Despite an overwhelming wave of support from Latino voters and major concerns over illegal immigration, CNN commentator Maria Cardona insisted they’ll regret their support for President-elect Donald Trump.
The Republican secured major gains across the Latino and Hispanic community, and won a majority of the Hispanic male vote. Former Democrat strongholds such as Miami-Dade voted in favor of Trump, breaking decades of precedent.
Trump’s performance among such a crucial demographic prompted debate between Spanish speakers Cardona and Giancarlo Sopo – Trump’s campaign director for Spanish Language Media in 2020. The latter cited immigration as a key issue for Hispanic voters.
“Immigration was cited as one of the top 5 issues for Hispanics for voting against Kamala Harris. So I think it’s very clear, no matter which polls you look at, favor a very strong border policy because it’s just common sense,” Sopo said. “And we simply cannot have millions of people rolling around this country most of whom have not been vetted, many of them have criminal backgrounds, and I agree most of them just come here because they want to work and they want to have a better life, but we don’t know that because we don’t know who these people are. So, I actually do not anticipate any kind of major backlash to any kind of border enforcement.”
Cardona was less convinced, and insisted the former Trump staff knew “so much better than what [she was] spouting right now.”
“Our community is going to go through pain, our community is going to go through cruelty, that is not what anyone voted for,” the CNN broadcaster retorted. “And in fact, I will tell the American electorate, if the incoming Trump administration goes through this, here’s the people they’re gonna go after. They’re gonna go after your kids’ classmates, they’re gonna go after the delivery guy, they’re gonna go after the guy who take care of your kids, they’re gonna go after the people who work in restaurants, they’re gonna go after the business owners in your community.”
Watch the full exchange:
Many on social media sided with Sopa in response to the clip.
Others were more convinced by Cardona’s response.
