In another sign that GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump is damaging his party’s standing with Latinos, the communications director of the Florida Republican Party, Wadi Gaitan announced Monday that he’s stepping down because he cannot defend Trump’s racism. This comes at a time when Trump is desperately trying to win Florida and it’s electoral college votes. Of course he’s far behind Clinton in most polling, repulsing most Floridians of Hispanic descent. Trump’s midas touch of repulsing Hispanic voters in other states is taking it’s toll, as well...both up and down ballot.
Poll Shows Clinton Leading Trump by 6 Points in Florida
Donald Trump, is sparking a surge in the number of citizenship applications and voter registrations among Hispanics fearful of his immigration policies. Since January, California alone has seen a boost of 218 percent in Democratic registration and among Hispanics, registration is up 123 percent.
Wadi Gaitan, a former senior House Republican aide who focused on Hispanic affairs, becomes yet another high-profile Latino Republican official to leave his job because he can no longer tolerate defending and explaining Trump. The Republican nominee has spent much of the past year maligning immigrants, minorities and women, a strategy that helped him win the party's nomination but that has led to historically poor approval ratings among black and Latino voters.
“I’m thankful for my almost two years with the Florida GOP, however, moving on gives me a great, new opportunity to continue promoting free market solutions while avoiding efforts that support Donald Trump,” Wadi Gaitan, a strategist for Latino voter outreach, said in a statement.
Gaitan is not alone in finding a way to continue in Republican politics outside the GOP's official infrastructure to avoid questions about Trump. Ruth Guerra stepped down in early June as the Republican National Committee's Hispanic communications director ahead of the party's convention to join the American Action Network. As the party's national Spanish-speaking spokeswoman, Guerra had told friends and associates she was struggling to defend a candidate attacking Hispanics on a near-daily basis.
Guerra's successor, Helen Aguirre Ferre, a former Bush supporter, has faced intense public pressure since taking the job. She stepped down last month as chairwoman of the Miami Dade College Board of Trustees, citing her increased workload and travel schedule. She held the pro-bono chairman's job for 12 years and remains a board member of the college, but immigration reform activists have called for her removal, believing that a de facto Trump surrogate should not play an active role at a college with a large immigrant student population.
As a former House Republican staffer and press assistant to 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, Gaitan, the son of Honduran immigrants, spearheaded efforts to help Republicans reach more Latino voters through Spanish-language media.
A friend told BuzzFeed News that Gaitan was no longer comfortable with “the indefensible things being said about immigrants.”