ALBUQUERQUE — Donald J. Trump is unlikely to win the general election unless he improves his dismal standing among Hispanics and women. But his efforts to win over those two crucial constituencies is off to a rocky start.
On Tuesday night, Mr. Trump purposefully attacked Gov. Susana Martinez of New Mexico, who in addition to being the most prominent Hispanic woman in American politics, also happens to be the chairwoman of the Republican Governors Association.
Appearing at a campaign rally in Albuquerque, the largest city in Ms. Martinez’s state, Mr. Trump unleashed a blistering assault on the governor, who skipped the event, by saying she was “not doing the job.”
He faulted her by falsely asserting she was allowing Syrian refugees to settle in the state, and blamed her for Albuquerque’s unemployment numbers as well as the increase in the number of New Mexico residents on food stamps.
“It’s your governor’s fault,” Mr. Trump told thousands of booing supporters. “We have to get your governor and get going. She’s got to do a better job, O.K.? Your governor has got to do a better job.”
The swipes at Ms. Martinez, delivered in two separate instances during his speech, seemed designed to send a message: If the presumptive Republican nominee is attacked, critics can expect Mr. Trump to hit them back far harder.
What is this guy’s problem? Ms. Martinez is highly respected. Trump gets low marks with both women and Latinos. These kinds of unprovoked attacks certainly will harm him politically with these two groups.
Hopefully those who must say they support Trump to stay in good graces with their party will just go behind the curtain on election day and write in Mickey Mouse or some other more deserving candidate.
Meanwhile Trump continues to try to buy his ticket to the White House. I simply will have no respect for any Republican who caves and supports this man. There is just something evil about him.
Yeah..that wasn’t the smartest move.
I was hoping he’d pick her as his VP nominee. I think she’s done a good job in a purple state.
The attack seemed to come out of nowhere.
Hopefully she has enough pride to tell him to go take a hike if he should ask her.
@MoonHowler
Hopefully, she’d cuss him out in private, and then go out an balance and moderate the ticket. I’ve been watching her a couple years now. Impressive….really impressive. Really, you’d have the aggressive, bull-in-the-chinashop “get things done” candidate, and the sensible, commonse, “Ok, we can do that, but there’s a better way to go about it” ticket. That’s what I’ve liked about Martinez AND OK governor Fallin. They both know how to deal with the base. They’ve both said “I hear you, and agree with you, BUT, there’s a better way to approach our shared objectives, that won’t result in pissing everyone off. And they’ve governed this way.
Now if you can figure out a way to get rid of Trump…
@Steve Thomas
Governor Mary Falin? Really? Tenth most disliked governor in the U.S. Of course, Sam Brownback is least liked of all. Do you like him also Steve?
Why would anyone sully their own name by associating it with Donald Trump? I agree with you Moon regarding any Republican who supports Trump. I don’t know how Reince Priebus can look himself in the mirror without a strong desire to cut his own throat. He has taken a mealy mouthed approach to Trumps asinine activities and claims Trump is beginning to act more “presidential”. Ha! Pries will say anything to keep his job. I almost feel sorry for Paul Ryan who is teetering on the edge of the abyss. The Republicans are so afraid of losing ground they are willing to go to any lengths to stay in power, including endorsing Trump. Ryan will more than likely find himself bending over to kiss Trump’s butt.
I agree with you, George.
I’ve been out of the country for about a week and it sure is tough to come back to the unappetizing electoral choices we are facing.
This morning I heard the Wall Street Journal columnist, Brett Stephens, say that he considered it the profound duty of every Republican, every conservative to ensure that Trump was defeated by the largest margin of defeat ever, or at least the largest since Alf Landon. I found that somewhat refreshing, after a week or so (this started before I went overseas last weekend) of Republicans who said particularly damning things about Trump during the primary season, suddenly turning around and offering him support.
I wish Clinton would select a black latina woman as her running mate. (Of source there is no reason to do this strategically.) Then when she wins all the crazy racists following Trump like a pied piper would explode and the ones left would not dare conspire to assassinate her given the prospect of elevating their most despised people to leader of the free world.