The story of Ileana Garcia gives us a little glimpse into the Trump campaign’s “efforts” to reach Latino voters. Garcia, a former radio host and founder of Latinas for Trump, was approached to conduct Latino outreach for Trump. But she apparently overstepped at the RNC when she declared herself a national Latino spokesperson for the campaign. That’s when the relationship went south, writes Adrian Carrasquillo:
“Do whatever the fuck you want,” the [Florida Trump] official said to Garcia, according to the source. “I don’t know what I’m going to do with you, anyway.”
Oops! Seems they wanted to confine her to Florida because going "national" was a little too much Latino exposure for the Trump train. Poor Reince had such high hopes.
“I know Donald Trump is going to be doing a Hispanic engagement tour coming up soon… He understands we need to grow the party,” Reince Priebus said a day before the Republican convention. The RNC Hispanic political and media team — comprising Jennifer Korn, Helen Aguirre Ferre, and Sofia Boza — spoke with the Trump campaign and delivered a Latino outreach playbook.
But that plan is gathering dust, Republican operatives said, and the “engagement tour” hasn’t happened.
Canceled: July 5 event with San Antonio business leaders and Texas Republicans.
Canceled: July 8 roundtable with Cuban business and faith leaders in Miami.
“I think they couldn’t get enough people to come to the event because their support among Hispanic voters is 14%. What do they expect?” said Artemio Muniz, a Republican from Texas who was aware of the event and opposes Trump.
Just like with GOTV efforts in battleground states, the Trump campaign has reportedly left the RNC to make up for its shortfalls with Latino outreach. Apparently that’s “the best!” Trump can do.