El Diario, New York’s leading Spanish-language newspaper, published an opinion piece written by an America’s Voice staffer which can best be characterized as pro open-borders propaganda.
The piece, written by Maribel Hastings and titled “Trump folded but we’re at the mercy of his next tantrum,” is a classic exercise in partisan blame-shifting. Whatever issues one may have had with how the administration negotiated the shutdown, the fact is that it took two to tango- and there were two parties at the negotiating table. But the Democrats are absolved from any blame, since they also support a seemingly open border with little to no enforcement.
This column includes personal ad hominems against President Trump and his family, but also features a talking point that seemingly keeps popping up: the wall as “racist symbol.”
Because fixation on the wall goes beyond an unfulfilled campaign promise.The wall is a symbol of the division and prejudice that this president preaches. The undocumented are his favorite scapegoat with which to rile up his base.
Whereas fellow open-borders advocate Jorge Ramos at least pays lip service to the idea that sovereign nations have a right to enforce their borders, Hastings sees no need to do so. In her view, any enforcement of the border is an act of overt racism.
Hastings then proceeds to use Puerto Ricans’ pain and suffering as a political commodity, when she said:
Trump doesn’t care about citizens, either. He showed that with Puerto Ricans after hurricane Maria, when he threw paper towels at us…
Never mind that the paper towel incident has long been debunked. Hastings isn’t above throwing that into an opinion piece about the shutdown, even though one has nothing to do with the other.
The opinion piece closes with the following hyperpartisan tropes:
But there were no winners because Trump is still there and we all remain at the mercy of his next tantrum. The bill to reopen the government is temporary and now that the far right has condemned him for caving to the Democrats without (getting) any money for the wall, it remains to be seen what madness he may come up with, and who it might affect. We’d be faced with another legal battle in the courts in order to distract from his Russian woes.
He still has a Republican Senate, with a majority leader, Mitch McConnell, that allowed Trump to shut government down and hurt millions of workers, their families, and their communities. He only reacted once he found himself against the ropes.
Trump is still there with his veto power that could stop beneficial legislation.
There will only be winners once his chaotic presidency comes to an end.
In the end, Hastings isn’t really at fault for writing this dreck - she believes what she believes, is entitled to her opinions, and her column is consistent with the mission of the organization she represents, which is the belief in an open and flowing southern border and the election of Democrats that will make it so. El Diario is within their right to publish the aforementioned dreck.
However, El Diario, a once-proud newspaper that is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Impre Media (the nation’s largest Spanish-language newspaper conglomerate), owes it to its readers to ensure a full range of opinions within its editorial pages. The lack of a countervaling opinion betrays El Diario’s structural biases, and grossly underserves its readers.
