Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas, in an article published this week, compared Latinos who support former President Trump to “Jews for Hitler” as he discussed GOP outreach in the area, and the remark immediately drew accusations of racism from his Republican challenger in the upcoming election.
“For [Republicans] to stay in power, even at the state level, they need to convince at least a percentage, even a small percentage, of Latinos to start voting Republican,” Gonzalez, who represents an area that includes some of the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, told The New Republic. “If not, they will eventually lose elections.
“If they didn’t have that racist, divisive element within their party, they would have a lot of Latinos, but they can’t seem to shake that off. The rhetoric you hear from the Republican Party is shameful and disgraceful for Latinos. And, you know, when you see Latinos for Trump, to me it is like seeing ‘Jews for Hitler,’ almost, you know?”
MANHATTAN DA BRAGG ASKS FOR DELAY TO TRUMP’S HUSH MONEY TRIAL
Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas, walks down the House steps after a vote in the Capitol Sept. 15, 2022. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Democrats have accused Republicans of embracing racist rhetoric in their platform of securing the border and limiting illegal immigration. But the New Republic article emphasized how Trump could win both Texas and the Rio Grande Valley as he pushes to restore the tougher border security measures seen during his presidency amid a record-setting border crisis.
The…