Gelacio Velazquez is an illegal immigrant from Mexico. He calls Donald Trump a “racist” and likens the GOP to “the diabolical nun” who “terrorizes our immigrant community.” He also proudly tells CNN that if he could vote in the 2024 election, he would vote for the former Republican president.
“I wouldn’t vote for Joe Biden for this reason,” Velazquez told CNN. “Under Joe Biden, the country is an economic disaster.”
Velazquez may not (yet) be eligible to vote in the States, but the electorate largely agrees that, on balance, Biden is the much bigger economic risk, with an ABC/Ipsos poll granting Trump a double-digit margin over Biden on the economy (43%-31%) and inflation (41%-31%) in particular. But more meaningful is the sheer salience of the economy in voters’ minds. Silo each individual candidate and poll voters for their greatest concerns about each, and a stark picture emerges.
It is not as though Trump is a perfect candidate or, in a vacuum, even a particularly strong one. Voters clearly have concerns about Trump’s personal corruption and vendettas. But Trump trying to spite the National Archives to keep “his documents” does not exacerbate the overall price levels, which have risen 18% under Biden’s presidency. Trump whining about bootlicking Republicans proving insufficient sycophantic does not exacerbate the price of food, which has risen 21% under Biden’s presidency. Trump saying nice things about dictators right before he stabs them in the back does not exacerbate the price of energy, which has risen 32% under Biden’s presidency.
Basically, all of Trump’s worst foibles are obnoxious headlines, but they do not make the average person’s life materially worse. By contrast, voters’ greatest concerns about Biden — after the 81-year-old’s advanced age — are all the ways he makes our paychecks smaller in real terms and our groceries and rents more expensive.
Like most illegal immigrants, Velazquez probably is a perfectly hardworking fellow who came here for work. Illegally immigrating to this country is indeed illegal, but the calculus of the moral majority of non-violent illegal immigrants who want to cultivate their children and careers here is not too different than the moral calculus of citizens. Hence, it’s worth considering that even an illegal who calls Trump a racist is warning Democrats their message is garbage.
“Democrats are like kind nuns you find on the street that tell you they are going to help you, but when they have the power to do it, they forget their promises,” Velazquez said. “If I could vote right now, I would vote for Donald Trump. He’s a nationalist and wants this country to be well. My children were born here, and I want my children to be well.”
While the term “nationalism” conjures up abstractions of white supremacy and neo-fascism in the minds of too many in the media, for the rest of the world, nationalism is a mere re-assertion of national sovereignty and a reminder that however much international collaboration we value, be it NATO or the USMCA, our principle priority much remain our own nation.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“Of course, I don’t like Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric, but it’s just politics,” Velazquez said. “Some will judge me, ‘Hey, you want Trump to win?’ He’s a nationalist, that’s why I want him to win. Nationalists love their country.”
The implication is that Biden, and by extension Democrats, do not. Is that correct? Maybe not, but that’s what this immigrant clearly believes.