(ThyBlackMan.com) When Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris, he won by only 1.5 percentage points overall while receiving 312 Electoral College votes. Among Hispanic voters, Trump won 48 percent of the vote, after losing to Joe Biden by a margin of 61 percent to 36 percent in the 2020 presidential election. In 2024, Trump won 15% of Black voters, up from 8 percent four years earlier. With the current gerrymandering war, both political parties are now positioning themselves for next year’s midterm elections. For Hispanic and Black voters who supported Trump in 2024, one question comes to mind. Are they getting what they expected from a second Trump term?
People are waking up, and they are not liking what they are seeing. As a result, constituents’ anger over ICE raids in their districts has become intense during town halls in congressional districts represented by both Democrats and Republicans. It was the central focus of questions at Wisconsin GOP Rep. Bryan Steil’s town hall in late July, as constituents attacked the congressman’s efforts to blame former President Joe Biden’s policies for the country’s immigration problems. “What I see happening to our immigrant population embarrasses me, and you have not raised a voice to complain about it,” one attendee told Steil. “Where do I see your leadership? I see no leadership. I see following Trump 100% of the time.” The biggest crowd reaction of the night came in response to Steil’s introductory remarks celebrating border security, which then prompted an attendee to shout, “We are all immigrants.”
In Virginia, Democratic Rep. Jennifer McClellan held a town hall intended to focus on issues affecting senior citizens, but the frustrations surrounding the Trump administration’s handling of immigration dominated the meeting, diverting it from topics such as Social Security and Medicaid. People are starting to pay attention, and they are concerned. Among the only times McClellan drew applause occurred when she condemned the Trump administration’s handling of deportations and its use of “Alligator Alcatraz,” a migrant detention center in Florida that a federal judge has ordered closed.
“I hope that when we enforce our immigration policy—whether it’s who we detain, who we deport—that we do so consistent with American values of due process and compassion,” McCellan said. Many people agree with McCellan concerning due process and compassion from a moral perspective, but due process and compassion from our government often get lost in partisan politics. The same is true with fair elections, checks and balances, and holding elected leaders accountable. How would MAGA Republicans respond if Barack Obama used the same authoritarian tactics we see used by Donald Trump?
Our democracy is shaky, but we still live in a democracy despite the gerrymandering in Texas and California. Ironically, with all of the anger over ICE activities and deportation, Republicans are counting on increased support from Hispanic voters to win five newly redrawn congressional districts. Republicans specifically increased the share of Hispanic voters in three of the five targeted districts, capitalizing on recent political shifts to the right among Hispanic voters in South Texas and urban areas like Houston and San Antonio. Will the Republicans be able to hold onto those gains, given the backlash GOP congressional lawmakers are receiving?
A July national poll by Equis Research found that one-third of Hispanic voters who backed Biden in 2020 and then Trump in 2024 are planning to vote for a Democratic congressional candidate. Another one-third of these voters are undecided. The fact that we have the gerrymandered district in Texas comes from a direct request from Trump, whom Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker called a “wannabe dictator.” In a democracy, every citizen has certain basic rights that the government should not take away. Free elections through a fair system of representation are part of those basic rights, which gerrymandering takes away.
Across America, demonstrations were held over the Labor Day weekend as a public protest against policies under the Trump administration. These public protests represent our rights in a democracy to assemble freely and protest government actions. Everyone has an obligation to exercise these rights peacefully, with respect for the law and in consideration of the rights of others. President Trump doesn’t like it when people are protesting against him and his administration. On June 14, as the President held a $45 million national military parade in Washington, D.C., people gathered for counter-action, attending “No Kings” protests to “reject authoritarianism.” Ahead of the demonstrations in D.C., Trump warned “people that want to protest will be met with big force,” saying participants are “people that hate our country.”
Despite the intimidating warning, demonstrators will continue to exercise their right to protest. We elected a president, but Gov. Pritzker is correct. We have a “wannabe dictator” who wants to prevent citizens from exercising their right to protest peacefully. He is targeting political opponents, purging top generals from the military, imposing his will over the arts, installing loyalists to deconstruct the federal bureaucracy, and he is taking power from Congress while expecting the Supreme Court to also fall in line. Because the U.S. Constitution is not partisan, Republicans and Democrats who found themselves protesting Trump policies should also be protesting the Trump dictatorship.
Written by David W. Marshall
Official website; https://davidwmarshallauthor.com/
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