Julia Gomez/Staff Writer
On September 17, 2020, the Women for Trump rally took place in the middle of a shopping center in Kendall. But based on the individuals and the message of the event, it was safe to say this quickly spiraled into a “Latinos for Trump” rally. People gathered to welcome Lara Trump to Miami with flyers passed around accusing Joe Biden of being an extreme, left-leaning socialist.
(Image provided by Julia Gomez)
About 75-100 people were there. Latinos brought flags that represented the countries they and their families were from and waved signs that said “Latinos for Trump” along with the American flag. While most of the people there wore face masks, too many of them wore it below their nose or not at all. It seems COVID-19 didn’t stop anyone from showing up and screaming at cars, dancing on the sidewalk or chanting “four more years.” Some even calling for “Eight more years!”
After standing for hours in the hot Miami sun and not being able to wait any longer, some began to leave. Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, finally arrived with Mercedes Schlapp, a Cuban Miami-local and senior Trump aide. They used a broken mic and an amp with a disco ball on top to address the crowd in the shopping center parking lot.
(Image provided by Julia Gomez)
Schlapp opened the rally by calling former Vice President Joe Biden a socialist and insinuating if we vote for him, we will be one step closer to becoming Venezuela. This is ridiculous! It shows just how manipulative the Trump administration can be. They use the anguish and trauma caused by escaping poverty and a dictatorship to fuel their narrative about democrats and socialism.
This event highlighted Donald Trump’s tactics for getting the Latino vote by utilizing immigrants’ fear of living through another authoritarian regime against them and swearing that his administration is the only thing stopping political extremists from taking over.
Meanwhile, thousands of immigrants have remained locked up in American detention centers during a pandemic, left to die without access to medical care and forced into getting hysterectomies. However, the Trump administration is still targeting Latino voters in the 2020 campaign with the same old Socialism-is-Bad-Look-At-Venezuela argument.
At the rally, they emphasized how if Democrats take over, we’ll begin losing our freedoms. It’s morbidly ironic. We live in a time where the president of the United States is refusing to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses the election and suggests he can run for more than 2 terms.
Let’s not forget, he’s done everything in his power to undermine his biggest critics and the press; with journalists being one of the only watchdogs we have for corruption. He’s called peaceful protestors anarchists because they carry around “lethal weapons” such as soup cans, and blames ANTIFA for being terrorists.
Schlapp also referenced the Hunter Biden scandal with Ukraine, yet a bipartisan Senate report concluded that Russia rigged the election in Trump’s favor. According to Forbes Trump’s campaign staffers sought advance notice about WikiLeaks releases in 2016 to use during the campaign. Trump’s staffers were even labeled as national security risks because of their involvement with Russia. But yeah, Dems are the ones who will rip away our freedom.
It’s frustrating to see the gaslighting and manipulation Trump is using to get a hold of Latino voters. He uses their fear of living through another authoritarian regime against them, consequently manipulating the scars left by their untimely emigration from their country, and the pain of leaving loved ones behind.
Like the children and grandchildren of other immigrants, I saw my grandfather cry because he would never see his Cuba again and for the family he left behind. I heard the stories about how Fidel Castro manipulated Cubans to gain power and the atrocities he committed against his people.
I watched so many people dance in Miami’s streets when Castro died. Yet, some of those same people have been manipulated into voting for another authoritative dictator all over again.
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Featured image by Julia Gomez
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