One thing that liberals and conservatives have in common: racism
In fact, the modern GOP -- which has really descended down a rat hole since Ronald Reagan won 35 percent of the Latino vote in 1984 and George W. Bush won 40 percent in 2004 -- now approaches Latinos not with hope and optimism but with fear and loathing. The cultural right portrays Latinos as dumb, dangerous, diseased and determined to change the complexion of the United States.
That line of attack used to be offensive and hurtful. Now it's boring and predictable.
Still, as a Hispanic who votes -- and writes -- the liberal media made sure I heard about the interview that Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, gave to a far-right publication in Austria. It was filled with white nationalist racism.
The interview, which was published in September but only last week came to light in the United States, makes clear that King is obsessed with the birthrates of Muslim and Latino immigrants. He thinks demographics point to a "slow-motion cultural suicide" for Western Civilization, which will soon be "subjugated by the people who are the enemies of faith, the enemies of justice." It all comes down to nativist math.
"The U.S. subtracts from its population a million of our babies in the form of abortion," King said in the interview. "We add to our population approximately 1.8 million of somebody else's babies who are raised in another culture before they get to us."
Get the picture? Whether they're conservatives or liberals, racists are like cars. To see what you're dealing with, you have to look under the hood.
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Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com. His daily podcast, "Navarrette Nation," is available through every podcast app.
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