Not Even Flip Flopping Can Save You Now Donald!

By Felicia J. Persaud

News Americas, Fri. Sept. 2, 2016: Well, well! The Donald has finally woken up from his xenophobic slumber to the blistering reality that Mitt Romney had to deal with in 2012 – that no Presidential candidate can win a general election without the black and immigrant voting blocs.

Maybe The Donald failed to get that memo before, or he was so focused on winning the Primary elections by pandering to dumb and angry White men who feel immigrants and blacks need to be put in their “place” again, that he missed the GOP’s post 2012 election report. You know the one that showed Romney was defeated overwhelmingly by black, Latino and other races who voted for President Obama.

Suddenly, it seems someone has splashed The Donald’s face with a dose of this reality and he has woke up and done a Mitt Romney flip flop, back flop and about turn – all in one.  First he started speaking about black issues at his all White rallies, even as his own black Florida advisor was shut out of a rally in Florida reportedly because – he is black!

Now reports are that Trump is “undecided” on whether he will stick to his long heralded tune of deporting millions of undocumented immigrants living in the US.

Trump himself told Fox News last week: “We want to come up with a fair but firm process. Fair but firm.”  Of course, as usual, he did not provide any details and he cancelled a policy speech on immigration that was set for Thursday August 25, 2016.

This comes as a BuzzFeed report claims Trump, in a meeting recently with a Hispanic advisory council, spoke about a “humane and efficient” way to work with undocumented immigrants in the country currently.

Of course this is in sharp contrast from the entire racist, anti-immigrant campaign Trump has run to date –  the one in which he says Mexicans are “rapists criminals,” reiterates building a wall, deporting “illegal aliens” and banning Muslim immigrants. You know – the one that has fired up the GOP’s base of “crazies” and gotten them seeing pure White again.

So much so that some have jumped up and down screaming about deporting the “beaners” while others have felt angry enough to attack a Hispanic and black man, spit on anti-Trump protestors, or like a Virginia couple recently – assume that anyone who looks foreign is “illegal” and therefore  leaving a hateful message on a receipt to a US-born Latino that stated: “We Only Tip Citizens” seemed like fine dining etiquette.

Wonder what that base is going to think of The Donald now amid all this reported flip flopping? Of course he will lie to them as he has all along and claim he will never flip flop.

But whatever he does now, the reality is Dear Donald, its way too late. Your draconian rhetoric has sent all the immigrant voters running for cover to Hillary Clinton’s camp and no amount of flip flops, side flops and back flops now will bring them back.

If Mitt Romney could not come back from his flip flops in 2012, there is no way, you and your nasty, xenophobic, ignorant 2016 campaign will succeed in doing anything but perform far worse than Romney did four years ago – especially with the Black and Immigrant voting bloc; thus sinking the GOP’s ship further down into the abyss of absolute defeat.

The writer is CMO of Hard Beat Communications, which owns the brands News Americas Now, CaribPR Wire and Invest Caribbean Now.