John Leguizamo thinks that Democrats take Latino voters “for granted” — and that it could come back to bite them in November’s presidential election between President Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
Speculating how Trump, who campaigned in 2016 off a “build the wall” platform along the U.S.-Mexico border, could sway the Latino vote in 2024, the comedian and “Daily Show” guest host admitted Monday that “we don’t give a flying F about immigration.”
“It looks like the Democrats are in trouble and you might be thinking, how is this possible Donald Trump is winning Latinos?” Leguizamo said while guest hosting “The Daily Show.” “‘Build-the-wall’ Donald Trump? ‘Mass deportations’ Donald Trump? The guy who thinks [Puerto Rican rapper] Daddy Yankee is a baseball player Donald Trump?”
Sitting with “Daily Show” writer Kate Radley on Monday’s episode of the “Daily Show: Ears Edition” podcast, the “Violent Night” actor explained the thought behind the eviscerating segment.
“It’s about a call to action for Biden, a call to action to Julie Chavez Rodriguez, his campaign manager. It’s a call to action for Latinos and everybody listening that we are the largest voting bloc after white people — 36 million Latinos are going to vote, and we’re going to decide who’s going to be president,” he said.
Added Leguizamo, “It’s tricky now, because we don’t care about immigration, unfortunately. I thought we did, but we don’t give a flying F about immigration. We care about our businesses, we care about improving our business, about getting bank loans, about getting taxes cut.”
“What do you think Democrats are doing wrong in their messaging? Why are they losing Latino voters right now?” Radley asked.
“Because they take us for granted,” replied Leguizamo, explaining that Trump won Florida in 2020 because the GOP successfully targeted Latino voters.
“Republicans were coming at us in Whatsapp with ads, they were coming at us in our Spanish-language radio stations with all kinds of trigger words like, ‘socialism.’ That triggers Cubans, Venezuelans and Colombians …. They talked our talk.”
He added, “Biden assumed in 2020 that we were Democrats just because we’re Latino. No, you have to come for us. You have to work for us. You have to knock on our doors. You have to call us. You have to talk about the words that trigger us into voting for you.”
The actor urge Democrats to put their money into “grassroots organizations that are working their ass off to flip these red states.”
Watch Leguizamo’s podcast interview in the video above.
