Many Latinos in the U.S. are all too familiar with corrupt and criminal leaders. Some families fled their native countries because of them. But now that Donald Trump has been convicted of felonies, Republicans claim it could boost his support with Latino voters.
Much like Trump and his allies have claimed his criminal trials will help him with Black voters, Republican lawmakers and strategists told NOTUS that the verdict could make Latinos more sympathetic to the former president. Their hope is to convince these voters that Trump is being unfairly targeted by President Joe Biden, tying the charges to how regimes in Latin America have oppressed their opponents.
“[Latinos] can identify with this, they’ve lived this, they’ve seen this movie before, and they don’t want to repeat it,” said Jaime Florez, Hispanic communications director for the Republican National Committee and the Trump campaign, in an interview conducted in Spanish. “Now, well, they stand in solidarity with a president that they realize is being improperly and illegally attacked by judicial bodies that are simply working for the Biden campaign.”