On Saturday, the Republican National Committee (RNC) helped Donald Trump unveil his so-called Hispanic Advisory Committee for Trump, which is kinda like Cherokees for Andrew Jackson. The big news on the national level is that those in attendance claim Trump regrets calling Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals, and vows to not implement a mass deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants—developments which should sure play well with his core fans, and which Trump's campaign has desperately try to walk back ever since.
But on the local level, the big news is the guy on the left of the photo. It figures that the only Latino from California willing to sign up to Trump's wab committee is from Orange County. But he ain't just any wab. Mario Rodriguez is the chairman of the Hispanic 100, a political action committee (PAC) tasked with getting more Latinos in Orange County to vote Republican, which is kinda like getting Palestinians to go Likud.
More on the Hispanic 100 in a bit. For now, let's focus on how much of a sellout Rodriguez is. He has always portrayed his Republicanism as that of the the compassionate conservative kind: his bio is chockablock with accolades and awards, and his resumé includes stints advising or working for moderate Republicans like Dubya, John McCain, Meg Whitman, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
And now Rodriguez has decided to throw away all that goodwill on the most politically divisive, reprehensible, anti-Mexican candidate of our times. This despite Rodriguez telling the Orange County Register back in 2012 regarding the GOP obsession with slurring undocumented immigrants, “”A certain faction of the Republican Party is wrong on this. When you start attacking illegal Hispanics, you hit at the heart of Hispanics who are here legally as well. It's the most personal issue.” This despite Rodriguez co-signing a letter last year trashing Trump for calling Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals, with the letter promising, “We will never support you, your candidacy or your enterprises.”
But that vow doesn't matter to Mario anymore, because he's now literally Trump's right-hand Mexican.
Rodriguez is siding with Trump even though two other Hispanic 100 board members (former Assemblymember Bob Pacheco and former U.S. Treasurer Rosario Marin) have publicly announced they're not supporting Trump, with Marin going so far as to endorse Hillary Clinton. But lest Trump thinks he's got a winner with Rodriguez, he's actually getting one giant—to quote Tom Leykis imitating Trumptalk—loo-sah. Under Rodriguez, the Hispanic 100 has accomplished nada in terms of getting more OC Latinos to go Republican—indeed, the voter rolls for the OC GOP are at their lowest ever. The Hispanic 100's golden boy, former SanTana councilmember Carlos Bustamante—you know, the guy that Hispanic 100 co-founder Manuel Ramirez once called “the face of the Republican Party of the future” and said of Busty, “We are very excited about him moving to higher public office”—is currently sitting in the pokey for sex crimes. The Hispanic 100 is more known for embarrassing moments—like when Whitman and Carly Fiorina awkwardly slammed tequila shots during the group's annual fundraiser—than anything of political substance. Ask most local raza what the Hispanic 100 is, and they'll probably guess it's some lame DC Comics release.
But, hey: Rodriguez and Trump deserve each other. Can't wait to see Mario try to escort Donald through SanTana—who are we kidding? Neither of them have the huevos. Oh, and #fucktrump
