03/07/2022
Hey wait a second—we did everything right—we filed the paperwork, we waited and became citizens, and now the Democrats are taking all these illegal immigrants and shoving them to the front of the line ahead of the people going through the bureaucratic nightmare. ¿Y nosotros?
One of our largest untapped resources here in AACO (and MD, and America...)
BROWNSVILLE, Texas -- Mayra Flores, the daughter of Mexican immigrants, has done much of her campaigning in South Texas in Spanish. She has heard one phrase repeatedly from voters as she and other candidates try to become the first Republicans to represent the Rio Grande Valley in Congress.
¿Y nosotros?
And what about us?
"I hear every day that they're tired -- they feel that there is so much attention and help being given to the immigrants," Ms. Flores said. "The attention's on all these illegal immigrants, and not on them."
Donald J. Trump's brand of populism has been widely viewed as an appeal to white voters: Republicans around the country continue to exploit the fear that the left is attacking religious values and wants to replace traditional white American culture with nonwhite multiculturalism. But similar grievances have resonated in the Rio Grande Valley in a profound way, driving the Republican Party's successes in a Democratic stronghold where Hispanics make up more than 90 percent of the population.
The difference is in the type of culture believed to be under assault. Democrats are destroying a Latino culture built around God, family and patriotism, dozens of Hispanic voters and candidates in South Texas said in interviews. The Trump-era anti-immigrant rhetoric of being tough on the border and building the wall has not repelled these voters from the Republican Party or struck them as anti-Hispanic bigotry. Instead, it has drawn them in.
"Our parents came in a certain way -- they came in and worked, they became citizens and didn't ask for anything," said Ramiro Gonzalez Jr., a 48-year-old rancher from Raymondville, on the northern edge of the Rio Grande Valley. "We were raised hard-core Democrats, but today Democrats want to give everything away."
Defcon 1 moment': New Spanish-language conservative network fuels fresh Dem fears over disinfo, Latino outreach
More Latino voters show signs of drifting right, and analysts warn of a new wave of disinformation ahead of elections.
MIAMI -- The nation's first Spanish-language conservative network launches Tuesday morning on satellite radio, opening a new front in the political information wars targeting Latinos in the United States and beyond.
The network, called Americano, arrives during a crucial inflection point in U.S. politics, as more Hispanic voters show signs of drifting right and Democrats continue to sound the alarm about Spanish-language right-wing disinformation on social media and local radio, particularly in Miami, which is also Americano's home base.
It's scheduled to launch first on SiriusXM radio, then on streaming TV this summer, offering a mix of news programming and commentary. The network has close ties to former President Donald Trump's campaign, as well as to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who now represents the more moderate wing of the Republican Party. Ahead of the Tuesday broadcast, Democrats in Florida raised concerns publicly and privately that the programming would contribute to the spread of misleading claims targeted at Spanish-speakers that skyrocketed during the pandemic and the 2020 campaign.
Americano's founder and CEO, Ivan Garcia-Hidalgo, bristled at the notion that the privately funded network is going to purvey disinformation or misinformation, and accused Democrats of trying to cancel speech they don't like.
"They're scared. And they should be," Garcia-Hidalgo said of Democrats in an interview. "Democrats took Hispanics for granted for too long, and no one thought to create a home for us in conservative media. There is an appetite for this. You see it on social media. You see it in elections."
