The Trump campaign launches a fresh assault on winning the Hispanic vote in Florida this weekend as Donald Trump Jr. and mixed martial arts superstar Jorge Masvidal deliver an anti-socialism message during a bus tour through the state.
Their “fighters against socialism” drive will paint Democratic nominee Joe Biden as a creature of the far Left and is aimed at Venezuelans fleeing crisis and Cuban Americans who remember the communist regime of Fidel Castro.
But they face a growing challenge to woo a younger generation of Cuban Americans who see President Trump as an autocratic leader with the same sort of disregard for rights and the rule of law as the late Cuban dictator.
Whether voters see Biden as a socialist or Trump as a strongman could have far-reaching impacts, helping swing Florida one way or the other.
The Trump campaign has a heavy presence in the state over the weekend. Vice President Mike Pence visits Orlando on Saturday for a Latinos for Trump event. A day later, Trump Jr. and Masvidal, whose father fled Cuba on a raft, will take their more pugilistic approach on the road.
Spokesman Ken Farnaso, said: “Hispanic Americans can see through Biden’s smokescreen and know that he is running on an extreme socialist platform, the likes of which have failed counties like Cuba and Venezuela.”
“President Trump has undoubtedly delivered on his promises for the Hispanic community with lower taxes, safer communities, and the recent announcement of the White House Hispanic Prosperity Initiative.”
Joining Trump Jr. and Masvidal will be Cuban American businessman Maximo Alvarez. He laid out the message during the Republican National Convention. “Right now, it is up to us to decide our fate and to choose freedom over oppression,” he said. “President Trump is fighting the forces of anarchy and communism.”
An NBC News/Marist poll published last month showed Trump held a 4-point lead over Biden among Latinos in Florida. Another survey, just in Miami, also gave the president a narrow lead.
The demographic is hugely important in the state, where 20% of voters consider themselves Hispanic, according to Pew.
But that masks a range of ancestries, from Cuban American to Puerto Rican, Venezuelan, and a variety of Latin American countries, each of which can influence outlook.
So although Hillary Clinton won 62% of the Latino vote in Florida to Trump’s 35%, according to a CNN exit poll, Trump won Cuban Americans by a margin of 54% to 41%, helping him to victory in the state.
But his opponents see changing habits and younger generations that vote differently to parents and grandparents who fled Castro’s communist regime and who still blame Democratic President John F. Kennedy for the failed 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, in which 68 exiles died and 1,200 were captured.
So while Trump last month held a White House reception to honor Bay of Pigs veterans, the Lincoln Project of anti-Trump Republicans and its Hispanic allies sense an opportunity.
Mike Madrid, a co-founder of the Lincoln Project and a veteran of Bush family Hispanic outreach, said the “socialism looking glass” strategy of Trump made sense.
“Politically, it’s what I’d be doing too,” he said, “but it is easily counteracted because it’s not pro-Trump, it’s anti-Biden.”
Instead, his coalition is pushing arguments that compare Trump with Latin American despots and authoritarian regimes.
“In Spanish, we call it the caudillo, the strongman, somebody who is not concerned about constitutional rights, property rights, election results,” he said.
Stories about Trump using eminent domain to build casinos, he added, would resonate with families who lost property or businesses to the Cuban revolution.
Evelyn Ferro, 34, does not need convincing. She arrived in the United States from Cuba 18 years ago and, after taking American citizenship, registered as a Republican. Mitt Romney got her vote in 2012, but she could not bring herself to support Trump in 2016.
She said she was part of a generation that wanted to cast its vote on what was best for America and her young family, not on what might be best for Cuba.
“I wouldn’t call Cuba socialist. It is really an authoritarian regime,” said Ferro, who is director of communications for an online education company.
“So when I hear a president or a candidate who says, ‘I myself can fix it, I am the only one who can fix it,’ or I hear talk of the ‘fake news,’ it just resembles so much what I lived through, what my parents lived through.”
