In what could be a preview of things to come, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee failed to have any voices in his corner on the latest round of Sunday talk shows broadcast by leading U.S. Spanish-language television networks Univision and Telemundo.
Instead of bringing on pro-Trump surrogates to make the case for the party’s presumptive nominee, both networks stacked their weekly political panels with virulent anti-Trump, #NeverTrump Republicans, namely former United States Treasurer Rosario Marín and CNN Republican analyst Ana Navarro.
The result? Unlike anchor Jorge Ramos’ promise in his introduction to the panel that the show’s viewers would hear “the points of view of both parties” the segment turned into a no-holds-barred Trump bash. Below is a sample, from anti-Trump tag team Rosario Marín (R) and former California State Assembly Speaker Fabián Núñez (D).
HON. ROSARIO MARÍN, FORMER TREASURER OF THE UNITED STATES: I could never vote for this man. He’s the little orange man that in no way, in no way, I like. I do not share with him absolutely any of his positions. So what I tell people, to Latino Republicans, is that they must vote their consciences. And their conscience will not allow them to vote for this man. I do not believe in the poll you just quoted, that 30% of Hispanics will vote for him. I do not know a single person. Yes, I do not know a single person that will vote for this man who is Latino, who is Republican; I don’t know them. They surely exist; there will be two or three crazy people that do it. But conscious people, with conscience, with morals, cannot vote for this man. Jorge, he is a threat not just for the States, but for the world.
HON. FABIÁN NÚÑEZ, FORMER SPEAKER, CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLY: And a person that supports white supremacy in 2016. For me, it’s incoherent that any Latino be in [Trump’s] favor. I agree with Rosario.
Though Marín later said “no one can question my Republican credentials” she was also quick to state that “I am Latina. I am Mexican, I am an immigrant much before having been a Republican.”
Over on Telemundo, the treatment of Trump was similar, with Democrat Núñez being paired with #NeverTrump CNN commentator Ana Navarro.
The latest segments mark a departure from previous Sundays, when both networks were beginning to include Trump supporters, such as Juan Carlos Limón on the May 15 edition of Al Punto and a previous Enfoque segment with pro-Trump supporters like former Hialeah, Florida Mayor Julio Martínez.
Looks like the RNC’s new Director of Hispanic Communications, Helen Aguirre-Ferré, has her work cut out for her.
Below is the transcript of the cited and relevant portions of the panel aired on Al Punto on June 5:
UNIVISION
AL PUNTO
6/5/16
10:12:24 AM - 10:13:19 AM EST | 7 MIN 17 SEC
JORGE RAMOS, ANCHOR, AL PUNTO: And to learn the points of view of both parties before the upcoming primary elections in California, joining us from Los Angeles are Republican analyst Rosario Marín, and Democratic analyst Fabián Núñez, both of you, thanks for being here with us.
...
JORGE RAMOS, ANCHOR, AL PUNTO: Let me introduce you, just talking about this issue at the national level they ask Latinos for whom to vote, before almost everyone was against Donald Trump, but the last survey we have is the next, Hillary Clinton would get 61% of the Latino vote, but Donald Trump already has 32% of the Latino vote, do you sound, Fabian, the survey logic? Is this the danger that you mean?
HON. FABIÁN NÚÑEZ, FORMER SPEAKER, CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLY: Well, the danger to which I refer is not so much the Latino vote. The danger I mean is more with the Anglo working class and the middle class across the country, I do not think this survey is correct. In my opinion, the surveys I've seen, Donald Trump has less than 10% support among Latinos, and as you know, that’s a formula for not winning a presidential election for any candidate. But the important thing here for us is to make a call to all Latinos, whether we are Democrats or Republicans, we have to unite and demonstrate our collective power voting against Donald Trump who is a racist, who is in favor of people who are against our community and we cannot allow him to reach the presidency. He can win! He can win the presidency of the United States.
JORGE RAMOS, ANCHOR, AL PUNTO: Rosario, what you do as a Hispanic and a Republican? I mean, you, several times in this program, have criticized Donald Trump. But what will you do next November if it’s Donald Trump against Hillary Clinton? How do you do it, how do you vote, how do you decide?
HON. ROSARIO MARÍN, FORMER TREASURER OF THE UNITED STATES: Look, the most important thing for all Hispanic and Latino Republicans, as I have told you, and I have expressed, is that I could never vote for this man. He’s the little orange man that in no way, in no way, I like. I do not share absolutely any of his positions. So what I tell people, to Latino Republicans, is that they must vote their consciences. And their conscience will not allow them to vote for this man. I do not believe in the poll you just quoted, that 30% of Hispanics will vote for him. I do not know a single person.
JORGE RAMOS, ANCHOR, AL PUNTO: You think it’s too high?
HON. ROSARIO MARÍN, FORMER TREASURER OF THE UNITED STATES: ... Yes, I do not know a single person that will vote for this man who is Latino, who is Republican; I don’t know them. They surely exist; there will be two or three crazy people that do it. But conscious people, with conscience, with morals, cannot vote for this man. Jorge, he is a threat not just for the States, but for the world.
HON. FABIÁN NÚÑEZ, FORMER SPEAKER, CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLY: And a person that supports white supremacy in 2016. For me, it’s incoherent that any Latino be in [Trump’s] favor. I agree with Rosario. But the other thing too is that if you look for, who is more popular: the Chupacabras or Donald Trump, I assure you that Chupacabras will be more popular than Donald Trump.
JORGE RAMOS, ANCHOR, AL PUNTO: I understand what they say but, for example, Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House, had said he did not know whether he would vote or not for Donald Trump and he was just on Twitter saying, "I will vote for Donald Trump this fall, I am confident that he will help the Republican agenda in the House become law.” In other words, people who previously did not support Donald Trump suddenly are changing, is not this a danger? And I ask both of you.
HON. ROSARIO MARÍN, FORMER TREASURER OF THE UNITED STATES: Look, I think there will be some people within the Republican Party who have no other recourse. That is, they will have to vote for him. Or maybe not vote for him because at the end of the day in the ballot box, your vote is anonymous, right? It is secret. No one will know, but they will have to say in public because they are part of the party. In my case I have been - and no one can question my Republican credentials - I cannot, I mean, I'm a Latina, I'm Mexican, I'm an immigrant, much more before being Republican, so my conscience will not allow me to do that. But it will be people who because of the political opposition in which they are finding themselves in, have to say that they’re voting for him. I do not know if they will do it in the moment when, in fact, they vote.
HON. FABIÁN NÚÑEZ, FORMER SPEAKER, CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLY: But in the case of Paul Ryan, he has a number, eh, dozens and dozens of seats in the United States Congress, that depend on the candidate for the Republican President to win these important positions and I think that, and from the beginning I said it, many in the establishment of the Republican Party, many not all, many will be adding themselves to the Trump campaign because they have no alternative, but Latinos, if we have an alternative and our alternative is to demonstrate our collective strength, the power of our vote and say "who doesn’t deserve it, doesn’t deserve it" and Donald Trump does not deserve it.
