Ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, Republicans got their act together and really worked to make appeals to diverse communities. In May, as I covered by attending, House Republicans announced the launch of their Hispanic Leadership Trust (HLT). Where Republicans have done particularly well has been in Florida. Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Marco Rubio cruised to their reelection victories in no small part due to their support in Miami-Dade counties and Hispanic voters. It was too much for liberals to handle, though.
As Julio highlighted, Ana Navarro on CNN on Wednesday claimed that DeSantis won by nearly 20 points against Charlie Crist, who was running as a Democrat this time, because he "gamed" the system and "created an election police." She then went on to also claim that Democrats didn't help themselves because they nominated "a corpse."
Wait. Crist is a "corpse," but DeSantis still cheated? https://t.co/rMKlWFohpw
— NewsBusters (@newsbusters) November 9, 2022
But it goes beyond the hypocritical election-denying. Political commentators on mainstream networks think they know best when it comes to how Hispanics should vote. As results were coming in on Tuesday night, MSNBC panelists were audibly shocked as Steve Kornacki announced how DeSantis and Rubio both had a lead in the early votes, and in Miami-Dade, no less. Kevin Tober covered that exchange at NewsBusters.
Big lead for DeSantis in Miami-Dade as well in the early returns. pic.twitter.com/QWutJrtZLL
— Kevin Tober (@KevinTober94) November 9, 2022
MSNBC's Alex Wagner on early Flordia results: "What is the lesson you are drawing here in terms of the Hispanic vote? How alarmed should Democrats be?"
— Kevin Tober (@KevinTober94) November 9, 2022
David Plouffe: Well, In Florida, it's catastrophic...The Obama coalition in Florida is gone. pic.twitter.com/VPDbzisvwf
When discussing on MSNBC the overall win for DeSantis and Rubio among Hispanic voters, Obama's 2008 campaign manager David Plouffe called it "catastrophic" and "a massive problem."
The shock and speculation didn't end there. In fact, it got worse. As Nicholas Fondacaro covered for NewsBusters, which our friends at Twitchy also highlighted, on NBC News – the parent company of MSNBC – they continued to marvel at how Hispanics would vote for Republicans.
"Democrats would love these kind of numbers anywhere, specifically Florida," Tom Llamas says of DeSantis and Latinos.
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) November 9, 2022
He says Democrats need to learn lessons from this. "Florida Republicans are doing something right" including getting out and meeting the voters. pic.twitter.com/D6m3g347Vj
Jose Diaz-Balart thoughtfully offered as his colleagues marveled, "I'm convinced that there is no Latino vote. There are just Latino voters, and they vote differently depending on their sensitivity, their life experience, even where their parents and grandparents are from."
Tom Llamas, later in the segment, also had words of wisdom, "Any assumptions the Democratic Party had about Latino voters, whether it be about immigration or abortion, they have to sort of get back to the drawing board because they're losing these important voters to their party pick, it is not just Florida. It's places like Arizona and Texas as well."
But Chuck Todd had to insert himself to try to agree with Diaz-Balart. He shared that a Democratic consultant told him, "I'm tired. We've got to stop putting Latinos in a box and trying to treat them as African Americans as if there is one issue that will somehow unite."
It wasn't just NBC News, though. As Fondacaro also highlighted, on ABC News that night, Maria Elena Salinas not only reminded that "Miami-Dade is probably the bluest county in the state," she raged against how Democrats in the state have been "very slowly losing Florida to the Republicans."
"And really, it's the Democrats that have themselves to blame for this because they really have not fought back," she lamented before the racist takes really came out. "You know that Miami is one of the centers of disinformation, especially among Latino voters. The majority of residents in Miami-Dade are Latinos. And they don't fight back. It seems almost as if they have given up on Florida. And now a lot of people just consider it not a swing state, but a red state," she said.
Salinas also did seek to make clear that this is just Florida, as a way to almost certainly try to make herself feel better. "So it looks like it's turning red, and the Latinos have a lot to do with that. But one thing we have to be careful, it's not indicative of the national Latino vote. Florida is a very small fraction of the Latino vote on a national level, so we have to be careful not to read too much into this. This is just Florida."
Yes, how dare those Florida Hispanics. Good thing Hispanics in other parts of the country know better, is no doubt what Salinas would offer.
Looking for an explanation for Florida breaking GOP, ABC's David Muir asks Maria Elena Salinas "have WE lost Florida now to the Republicans?"
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) November 9, 2022
Maria claims the Dems lost because "they have not fought back" against "disinformation" in the Latino community. pic.twitter.com/vThEaglXRL
This is a tactic that Democrats and the Biden administration have relied heavily upon, warning about "disinformation," as if voters, including and especially Hispanic voters, were not intelligent enough or could not possibly want to vote Republican of their own accord.
Speaking of the Biden administration, former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki also went with the "disinformation" angle.
The Latino vote is not the same everywhere! There are huge generational differences and in Florida population of older voters (more likely Rs) much larger than younger. Socialism does not play there. And there is a massive disinformation problem in Spanish language media.
— Jen Psaki (@jrpsaki) November 9, 2022
Such a take definitely got people's attention, as our friends at Twitchy noticed.
So you’ve gone from taking them for granted, calling them Latinx & breakfast burritos to mocking them for being fooled by ‘disinformation’…genius strategy, Jen. https://t.co/LlK7kMh7GU
— Rita Panahi (@RitaPanahi) November 9, 2022
Abrams said the same thing about Black men.
— Torrey M. Spears 🇺🇸 (@torreymspears) November 9, 2022
If Democrats do one thing better than anyone, it's talking down to minorities.
"They don't know any better" is one way to appeal to a group of voters who are turning their backs on your party. Let's see how that works out. pic.twitter.com/q4JyE7LAhs
— Chief Impact Officer BT (@back_ttys) November 9, 2022
Im a millennial Hispanic. Im a mom. I voted for republicans. I know a lot more just like me. We are not the people of victimhood. We are the people of dreams.
— R. Roz 🐊 (@reeseonable) November 9, 2022
Yes, Latinos and Latinas need a red headed white woman to explain.
— GOPPouncer (@Mellecon) November 9, 2022
Calling latinos stupid now, are we? Least some of you people finally backed off the "latinx" shit, I guess 😂🤦♂️ https://t.co/iRppMiCu9w
— Trey Felder (@TbirdTr3y_10) November 9, 2022
Other users also pointed out how Psaki was admitting Democrats favor socialism after all.
So Dems *do* peddle socialism, huh? https://t.co/JvOa97Kkf6
— J.R. Holmsted (@JHolmsted) November 9, 2022
Psaki: "Socialism does not play there"
— Generalissimo Illegal Neanderthal 🇺🇲✝️ (@rayrothfe) November 9, 2022
Thanks for admitting your party is a bunch of socialists, Jen. https://t.co/5v3PkEPynN
Jen is admitting the left is pushing for socialism
— L- just L (@skis416) November 9, 2022
You're admitting that the older Latinos know abt socialism & denounce it. That's an issue for you? https://t.co/7sX5ZK9fd4
In addition to being racist, it's also ridiculous that commentators would be so surprised. Polls indicated ahead of time that Hispanic voters supported DeSantis, which NBC News also covered. The polls got that much right, at least.
What makes such rampant racism worse and unnecessary is that, as it stands at this point, Latinos still voted for Democrats in other parts of the country. Such large, long-term gains take time, though. The networks, Navarro, along with the other ladies on "The View," and Psaki need to just take the win where they have it and the loss where they do.
