In a very odd and ironic twist, Donald Trump's reelection campaign just released a new ad on Facebook - in Spanish. Considering that the president has been recorded criticizing those who speak the language in the United States, the post seems to not realize the irony of its action.
The ad, which reads "¡RESERVA TU ENTRADA YA! Lanzamiento de Evangélicos por Trump en Miami!", is for an event in Miami, Florida on January. The event is entitled "Evangelicals for Trump" and is one of the many 2020 election rallies organized by his campaign.
On the record
President Trump is well known for his disdain for the Spanish language. During the 2016 election campaign period, Trump criticized Jeb Bush saying that "We have a country where, to assimilate, you have to speak English. We have to have assimilation. To have a country, we have to have assimilation.
"This is a country where we speak English, not Spanish," is a line Trump often repeated during his 2016 bid against Democratic candidate Hilary Clinton.
However, it does make sense to target the Latino base. The US census shows that over 40 million Americans speak Spanish at home. This is roughly around 13% of the US population, which could be critical in a reelection year where Trump faces a mounting Democratic party campaign against him, criticizing him for his handling of immigration, among other things.
Rally the Righteous
Yet at the same time, the ad also targets evangelicals, one of the strongest support bases of the Republican party. White Evangelicals voted for Trump en masse during the 2016 elections, with a whopping 80% voting for him over Hilary Clinton.
The rally could be seen as a move by the Trump campaign to solidify its base before the 2020 primaries begin. A recent editorial by Christianity Today, a publication owned by prominent evangelical Billy Graham, criticized Trump with the scathing rejection of his actions in office. As per the editorial:
"But the facts in this instance are unambiguous: The president of the United States attempted to use his political power to coerce a foreign leader to harass and discredit one of the president's political opponents. That is not only a violation of the Constitution; more importantly, it is profoundly immoral."
However, according to recent polls, Trump is still enjoying support from the White Evangelical base. He still holds a 77% approval rating from the coveted voter base and is still seen as the Republican presidential nominee for the 2020 presidential elections.
Virality of Politics
With the 2020 elections just 10 months away, all campaigns have been working nonstop. With how much influence Social Media has shown during the 2016 elections, presidential campaigns have become more active in using social media platforms to further their messages.
However, the campaigns are much more restricted in what they can do. Twitter has banned all political advertisements as a shot against Facebook, who refuses to do so. However, Facebook has implemented more tools for their platform in order for users to be more aware of how the candidates are using their platform.
