, I think that they zeroed in on scare tactics and tried to convince all Americans, including Latinos, that, hey, these people are not like you, these people are coming to hurt you, to harm you. They made up these conspiracy theories about Haitian immigrants in Ohio, about Venezuelans all over the country who were taking over a lot of different apartment complexes and so forth. And so, the media environment is also not what it was 10 years ago or 20 years ago. You have a lot more misinformation and disinformation that is being pumped out and often sold and sometimes accepted as truth. And that’s very powerful and it moves people. And I don’t think, as a country, or even as a political party, that we’ve reckoned with how powerful that can be. But, like I said at the beginning, there is an economic element to it, as well. I do think that grocery prices, for example, went up too high too fast, and people were feeling it. And when people are feeling it in their lives like that, they’re looking around for a reason, why is this going on? And, unfortunately, I think, oftentimes, Donald Trump and the Republican Party sold them a scapegoat or scapegoats in this election.”
Castro further stated that you can’t blame Hispanic voters for Vice President Kamala Harris’ defeat and noted that Pennsylvania, which Harris lost, has a relatively small Hispanic population.
Earlier, he said that “much of” the inflation “was driven by corporate profiteering and price gouging.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
