President Trump’s campaign on Wednesday called the Spanish-language news network Univision “a Leftist Propaganda Machine.”
“Univision is not a news network; it is a leftist propaganda machine and a mouthpiece of the Democrat Party,” a statement from the campaign reads. “We will treat them accordingly.”
The campaign has previously accused the Spanish-language TV network of “trashing” Mount Rushmore by describing his speech there last weekend as divisive.
The renewed attack comes after Univision hosted a forum where panelists recommended books on Latin American history, which included “Open Veins of Latin America,” a book written by Eduardo Galeano that describes the economic exploitation of Latin America by Europe and the U.S.
The book has been praised by communist leaders such as Hugo Chávez, Fidel Castro and Nicolás Maduro.
“It is bad enough that Univision has joined the Radical Left’s attack on our national monuments, now it is actively pushing Marxist propaganda that is used by the communist regime in Cuba to indoctrinate students,” the Trump campaign said. “To make matters worse, Univision is shamelessly lying about it.”
The Trump campaign, which has made disparaging remarks about Mexican and Central American immigrants, said Univision is helping the Democrats by hiding “the truth about the Democrat Party’s radicalism from its viewers because it knows it will alienate Hispanic voters.”
“They think they can get away with their left-wing political activism posing as journalism because they are a Spanish-language network and believe no one will notice their dishonesty,” the campaign said.
In a statement to The Hill, the TV giant said their journalists have “covered the electoral campaign and President Donald Trump with honesty and rigorous journalism.” The network invited him to speak on its air, as he has in the past.
“However, the latest message from his campaign intends to confuse and disinform,” the network said. “The president has an open invitation for an interview with our journalists. We will continue to meet our commitment and duty of informing the Hispanic community about his policies and his electoral campaign by embracing the truth and the facts.”
It is not the first time Trump has clashed with Univision. In 2015, one of the network’s anchors, Jorge Ramos, was escorted out of a Trump campaign conference while asking a question.
Republicans have historically polled low among Latinos, but Trump’s performance among the demographic is poised to improve this cycle.
A NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll released late last month found 59 percent of Latinos said they’d vote for former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, over Trump. In 2016, 66 percent of Latinos voted for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.