'Border Hispanics For Trump' Leader: I Don't Think Trump Has Said Racist Things
JakeThomas
One complaint frequently listed by critics of President Donald Trump is that he is racist, particularly when it comes to non-white immigrants coming to the United States — after all, Trump launched his 2016 campaign by saying Mexico was not “sending their best” and calling Mexicans rapists, among other things.
But one group of Hispanics is fighting against the notion that Trump is racist as members work hard to win more people to the president’s side ahead of 2020.
CNN’s Nick Valencia recently spoke with members of Border Hispanics for Trump in El Paso, Texas, a group that believes Trump best represents their values and interests — and a group that doesn’t believe the president is racist in the least.
Ray Baca, chairman of Border Hispanics for Trump, said he hopes to convince more Latinos that their values are more in line with Republicans than Democrats and that they should not be embarrassed to support the president.
“I look at President Trump as the one who most closely represents my values,” Baca said. Asked precisely what values he means, Baca replied that Trump is “supporting things that I support.”
“Being against abortion,” he said, along with “being for limited government involvement” in the private sector and “being for border security.”
Confronted with the president’s past statements that many construed as racist, or at the very least offensive, Baca disagreed with such a judgment.
“How can you still support somebody who [critics] see as saying racist things against the Latino community?” Valencia asked.
“I disagree,” Baca said. “I really don’t think he’s said things that are racist.”
Baca also said he believes it is unfair to blame Trump or his rhetoric for the racist attack earlier this year at an El Paso Walmart, where Latinos were targeted.
“I just don’t think you can hold a president — or President Trump in particular — responsible for the actions of a single madman,” Baca said.
Valencia noted that Trump’s support among Latinos in Texas has remained fairly steady at 30 percent.
Watch the full report:
