White supremacy and the Latino vote

I was a Spanish interpreter at a poll site in a majority Latino neighborhood during the 2020 presidential election. Throughout the day I helped a wide range of Spanish-speaking citizens exercise their civic duty—Americans of all ages and genders, bearing the full spectrum of skin complexions, living out what it means when we say we are a nation of immigrants. I was surprised both by how smoothly everything went and by how many average citizens it takes to make our democracy work. But I was most surprised by the number of Latinos who asked me to help them vote for Donald Trump. I shouldn’t have been, since historically one-third of Latinos have voted Republican. But Trump is not a traditional Republican. At the time, my greatest concern was not the outcome of the election but the reaction of progressives if they found out.

With the 2024 presidential election, the rest of America learned what many Latinos already knew: far-right sympathizers exist in every demographic in this country, including Latinos. In Defectors, Paola Ramos offers a deep dive into the world of Latino right-wing sympathizers from across the country. Through interviews and careful reporting, the seasoned journalist reveals the logic behind their ideological affiliation, while also offering nuanced insights as a Latina. Ramos is a member of the “royal family” of Latino journalism. For 38 years, her father, Jorge Ramos, anchored the most-watched Spanish-­language evening news in the United States. Her mother, Gina Montaner, is a journalist whose father (to whom Ramos dedicates the book) was Carlos Alberto Montaner, a Cuban journalist exiled in Madrid for his fierce criticism of Fidel Castro.

Defectors divides the logic for Latino far-right affiliation into three categories: tribalism, traditionalism, and trauma. On the surface, some of the people profiled in the book align with popular stereotypes of typical Trump supporters. But Ramos’s reporting pushes us to reconsider simplistic narratives, and a careful reading reveals the complexities behind their attraction to right-wing politics.