Trump offending Latinos is ‘catastrophic mistake’, says Democrat strategist

We spoke to Lindy Li, a top Democratic fundraiser and strategist.

Matt Frei: Your reaction, first of all, to this rally last night?

Lindy Li: I mean, where do we even start? I’m not even sure what I’m allowed to say on air, frankly. So I’ll try to be as circumspect as possible.

Matt Frei: We don’t want to repeat any of the off colour jokes.

Lindy Li: Alright, well, Trump had some fanciful words to describe Kamala Harris. I’ll just leave it there. I think I can say devil. And then they described Puerto Rico as a floating pile of garbage. And this is a US territory – these are Americans.

Matt Frei: And a lot of them are living here.

Lindy Li: Exactly. Not only – everywhere – and Latinos are such a growing voting demographic. For him to offend them like this, eight days from an election, is a catastrophic mistake. And that resulted in endorsement from Bad Bunny, Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin, these very well respected Latinos – for Harris.

Matt Frei: But one thing I’ve always found extraordinary is that however offensive, the language is from the Trump campaign – and a lot of people get offended by this stuff – actually, it doesn’t make that much of a difference when it comes to votes. It’s surprising how thick skinned so many people are with this language, including perhaps Latinos?

Lindy Li: That’s a really good point. But this is offensive to the core. This is about their self-esteem. If someone insulted me like that, I would, just to maintain my self-respect, I would not be voting for him. And not only that, he’s calling Americans the enemy within – and he threatens to deploy the military against US citizens. This is just beyond the pale.

Matt Frei: But I’ve spoken to so many Latinos in this state and elsewhere who say, ‘okay, we don’t like the language he uses, I wouldn’t invite him down for dinner, but I totally agree with him when it comes to the economy.’ And Kamala Harris just hasn’t come up with a convincing message.

Lindy Li: He’s the one proposing an across the board tariff that would raise consumer bills – the price of consumer goods – by thousands of dollars every single year. He’s the one who has promised to extend the multi trillion dollar tax cut for billionaires and corporations, leaving everyday Americans out in the dark. She’s the one who promised 3 million housing units by the end of her term, who promised an extension of the child tax credit. He, his party, let that expire, which plunged millions of American kids back into poverty. So on the policy front, it’s not even a contest.

Matt Frei: Your speciality is fundraising, and your party has done an incredible job. Your party has raised much more money than Donald Trump has – I’ve read somewhere three times as much. How come? When it comes to the money – when you’re far ahead, you’ve got a former prosecutor against a convicted felon, and you’re at 50-50. How is that possible?

Lindy Li: There are several reasons. There are three fundamental forces that she’s working against. Number one would be immigration. A lot of migrants did come in during the first half of the Biden administration. Number two would be inflation. It’s a very anti-incumbent environment, not just here in the United States. Globally, you see that in Canada, Japan, even Europe. You see that everywhere. People are just upset. And inflation is a global phenomenon and not just Americans. Number three is the fact that Biden waited so long to drop out.

Matt Frei: Mistake?

Lindy Li: It was a total mistake. And I love President Biden – I love you President Biden. But it was just a mistake because she only has 100 days to introduce herself.