Shock: Donald Trump’s alienating and offensive rhetoric is alienating and offending…and tarring an entire political party in the process. Trump’s anti-immigrant demagoguery is quickly cooling the Latino community to the GOP — and it’s putting their efforts in key Senate seats at risk.
In Nevada, Colorado, and Florida, and others, Talking Points Memo’s Tierney Sneed reports, “some of the [GOP] candidates in those races have been expected to weigh in on Trump’s antics, which involve labeling Mexicans ‘rapists’ and calling for the end of birth citizenship.”
And they haven’t been great about handling the pressure. In Nevada, for example, Joe Heck said, “I think [changing birthright citizenship] needs to be part of the discussion,” when asked about Trump and others’ proposals to end 14th Amendment-guaranteed citizenship.
Other GOP candidates are in the early stages of Trump Trouble, too. Wisconsin’s Ron “Ron Don” Johnson and North Carolina’s Richard Burr are both Team Trump — each of them having given glowing reviews of his candidacy so far.
It’s hard to see that playing well long term. Because, as Sneed continues, “GOP Senate candidates are stuck between placating primary voters without completely isolating the Latino voters, who are a quickly growing share of each state’s electorate.”
Talking Points Memo: Trump’s Latino Bashing Risks GOP Senate Hopes In 3 Key States
Published: Sep 1, 2015