Trump’s campaign team thinks they can win in 2020 by reaching out to Hispanics: Report

With numerous polls showing him losing badly to several of the 2020 Democratic candidates who are hoping to unseat him, President Donald Trump and his re-election team are focusing on an unlikely source of votes in the key state of Florida: Hispanics.

Politico reports:

The campaign plans to use Florida as a proving ground for a Latino outreach initiative, hoping to replicate the statewide 2018 midterms when Democrats failed to turn out this liberal-leaning segment of the electorate.

According to Trump 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale:

“Florida is a unique state for a lot of reasons, and the varied Latino population is one of them. It is the perfect place to soon be launching our Latino coalition. The Latino community is not monolithic in Florida, just like in the rest of the country, and we will have people from these diverse communities speaking to their friends and neighbors on the president’s behalf.”

Keep in mind that this is the very same Donald Trump who on Tuesday morning threatened to begin deporting millions of immigrants from the United States, the majority of whom are Hispanic:

But there may well be a problem with the Trump 2020 strategy as it relates to Florida, and the president has no one to blame for it but himself:

However, Florida has the nation’s largest Puerto Rican population: They make up about a third of the state’s Hispanic voters, which in turn accounts for about 16 percent of the state’s registered voters. Poll after poll shows Trump’s numbers with this segment of the electorate are poor. Trump’s strong standing with Republican-leaning Cuban Americans, though, helps counteract the antipathy in the Puerto Rican community.

Also, Democrats aren’t about to concede the Sunshine State to Trump given how well gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum did in 2018, and they’re countering the president’s re-election plans with their own strategy:

Juan Peñalosa, executive director of the Florida Democratic Party, said the campaign has launched a Spanish-language radio program to counter the Trump campaign’s outreach to the state’s growing Venezuelan population. He said Venezuelans dislike the president’s refusal to grant temporary protected status to immigrants from the South American country as its economy crumbles under the dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro.

“Trump is paying lip service to the Venezuelan community,” Peñalosa said.

Democrats hope to register 200,000 new voters this year. And former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg have announced separate plans to help register and turn out voters as well.

If Donald Trump thinks he can squeak out a victory next year by appealing to Hispanics, he’ll also have to hope they haven’t heard a word he’s said on the issue of immigration since he became president. As usual, Trump may well be his own worst enemy.

Featured Image Via CBS News