CBS News reported that several Hispanic advisers to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s campaign felt “disgusted” by Trump’s hardline immigration speech in Arizona, noting that “some of these individuals resign[ed]” and that “they felt all of their work that they’ve done to this point was all for naught and that the campaign was sincerely not listening.”
Faced with dismal polling numbers among Latino voters, Trump and his campaign suggested that there could be a “softening” on Trump’s immigration position. The campaign convened a National Hispanic Advisory Council that met with Trump on August 20, and on the August 24 edition of Fox News’ Hannity, Trump said, “there certainly could be a softening” of his immigration policy.
After Trump delivered the highly anticipated speech in which he solidified his extreme, hardline stance on immigration, media widely concluded that he had offered a “repackaged version of [his] standard stump lines” and that the term “pivot” should “be put in a lock box” when talking about Trump. MSNBC’s Ari Melber wrote that former Trump adviser Jacob Monty referred to Trump’s campaign as “a media play,” and Politico reported that other Trump surrogates -- including Alfonso Aguilar and Pastor Ramiro Pena -- were also reconsidering their support following the speech. According to Pena, “The 'National Hispanic Advisory Council' seems to be simply for optics and I do not have the time or energy for a scam.”
On September 1, CBS News live stream contributor Leslie Sanchez reported that “several individuals” from Trump’s council of Hispanic advisers described the August 31 speech as “horrible” “dishonest” and “tone-deaf.” Sanchez reported that the advisers felt “disgusted” about Trump’s tone and his indication that Mexico would pay for the wall when “hours prior he had been on stage with [Enrique] Peña Nieto, the Mexican president saying ‘we didn’t get into the dynamics of who would pay for the wall’.” Sanchez added that, “As one reported to me, he said “it’s as if they went with the hardliners who were always in Trump’s ear and ignored everything we just said.”
From the September 1 CBS News Live Stream: