Return ominous for Californians touched by his racism
Donald Trump’s newly minted 2024 presidential campaign isn’t going to win California — if the ex-president survives the GOP primary — but his presence on the ballot has a lot of Californians concerned about the damage he could inspire on the way there.
Politically, his presence on the ballot is bad news for Republican candidates in a state where two-thirds of the voters dislike him. Trump is a twice-impeached former president who sought to overturn the 2020 presidential election on false charges, inspired an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and is the subject of multiple federal investigations.
Even Trump’s longtime stenographers at Fox News seemed a bit bored during his speech Tuesday. The network
cut away from Trump’s speech about 40 minutes in to ask their panel to begin analyzing it ... before it was even over.
But the Trump effect extends beyond politics. Trump’s litany of racist, sexist and homophobic remarks has Californians worried about what his return to center stage will mean for the communities he’s maligned.
Trump’s history of racist comments — like referring to COVID as the “Kung flu,” or the “China virus” (a phrase he mentioned in his Tuesday announcement speech) — has daily implications for many Californians. When Trump — the former leader of the free world — makes racist and sexist comments, that gives permission to others to do the same.
Lately, Trump has been turning on his fellow Republicans. Just last week, he referred to Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a potential 2024 rival, as “Young Kin” and saying it “(s)ounds Chinese, doesn’t it?” Last month, he referred to his former secretary of transportation, Taiwanborn Elaine Chao, as the “China-loving wife” of Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, “Coco Chow.”
“His campaign and presidency was disastrous for Asian Americans,” said Timmy Lu, executive director of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders for Civic Empowerment Education Fund.
Trump’s presidential campaign “is going to empower a whole series of really vicious, scapegoating-style politics. It’s going to be a tool that can be used across California,” Lu said.
Pablo Rodriguez, a longtime organizer in the San Joaquin Valley, isn’t concerned about the political threat Trump poses as much as the cultural ones he could unleash. Trump began his first presidential campaign in 2015 by saying that Mexican immigrants “are bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
“California and California Latinos specifically, have rejected Donald Trump twice in the past and voters will reject him again. That is not my worry,” said Rodriguez, executive director of Communities for a New California Education Fund, which runs year-round canvassing efforts on a variety of issues in the San Joaquin and Coachella valleys. “My worry is that he brings — besides the politics of fear and division — he brings violence.”
Rodriguez said he and fellow activists heard slurs from Trump supporters at redistricting meetings last year in Fresno. (He identified the hecklers as supporters because their vehicles were covered with pro-Trump signage.) Rodriguez said they asked him and other people of color testifying at the hearing, “Do you even speak English?” “Are you a citizen?”
In other parts of Fresno County, Rodriguez said people parked in vehicles festooned with Trump gear near ballot drop-off boxes. They didn’t confront voters, Rodriguez said, “but you just have people that are parked out there just sitting there, wanting to be intimidating.”
Christian Arana, vice president of policy at the Latino Community Foundation, said, “What is concerning about a potential Trump presidential run is a re-emergence of past traumas that Latino communities experienced throughout his presidency. Latinos in California are still healing from a global pandemic, let alone from four years of toxic rhetoric and policies that demonized our communities,” Arana told me.
He recalled that many California Latinos were villainized when Republican Gov. Pete Wilson backed Proposition 187 nearly three decades ago. State voters approved the measure, which barred undocumented immigrants from public health care and most other government services, but the courts blocked it.
Latinos fled the California Republican Party after that — and the state party never recovered. California voters haven’t elected a Republican to a statewide office since 2006, a supermajority controls the Legislature and there are twice as many Democrats as Republicans in the state.
“Latinos in California have shown through their votes that they do not sit idly by when they are disrespected by any elected official who espouses anti-immigrant rhetoric,” Arana said. “Donald Trump, and anyone running with his platform, would be prudent to know and respect that history.”
Saa’un Bell, senior associate director of Power California, which organizes young people of color across California, said Trump is “the villain and he inspired a lot of young people to come out because of things that he talked about, all the racist, homophobic things.
“His announcement will not only sort of galvanize and inspire his base of supporters, but supporters of all parties will take notice,” Bell said.
Even some California Republican candidates don’t want Trump on the ballot. For their sake.
Two California Republican campaign operatives told me that Trump’s ballot presence is so polarizing that it could hurt Republicans in Democratdominated districts like the one GOP Rep. David Valadao is fighting to retain in the Central Valley. Valadao is one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump. All but one have retired, been defeated or left office. (Valadao holds a slight lead over Democrat Rudy Salas.)
“It just becomes really, really hard when those candidates — instead of being able to talk about themselves and what they are going to do — are asked every single day, ‘Are you voting for Donald Trump? Do you want Donald Trump to be president?’ ” said one GOP California consultant who asked not to be identified so they could speak freely about the party and Trump.
“The big relief for some (Republican) congressional candidates this cycle was you didn’t have to talk about Donald Trump,” the consultant said. “You could talk about what was going on: inflation, the economy, crime, homelessness. When it becomes a binary choice between Donald Trump or not, that’s a real problem.”
Another GOP California consultant pointed out that Southern California Republican Reps. Mike Garcia, Michelle Steel and Young Kim all got re-elected in tough districts two years after winning when Trump was on the ballot (Garcia’s race has not been called, but he was leading as of Tuesday night). The key is that each established their own brand, the consultant said, and none emphasized Trump’s big lie about the 2020 election being stolen.
“I think it depends on the district and the candidate,” said the second GOP consultant, who asked not to be identified so they could speak freely about the party and Trump. “There are candidates who’ve won with him and without him on the ballot.”
But the first GOP consultant admitted that ultimately, Trump on the ballot is a net loss for California Republicans.
“I think more people end up changing their mind about the way they think about Republicans when they think about Donald Trump,” they said, “than that turn out to vote for him.”