LOW BLOW: The NYT’s ‘Far-Right Latinas’ Smear Was About Ethnic Disqualification

The purpose of yesterday’s disgusting New York Times hit job on Texas congressional candidates Cassy García, Mónica de la Cruz, and Congresswoman Mayra Flores (R-TX34), titled “The Rise of the Far-Right Latina”, was to signal them as race-traitors to the rest of the Acela Media, and have that as the frame of they are covered going forward. However, such attempts are unlikely to be successful.

Look at how national politics reporter Jennifer Medina characterizes Flores’ win in the TX-34 special election, and look at what is used in order to other Flores:

Following a special election in which she was elected to the Rio Grande Valley congressional seat, Mayra Flores is now the second Republican to do so. In Texas, she was the first Latina Republican to be elected to Congress. She is considered a distant possibility of winning a full term, as her abbreviated term ends at the close of the year.

Most striking of all is the fact that Ms. Flores was able to win by shunning moderates and embracing extreme right. Her support for Donald J. Trump on her sleeve — Marjorie Taylor Greene is more popular than Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Her campaign slogan — “God, family, country” — was meant to appeal to what she calls the “traditional values” of her majority-Hispanic district in the border city of Brownsville. She called for President Biden’s impeachment. Twitter: QAnon hashtags. And she called the Democratic Party the “greatest threat America faces.”

An interview with her in her barren office, the day following her swearing-in ceremony. Ms. Flores had to answer a question regarding whether Mr. Biden was the legally elected president.

“He’s the worst president of the United States,” she said.

She repeated her non-answer when asked three times more if Mr. Biden was legitimately elected.

Of Cassy García, Medina writes:

Ms. Garcia however, stated that she was a Republican throughout her entire life. Born conservative She went to church 3 times per weekAfter graduating from college, he entered politics as an outreach director at Mr. Cruz’s McAllen office.

She has been a strong candidate and has been focused on Religious liberty, school choice, and bans on abortion — issues on which she said the region’s Hispanic voters were increasingly like-minded.

Pay attention to the flagged items Times readers: adjacency to Trump (including a direct comparison to Georgia firebrand Marjorie Taylor Greene), the appeals to “God, family, country”, and policy specifics on abortion and school choice. In this order they represent: Times It is clear that readers believe the Texas Trio, as envisioned by the Times).

Because the Latino identity is primarily political (Mike Gonzalez’ scholarship on this is essential), any deviations from orthodoxy are considered race betrayals. The most obvious and obnoxious example of this happened in 2018, when Univision’s Jorge Ramos asked Beto O’Rourke whether Ted Cruz betrayed Latinos. O’Rourke, to his credit, refused the bait.

You might also consider as our friend Giancarlo Sopo noted, that there were no “rise of the far-left Latina” pieces written when Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez entered into national prominence. Because it’s assumed that leftism has become the default Latino political position, there was no star-making or elevation.

NYT’s piece gives permission to Acela Media, their customers and the rest of Acela Media to denigrate and disqualify Texas Trio in a way that is reminiscent of Justice Clarence Thomas’s treatment since the Dobbs ruling. These efforts will likely fail.

Univision and Telemundo, which have far greater reach in South Texas than The New York Times, made sure to run glowing “Latina Pride” stories when Flores won her special election. This is a common way for immigrant stories to be featured on networks. To hide Flores’ historic victory in Congress, a woman from Mexico, Burgos Tamaulipas and Tamaulipas would have been a major departure. 

These pieces will continue to appear in Acela Media and cable as election fever heats up. Now you are aware WhyThey run.

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