President Donald Trump held a “Latinos for Trump” roundtable with local supporters in Phoenix, Arizona, just a day after holding a similar event in Las Vegas, Nevada. During his remarks, the president expressed optimism for Hispanic Americans and warned them against a leadership under Democrats, saying, “We’re not going to be another Venezuela.”
Speaking to a cheering crowd at an indoor venue at the Arizona Grand Resort, the president praised the Hispanic American community. “Hispanic Americans embody the American dream and they are great business people. ... Hispanic Americans strengthen our nation beyond description,” he said.
“You protect our nation as brave members of the military and as members of law enforcement, great, great members of law enforcement. You uplift the communities and promote our shared values of faith and family, community, hard work, and patriotism. You’re an amazing group of people. And I love you and we’re taking care of you and I’m never letting you down.”
“Before the China virus came in, we achieved the lowest Hispanic American unemployment rate ever recorded ever. Not even close. Over 600,000 Hispanic Americans were lifted out of poverty in that short period of time. That’s a record. All records, Hispanic American ownership, home ownership reached an all time high,” Trump said as he painted an optimistic picture of the future. “We built the greatest economy in history and now we’re doing it again. So it’s called Make America Great Again. And I say, make America great again and again. Again and again.”
He said that Hispanic Americans are seeing “3.3 million jobs for Hispanic Americans in the last 4 months,” calling the recovering from the impact of the CCP virus a “super V.”
Trump warned against his opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden. “Joe Biden has spent 47 years selling out the Hispanic American community, sending your jobs to China, raising your taxes, surging regulations,” the president said, later adding, “I’ve achieved more for Hispanic Americans in 47 months than Joe Biden has achieved in 47 years.”
Trump said that Democrats carry an “anti-police rhetoric” which serves to endanger law enforcement. “We love our law enforcement. Many, many of the law enforcement are Hispanic Americans, as you know,” Trump added. He told supporters that Biden would “surrender your entire country to the radical left—and that’s all they’re doing is using him. He has no clue.”
“We don’t want to have a socialist country. Some of you came from parts of the world where it’s socialist or worse. You know, it’s called the C word, right? The C word. Because I think in many cases, these people are talking even beyond socialism and we’re not going to let that happen. We’re not going to let the rule of law really just be ruled by the mob.”
He added: “I often say, we’re not going to be another Venezuela. We love the people of Venezuela. We have tremendous support in Miami, from Venezuelans and Cubans. We’re not going to let that happen to our country. Nobody wants it. And you know who wants it least is Hispanic Americans. They want to see it less than anybody because they know about it more than anybody. And so we’re not going to let that happen.”
The president also pledged his support for religious liberty, the Second Amendment, and school choice. He said that Biden would “totally eliminate religious liberty” and that the Democrats would “abolish school choice.”
“A vote for Republicans this November’s a vote for the American dream,” he said in closing.
Supporters at the roundtable praised the president and his administration for having promoted businesses and jobs, law and order and public safety, school choice, healthcare for veterans, and actions to combat the opioid crisis.
Trump won Arizona over Hillary Clinton by about 3.5 percentage points in 2016.
Nationally, Hispanics make up the largest minority voting group at more than 13 percent of eligible voters.
Biden will hold events in Florida in the cities of Tampa and Kissimmee, which have high Puerto Rican populations. “I am going to work like the devil to make sure I turn every Latino and Hispanic vote,” Biden told reporters on Monday.
Earlier on Monday, Trump met with firefighters and officials in California to discuss the largest wildfires in state history. He said forest management was key to controlling the blazes.
