Stop Blaming the Voters For Turning Florida Red – Again

By Tim Kennedy To the dismay of many within Team Trump, Joe Biden (legally or not) is the projected winner of the 2020 Presidential election. However, this has not stopped the Trump campaign from taking stock of its legal capabilities, while Biden’s team seeks to possibly force the General Service Administration to recognize the vice president’s victory. In this midst of this fast-moving, contested election, one seemingly monumental shift amongst the US electorate went relatively unnoticed on election night. Florida, for the second election in a row, went Red. More than that, Miami-Dade County, an area the Biden Campaign and its backers such as Michael Bloomberg, devoted countless resources to, showed lackluster support for the Democratic ticket. Some have begun to speculate why Trump performed better than expected. Like 2016, the Left is looking for a scapegoat. However, this time around it's not Russiagate, “white male resentment,” or FBI director Comey. Instead, it’s the “brainwashing” of the victims of communism. This theory is not only patronizing but also negates the overarching issues within today’s Democratic Party. As of Nov. 6, Biden received only about 617,201 votes throughout Miami-Dade county, which consists of more than 636,000 registered Democrats and almost 500,000 unaffiliated voters. Compared to 2016, Biden’s performance fell about 6,000 votes short. President Donald Trump is the real winner of the night. In 2016, Trump received 34.1 percent, about 333,600 votes. Four years later, the President shattered his previous upset, collecting more than 532,000 votes, about 46.1 percent of all votes in Miami-Dade county. This was not President Trump’s victory alone. Maria Elvira Salazar managed to unseat former Clinton Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala from Florida’s 27th Congressional District, reverting part of the county back to Republican control. So, what happened? Natalie Morales, a first generation Cuban American actress, claimed on Twitter that, “I, unfortunately, have friends and some family in Miami that voted for Trump. They aren't racist. They aren't bad people who want bad things for the world. They are 10000% brainwashed.” This notion, that Latinos, especially those with family members who fled communist regimes, have fallen prey to “misinformation” campaigns is nothing more than a classic scapegoat ploy. Isvett Verde, an opinion editor at the New York Times and Miami native, contends that terms like the “Latino vote” are obsolete. Identity politics are becoming more and more antiquated each year as ethnic political support diversifies. Latino voters, like all Americas, are driven by individual interests. That’s just what happened in Miami-Dade County. Given the current social climate, one mired by pandemic and mass unemployment, there are few reasons why the Biden-Harris ticket shouldn’t be winning by a landslide right now, as the polls predicted. But they aren’t, why? Alvaro Espinoza-Hueck, a registered Republican and Miami native, attests that the Trump campaign worked tirelessly to frame Joe Biden as a socialist. Although Alvaro acknowledges that comparing the former Vice President to Hugo Chávez or Fidel Castro is a bit of a stretch, he does highlight the Republican claim that, “the Democrats are leaning at little bit more left than we would like.” When asked how he felt about those expressing discontent towards the Latinos in Florida who supported Trump, Alvaro urged these naysayers to see the parallels between Biden’s campaign promises and the similar commitments made by prominent socialist figures: “here are some policies that they are pushing that are reminiscent of these socialist countries in Latin America. Like universal healthcare…more funding in public education. Those were all things that were preached in Cuba, Venezuela…” Like many residents of Miami-Dade county, his family’s experience with communism is real. His great grandfather and uncle were killed by the Sandinistas during the socialist revolution in Nicaragua. Biden vows to renew relations with the socialist Cuban regime. In doing so, Biden has made no commitment to extend special protection status to those fleeing the Castro regime, which was originally taken away by the Obama-Biden administration in 2016. However, it doesn’t stop there. The Biden-Harris ticket’s underperformance this election cycle can be best attributed to the duo’s indecisive position on Court Packing, complicity towards rioting, and embrace of unchecked deficit spending and job killing tax hikes. The Democrats’ underwhelming results in key House and Senate races have caused the Party’s ranks to descend into a blame game. Many are now urging their colleagues to never use the word socialism again. Although the sun is slowly setting on a Trump victory this election cycle, the president’s legacy lives on in key battleground states, especially Florida. Biden, and the Democratic party as a whole, have lost the support of the victims of communism. Do not blame the voters in these districts for favoring a candidate who promised that America would never be a socialist country, while rejecting the other – whose own associates have mixed feelings about communism. Tim Kennedy is a D.C resident and works for a think tank. The views expressed in this article are his alone and do not reflect the views of any organization or individual. Order Newt's Latest Book: https://www.gingrich360.com/trump-and-the-american-future