Has Trump ruined Latinos’ relationship with the GOP?

Donald Trump has changed everything. American Latinos have had their worst fears confirmed. In this election, the Republican Party has embraced a nominee who has fanned the flames of racism and hate.

{mosads}If the final round of polls is correct, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton will be the next president and in no small measure thanks to what is shaping up to be a record Latino turnout. This result will spark Republicans’ wrenching search for what went wrong, again.

This is not a great mystery.

Trump started his campaign with some very vile ethnic slurs targeting Hispanics. This was a unique moment in American politics. Of course, other politicians have engaged in race-baiting before. But not since George Wallace has a candidate used such naked bigotry to appeal to the electorate.

For many political observers, there has been an overwhelming frustration with Latino voters. Or to be more precise, Latino non-voters. With each new demographic study showing the rapid growth in eligible Hispanic voters, there has been a logical expectation that these voters would turn out.

As the 2014 midterms showed, however, Latino voters seemed to be curiously disinterested in electoral politics. Even in the 2012 election, when GOP nominee Mitt Romney conjured up the “self-deportation” doctrine of making the lives of the undocumented so horrible that they would flee America, there was an expectation of a record Latino vote.

It didn’t quite turn out that way. Despite Romney’s cockamamie plan, fewer than 50 percent of eligible Latinos voted in 2012. Yes, they supported President Obama’s reelection by a huge margin, yet turnout was typically muted. While Romney’s immigration policy seemed cruel and punitive, the candidate did not illicit the visceral revulsion that Trump has caused.

While intellectually understandable, it’s hard to fully explain to non-Latinos how Trump’s brutal charges of rape and criminality hit the Latino psyche. Bias is not new in America, nor are Latinos the only target. But here was a candidate that dared to utter what many Latinos feared — that somewhere, in the deep recesses of America society, lurked a racist mob ready to turn on Hispanics.

Attempts by Trump supporters to soften his outrageous accusations made things even worse. In a complete failure of understanding the Hispanic community, they said he was not targeting all Latinos, just the “illegals{” from Mexico.

American Latinos are not a monolith in any sense. The approximately 55 million Latinos in our country represent all races, creeds and multiple ancestries, from First Americans to the descendants of the Spanish colonists who founded Saint Augustine 100 years or so before the British established their first colony in Virginia.

While this diversity is a source of strength and vitality for the nation, it has often seemed difficult to understand what connects Latinos of disparate ancestral backgrounds and experiences. Ethnic, language and cultural pride are certainly major factors. But also, the widespread exposure to bigotry.

As an immigrant kid in a small town in Connecticut, I was the frequent target of racist attacks — being both physically assaulted and verbally humiliated with the generous use of the “Spic” moniker to vilify me.

Sadly, my experience was all too common for many Latinos in this country.

Trump’s announcement of his candidacy, generously laced with libelous accusations against Latinos, felt oddly familiar. Once again, Hispanics were being branded as criminals, invaders, destroyers.

And just as significant, Trump showed that he could succeed in the Republican Party despite his racist attacks.

Trump gave proof to the belief among American Latinos that the Republican Party is hostile to Hispanics. The party that blocked President George W. Bush in 2007 in fulfilling his campaign promise to enact immigration reform was now also accepting this bilious man who vented the flames of prejudice for political gain.

Trump has probably achieved what activists had only dreamed about: a highly motivated Hispanic electorate turning out in mass numbers. While of course we won’t know the actual turnout until Election Day, the results from early voting projections seem to point to a Hispanic surge.

While Trump is likely to lose the Hispanic vote by a historic margin, the GOP is the ultimate loser for supporting his hate filled, rancid candidacy.

While several Republican voices in the media and politics have risen to oppose Trump, often calling attention to the destructive effect of Trump’s Hispanic attacks, many more like Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) have continued to endorse Trump.

Even if moral leaders like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) eloquently defended Latinos from these scurrilous attacks, the Republican brand is now fused with Trump.

And that will be the lasting takeaway for Latino voters. In the end, they can’t trust the GOP.

Espuelas is a Washington-based political journalist working in digital, broadcast and print media. He hosts the popular podcast “Espuelas.” Follow him on Twitter @EspuelasVox.

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