Miami Herald Logo

Andres Oppenheimer: Where’s the Republican outrage over Trump’s diatribe? | Miami Herald

×
  • E-edition
  • Home
    • Site Information
    • Contact Us
    • About Us
    • Herald Store
    • RSS Feeds
    • Special Sections
    • Advertise
    • Advertise with Us
    • Media Kit
    • Mobile
    • Mobile Apps & eReaders
    • Newsletters
    • Social
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Google+
    • Instagram
    • YouTube

    • Sections
    • News
    • South Florida
    • Miami-Dade
    • Broward
    • Florida Keys
    • Florida
    • Politics
    • Weird News
    • Weather
    • National & World
    • Colombia
    • National
    • World
    • Americas
    • Cuba
    • Guantánamo
    • Haiti
    • Venezuela
    • Local Issues
    • Crime
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health Care
    • In Depth
    • Issues & Ideas
    • Traffic
    • Sections
    • Sports
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Pro & College
    • Miami Dolphins
    • Miami Heat
    • Miami Marlins
    • Florida Panthers
    • College Sports
    • University of Miami
    • Florida International
    • University of Florida
    • Florida State University
    • More Sports
    • High School Sports
    • Auto Racing
    • Fighting
    • Golf
    • Horse Racing
    • Outdoors
    • Soccer
    • Tennis
    • Youth Sports
    • Other Sports
    • Politics
    • Elections
    • The Florida Influencer Series
    • Sections
    • Business
    • Business Monday
    • Banking
    • International Business
    • National Business
    • Personal Finance
    • Real Estate News
    • Small Business
    • Technology
    • Tourism & Cruises
    • Workplace
    • Business Plan Challenge
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Cindy Krischer Goodman
    • The Starting Gate
    • Work/Life Balancing Act
    • Movers
    • Sections
    • Living
    • Advice
    • Fashion
    • Food & Drink
    • Health & Fitness
    • Home & Garden
    • Pets
    • Recipes
    • Travel
    • Wine
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Dave Barry
    • Ana Veciana-Suarez
    • Flashback Miami
    • More Living
    • LGBTQ South Florida
    • Palette Magazine
    • Indulge Magazine
    • South Florida Album
    • Broward Album
    • Sections
    • Entertainment
    • Books
    • Comics
    • Games & Puzzles
    • Horoscopes
    • Movies
    • Music & Nightlife
    • People
    • Performing Arts
    • Restaurants
    • TV
    • Visual Arts
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Jose Lambiet
    • Lesley Abravanel
    • More Entertainment
    • Events Calendar
    • Miami.com
    • Contests & Promotions
    • Sections
    • All Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Op-Ed
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Jim Morin
    • Letters to the Editor
    • From Our Inbox
    • Speak Up
    • Submit a Letter
    • Meet the Editorial Board
    • Influencers Opinion
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Blog Directory
    • Columnist Directory
    • Andres Oppenheimer
    • Carl Hiaasen
    • Leonard Pitts Jr.
    • Fabiola Santiago
    • Obituaries
    • Obituaries in the News
    • Place an Obituary

    • Place an ad
    • All Classifieds
    • Announcements
    • Apartments
    • Auctions/Sales
    • Automotive
    • Commercial Real Estate
    • Employment
    • Garage Sales
    • Legals
    • Merchandise
    • Obituaries
    • Pets
    • Public Notices
    • Real Estate
    • Services
  • Public Notices
  • Cars
  • Jobs
  • Moonlighting
  • Real Estate
  • Mobile & Apps

  • el Nuevo Herald
  • Miami.com
  • Indulge

Andres Oppenheimer

Andres Oppenheimer: Where’s the Republican outrage over Trump’s diatribe?

By Andres Oppenheimer

aoppenheimer@MiamiHerald.com

    ORDER REPRINT →

July 01, 2015 07:27 AM

What’s most worrisome about Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump’s xenophobic remarks about Mexicans is not that he actually made them, but the fact that they seem to have helped him among Republican voters nationwide.

What’s more, the business tycoon’s tirade against Mexico and Mexicans was celebrated by some of his fellow Republican hopefuls, and have yet to be officially denounced as offensive — if not outright racist — by the Republican National Committee.

Obviously, part of the U.S. population is still willing to believe the blatant falsehoods and half-truths uttered by Trump and other politicians who, like populist demagogues in other countries, seek popularity by blaming foreigners for their countries’ economic problems.

According to a Pew Research Center poll, only 39 percent of Americans expressed a favorable view of Mexico in 2013, down from 47 percent before the U.S. financial crisis of 2008. The U.S. economic downturn may have had a lot to do with this downward trend.

Sign Up and Save

Get six months of free digital access to the Miami Herald

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

#ReadLocal

In a June 16 speech announcing his candidacy to the Republican nomination, Trump lashed out against Mexico for allegedly flooding the United States with undesirable immigrants.

He said Mexico is sending to the United States “people that have lots of problems, and they are bringing those problems to us. They are bringing drugs, and bringing crime, and they’re rapists.” He also said he would force Mexico to pay for a wall across the border. Following his remarks, Univision, NBC and Mexico’s Televisa networks severed their ties with Trump-related Miss USA pageants and other TV shows.

Problem is, Trump’s entire tirade is based on the false premises.

First, portraying Mexican immigrants as criminals is an insult to 34 million American residents of Mexican origin, the overwhelming majority of whom are honest and hard-working people.

