Trump Tries to Prove He's Not Racist by Being Incredibly Racist

Donald Trump thinks he can flip New Mexico, a state he lost by eight percentage points, in 2020. That task will require him to win over a significant portion of the 49.1 percent of New Mexicans who identify as Latinx, a demographic he’s having some trouble with, for some reason. So, at a rally in Rio Rancho on Monday night, Trump doubled down, surrounding himself with voters holding “Latinos for Trump” signs, repeatedly talking about how “[w]e love our Hispanics,” and, uh, pointing out a Latinx voter who “ looks more like a WASP than I do.”

Indeed, in the middle of the rally (held during Hispanic Heritage Month) Trump gave a shoutout to supporter and CNN commentator Steve Cortes. “He happens to be Hispanic, but I’ve never quite figured it out because he looks more like a WASP than I do,” Trump said, before shouting at Cortes, “Nobody loves the Hispanics more. Who do you like more, the country or the Hispanics?”

“He says the country,” Trump continued. “I don’t know, I may have to go for the Hispanics, to be honest with you. We got a lot of Hispanics. We love our Hispanics. Get out and vote.”

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On top of the WASP comment, it seems Trump still has a teeny bit of trouble remembering that minority groups in the United States are still, you know, American—he seems, for instance, to think Benjamin Netanyahu is also the prime minister of American Jews. There is, of course, no such thing as choosing between “the country” and “the Hispanics.” Ben Ray Luján, a Democratic running for Senate in New Mexico, called him out:

Trump also claimed “Hispanics” supported his immigration policies because Latinx Americans know “America’s drug crisis…better than anybody,” so there’s that. Per NBC:

“And at the center of America’s drug crisis, this is where the Hispanics know it better than anybody, people said, ‘Oh, the Hispanics won’t like a wall.’ I said, ‘I think they are going to love it,’” said Trump. ‘They won’t like border security.’ ‘I think they’re going to love.’ You know why? Because you understand it better than other people, but at the whole center of this crisis is the drugs that are pouring in, and you understand that when other people don’t understand it.”

Trump has about a 25 percent approval rating with Latinx voters. His approval rating in New Mexico has dropped 17 points since he took office. Best of luck.