You’d think angering millions of Latinos and getting dumped by a long list of companies would scare some sense into Donald Trump, but it looks like he’s just tripling-down on his ignorant remarks instead — and getting increasingly personal.
This past weekend, the leading Republican candidate for President tweeted — and then deleted — a disparaging remark about Columba Bush, a Mexican immigrant and wife of Republican Presidential candidate Jeb Bush.
The tweet shows Trump quoting a tweet from a fan (he has some, apparently) who wrote “#JebBush has to like the Mexican illegals because of his wife.” According to Business Insider, the tweet was up for 24 hours before getting deleted by either Trump or someone on his campaign.
Up until now, Trump’s remarks — that immigrants from Mexico are criminals and “rapists” — have been a disgusting generalization, but now he’s made it even more personal by singling out Bush’s spouse.
It took almost two weeks for GOP candidates to finally weigh in on Trump. But while Bush eventually slammed Trump’s comments as “not reflective of the Republican Party,” Ted Cruz came to Trump’s defense, saying he “saluted” him.
As Lisa Mascaro of the LA Times noted, Trump’s racist remarks are worsening the GOP’s “Latino Problem” as the party struggles to win over minority voters:
The eventual GOP nominee will probably need to capture more than 40% of Latino voters to reach the White House, strategists say, a mark not hit by a Republican since George W. Bush’s 2004 reelection.
That becomes increasingly difficult if the party is seen as hostile to immigrants, especially as Clinton has promised to uphold Obama’s executive actions and to create a citizenship pathway. Most Americans, including Republicans, back that approach to citizenship.
Democrats have pounced on the opportunity to use Trump’s comments against the GOP.
“As long as Republicans fail to denounce the hateful and divisive comments made by Donald Trump, it will only confirm the GOP’s hostility toward the immigrant and Latino community,” said Rep. Linda T. Sanchez (D-Whittier), the chairwoman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
