What does power look like? Well, now we know that it speaks Spanish. When reputed billionaire Donald Trump was imprudent enough to insult Mexican immigrants to the U.S., the business consequences were immediate and costly. Trump said Mexican immigrants “are bringing drugs. They are bringing crime. They’re rapists.” As an afterthought he concluded “some, I assume, are good people.”
The list of repercussions for his diatribe is substantial. Univision has stated it will not broadcast the Miss America and Miss Universe pageants in which Trump is a major shareholder. NBCUniversal has also decided to cut ties with Trump. He has been fired as host of the Apprentice program. Macy’s, one of the nation’s largest department stores, is removing Trump brand clothing from its shelves.
Most significantly of all, Trump’s indiscretion has fatally damaged his chance of being elected president. He will probably get a temporary bump in the polls from Republican radicals, and because of a crowded primary field. However, analysts already have concluded that Republican victory depends in part on the candidate getting a strong Latino vote. Romney won only 27 percent of the Latino vote in 2012, down from the 44 percent for George Bush in 2004. It now is unlikely that Trump can attain even as much as Romney’s level of Latino support.
This was not Trump’s first venture into hate mongering. In 2011 he was the leader of the “birther” movement to challenge Obama’s right to be president. Under Article II of the U.S. Constitution only a “natural born Citizen” is eligible to be president. In his effort to unseat Obama as an alleged immigrant, Trump resorted to language and tactics that violated the level of respect due a sitting president.
And nothing happened. Trump did not have to suffer any repercussions. Apparently blacks are so accustomed to insult and abuse that they have become soft targets for racial attacks. The desirable trait of civility in blacks has morphed into the state of servility, a cultural characteristic not always respected by other Americans. The riposte to Trump’s remarks by the Hispanics was so effective, African Americans should now look beyond the tired strategies for protest that were developed in the civil rights era.
Editor’s note regarding the cartoon: After Presidential candidate Donald Trump insulted Mexican immigrants, characterizing them as rapists, major corporations including Univision, NBCUniversal and Macy’s distanced themselves from the real estate magnate, cutting ties with the Miss USA pageant, which Trump owns.