Second, implying that Mexican immigrants are flooding the United States is plainly wrong. In fact, the flow of Mexican immigrants to the United States has plummeted over the past four decades, falling from about 400,000 per year a decade ago to 125,000 nowadays, according to recent figures from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.

Immigration from Mexico has fallen because of the 2008 U.S. financial crisis, lower birth-rates in Mexico — where the fertility rate has fallen from about 5.5 children per woman in the 1970s to 2.5 children today — and increased border security measures.

Third, the claim that a wall alongside the entire U.S.-Mexico border would stem the flow of Mexicans is at best doubtful: nearly half of Mexican undocumented immigrants are not crossing the border, but arrive by plane and overstay their visas. A wall would be a huge waste of money, regardless of who pays for it.

Yet, after his misleading statements, Trump rose to No. 2 — behind Bush — among more than a dozen candidates in a new CNN poll nationwide. He was already No. 2 in a previous CNN/WMUR poll in New Hampshire, the first state to hold the upcoming primary elections in February.

Andrew Smith, a University of New Hampshire professor who conducted the New Hampshire poll, told me that immigration is not a big issue in that state, where only 3.2 percent of the population is Hispanic.

“By taking an outsider stance, he attracted attention and press,” Smith said. “It made him look like he’s somebody who is not afraid to say things that are in the minds of voters, but that many are hesitant to say.”

What was the reaction of Trump’s fellow Republican hopefuls? Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, openly supported Trump’s remarks, saying that “I think he speaks the truth.” Most others remained neutral.

Only Jeb Bush, who is married to a Mexican woman, reportedly said at a Saturday event in Nevada that he didn’t agree with Trump’s words, and that they did not represent his values, a Bush campaign aide was quoted as saying by The Washington Examiner.

Republican National Committe Chairman Reince Priebus told a news conference on June 26, 10 days after Trump made his remarks, that the aspiring candidate’s statements were “not helpful.” Hardly a stinging condemnation of what many see as offensive remarks against millions of law-abiding Mexican immigrants.

My opinion: Trump may be a clown, or an unscrupulous politician seeking headlines, but there is no excuse for most of his fellow Republican hopefuls’ silence and, more importantly, for the Republican National Committee not coming out with a formal and unequivocal statement condemning Trump’s insults against the largest U.S. minority group. That’s what’s really troubling about this entire charade!

  Comments  

Videos

Pro-government groups beat up woman in Venezuela

Pro-government protesters storm Venezuelan National Assembly

View More Video

Trending Stories

Haiti is once again on edge, and humanitarian aid groups debate whether to go or cancel

February 14, 2019 07:24 PM

He was robbed while mowing a lawn. He talked. Then 40 bullets were fired into his house

February 14, 2019 08:45 AM

Here’s Jimmy Johnson’s multi-step guide as the Dolphins begin their rebuilding program

February 14, 2019 03:05 PM

Hearts are heavy, attendance is light at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School

February 14, 2019 09:05 AM

A new ‘freedom caravan’ of primarily Cuban migrants is trying to reach U.S.

February 14, 2019 04:04 PM

Read Next

Mexico’s new president’s popularity is at an all-time high. But how long will the honeymoon last?

Andres Oppenheimer

Mexico’s new president’s popularity is at an all-time high. But how long will the honeymoon last?

By Andres Oppenheimer

    ORDER REPRINT →

February 13, 2019 03:15 PM

Mexican leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s popularity has risen to a record 86 percent, but is populist policies may start to hurt the economy over the next two years.

KEEP READING

Sign Up and Save

#ReadLocal

Get six months of free digital access to the Miami Herald

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

MORE ANDRES OPPENHEIMER

Of the three major scenarios for Venezuela, U.S. military intervention is the least likely

Andres Oppenheimer

Of the three major scenarios for Venezuela, U.S. military intervention is the least likely

February 10, 2019 08:36 AM
Trump delivered a schizophrenic State of the Union address: levelheaded on Venezuela, unhinged on Mexico

Andres Oppenheimer

Trump delivered a schizophrenic State of the Union address: levelheaded on Venezuela, unhinged on Mexico

February 06, 2019 04:01 PM
Left-wing Democrats who parrot dictator Maduro’s propaganda are doing Trump a huge favor

Andres Oppenheimer

Left-wing Democrats who parrot dictator Maduro’s propaganda are doing Trump a huge favor

February 01, 2019 06:52 PM
Trump is doing the right thing in Venezuela. He shouldn’t ruin it by encouraging talk of military action.

Andres Oppenheimer

Trump is doing the right thing in Venezuela. He shouldn’t ruin it by encouraging talk of military action.

January 30, 2019 08:12 PM
Juan Guaidó’s biggest asset, a humble personality, helped unite a fragmented opposition in Venezuela

Andres Oppenheimer

Juan Guaidó’s biggest asset, a humble personality, helped unite a fragmented opposition in Venezuela

January 25, 2019 05:16 PM
Venezuela’s acting president wisely puts free elections at the top of his to-do list

Andres Oppenheimer

Venezuela’s acting president wisely puts free elections at the top of his to-do list

January 23, 2019 06:33 PM
Take Us With You

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand.

Icon for mobile apps

Miami Herald App

View Newsletters

Subscriptions
  • Start a Subscription
  • Customer Service
  • eEdition
  • Vacation Hold
  • Pay Your Bill
  • Rewards
Learn More
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletters
  • News in Education
  • Public Insight Network
  • Reader Panel
Advertising
  • Place a Classified
  • Media Kit
  • Commercial Printing
  • Public Notices
Copyright
Commenting Policy
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service


Back to Story