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u.s. news Dialuna 14 September 2020

On Western swing, Trump aims to court pivotal Latino voters

(AP) — President Donald
Trump on Sunday aimed
for further inroads with
Latinos who could prove
vital in closely contested
states that could deter-
mine the White House
race, promoting economic
gains they made before the
coronavirus pandemic.

Though Trump has made
scores of inflammatory and
derogatory comments about
Latinos, his campaign is
growing confident that he
has won some support that
could help in Florida, Ari-
zona and Nevada, his target
this weekend. He hosted a
roundtable discussion with
Latinos in Las Vegas on Sun-
day afternoon before a night-
time rally, his first indoors
since one in Tulsa, Oklaho-
ma, was blamed for a surge of
coronavirus infections. Win-
ning support from Latinos
has been an uphill climb for
Trump, whose hard-line im-
migration policies and some-
times virulent depiction of
immigrants have alienated their low unemployment rate even between Trump and on Sunday, they return in- In 90-plus minutes of griev-
many Hispanics. In the first before COVID-19 reached Biden.Nationally, little pub- doors, in part as a nod to the ances and attacks before sup-
moments of his 2016 cam- American shores and affirm- lic polling is available to mea- Las Vegas heat. Temperature porters, Trump charged that
paign, he declared that many ing his anti-abortion stance. sure the opinions of Latino checks will given to all upon the state’s Democratic gov-
Mexican immigrants were He again hammered home voters this year and whether entrance while masks will ernor tried to block him and
“rapists.” He has drawn criti- his recent push on law and they differ from four years be encouraged but not man- repeated his false claim that
cism for his tepid response order, saying that recent vio- ago. The Biden campaign dated. mail-in ballots would taint
to a hurricane that ravaged lence in American cities en- has consistently denounced the election result.
Puerto Rico, his polices to dangered Latinos. “Sleepy Trump’s policies as hurting “If you can join tens of thou-
separate children from their Joe Biden has spent 47 years Latino immigrants and work- sands of people protesting Trump narrowly lost Nevada
families at the U.S.-Mexico in politics being terrible to ers. in the streets, gamble in a in 2016 to Democrat Hill-
border and his efforts to dis- Hispanics. Now he is relying casino, or burn down small ary Clinton, and the state has
mantle an Obama-era pro- on Castro lover Bernie Sand- The push for Latinos comes businesses in riots, you can trended further toward the
gram that allows young im- ers to help him out,” Trump during a Western swing in gather peacefully under the Democrats in the past de-
migrants living in the country tweeted Sunday. which Trump has looked to 1st Amendment to hear from cade. But Trump’s campaign
illegally who were brought expand his paths to victory the President of the United has built its ground game to
here as children to remain in “That won’t work!” Sanders, while unleashing a torrent States," campaign commu- turn out voter while Demo-
the U.S. “They understand a Vermont senator who ran of unsubstantiated claims nications director Tim Mur- crats, by contrast, have large-
the situation at the southern against Biden in the primary that Democrats were trying taugh said. ly relied on virtual campaign
border. They want people to but later endorsed his rival, to steal the election. After efforts during the pandemic,
come in, and so do I, but they took heat earlier this year holding a pair of fundrais- Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak save for the casino work-
want them to do it legally," for a television interview in ers in the Las Vegas area on has limited in-person gath- ers’ Culinary Union, which
Trump told a small group which he lauded Fidel Cas- Sunday, expected to raise erings indoors and outdoors has sent workers door to
of supporters in Las Vegas. tro for a literacy program and $18 million, Trump will hold to 50 people since May, a door. After Nevada, Trump
“While Joe Biden has failed, asserted that it was “unfair to an indoor rally in the ware- recommendation based on planned to visit California
I have delivered for Latinos." simply say everything is bad” house of a manufacturing White House reopening on Monday for a briefing on
in Cuba. Estimates from the plant in nearby Henderson. guidelines. Trump defied lo- the devastating wildfires rac-
There is increasing con- Pew Research Center and AP After abandoning rallies for cal authorities the night be- ing through the region. He
cern about Democrats that VoteCast show that about 3 months when the pandemic fore by holding a rally in tiny has largely been silent on the
their nominee, the former in 10 Latino voters support- first arrived, Trump sched- Minden after his initial plan blazes. Afterward, he'll head
vice president, has not done ed Trump in 2016 and Re- uled one in June in a Tulsa for such a gathering in Reno to Arizona, a state his cam-
enough to court Latino vot- publican candidates in 2018. arena that featured seas of was stopped out of concern paign fears may be slipping
ers. His running mate, Cali- That’s also consistent with empty seats and, per local it would have violated coro- away, where he will host an-
fornia Sen. Sen. Kamala Har- long-term trends in party officials, prompted a spike navirus health guidelines. other event aimed at Latinos.
ris, did little to sway Florida’s identification among Latino in cases. Recognizing that
booming and politically in- voters, according to Pew.Like many supporters were un-
fluential Latino population Arizona and Nevada, Florida comfortable to gather in a
during a stop there this past has a heterogeneous popu- large group indoors, where
week. Biden has not set foot lation, but Hispanic voters the virus spreads more easily,
in Arizona or Nevada dur- there tend to be somewhat the Trump campaign shifted
ing the general election cam- more Republican-leaning to holding smaller, outdoor
paign, which he has mainly than Hispanic voters nation- rallies, usually at airplane
conducted virtually because wide because of the state’s hangers. But those rallies
of the coronavirus. Cuban American population. have grown in size in recent
Trump tailored his pitch to A recent Florida poll shows weeks, with little social dis-
Latinos on Sunday, noting support from Latinos about tancing and few masks. And