Read on Twitter
Much has been said about the gains Trump has made about the gains Trump made among Latinx voters. I find much of the analysis lazy & superficial as it attempts to identify a "cause". There are multiple factors here that take into account the diversity of Latinx ppl. Let's unpack.
1. Latinx voters are racially diverse. Thus, appeals to anti-Blackness & anti-immigration that trump made regularly, will be effective at taping into deep-seeded bigotry that exists and divides our own communities. Further, some white Latinx folks have assimilated into whiteness.
2. US immigration policy has tended to be more welcoming of Latinx immigrants with right wing orientations. We open our doors more readily if the immigrant groups in question are staunchly anti-left... making these groups more conservative and more sympathetic to red-baiting.
3. Democrats themselves are very anti-immigrant and anti-Latinx. Biden's refusal to distance himself from the Obama-Biden draconian immigration policies are going to turn people off and keep people from voting. Democrats have consistently supported policies that brutalize...
our family members abroad. From running guns and drugs into our countries. To supporting ruthless right-wingers. To supporting economic destabilization... this doesn't engender trust.
4. Spanish-media outreach is abysmal on the democratic front. We get the O'Rourke and Castros of the world speaking to us in Peggy Hill Spanish... stop that shit. Speak to us in English or Spanish. The pointless pandering is offensive as hell.
5. Political ideologies in Latin America don't align neatly with ideologies in the US. That's going to lead to people doing in ways that seem "weird" for you.
6. Historically, the hub of Spanish language media in the US has been Miami... a more conservative area. While this is changing, with LA becoming more prominent, you have to consider the media diets of Spanish monolinguals.
7. Lest anyone forget... some Latinx folks in the US speak languages that are neither English or Spanish. A chunk speak Portuguese or a slew of indigenous languages. Democratic outreach hasn't really caught on to this.
