You know, for a guy desperate to pander to the Cuban-American community in his state...

[Tommy Carcetti]

...you would think Ron DeSantis would realize the optics of using the transportation of immigrants as unwitting pawns in a sick political prank against your adversaries might not be the best to follow.

Hasn't he ever heard of Fidel Castro and the Mariel Boat Lift? Or at the very least, watched the first five minutes of Scarface?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariel_boatlift

[lapfog_1]

1. you would think the Cuban immigrants would be totally against this

but from the stories I have read, that may not be the case.

[tinrobot]

2. As long as the immigrants are not Cuban, they don't care

[Samrob]

3. THIS! nt

[LenaBaby61]

7. Many of the Cubans who support DeathSantis .....

Are extremely racist, and live off of the the government there in Florida that they don't want others who need help living off of, and are all for this sort of thing. They're indoctrinated with lies and are told by the GQP that Dems are all communists/fascists (Can't be both, duh) ... per what my Cuban guy friend and his wife explained to me over a dozen years ago. They live in Broward County. My friend told me that he doesn't fool with his Dad's side of the the family because many are so racist against & hate Haitians. I guess not. My friend's wife is Haitian. SMDH.

I'll be glad when--not if but when--DeathSantis starts to be investjgated by the FBI because his fat ass is 'allegedly' crooked and rotten as MAGA comes. AlL these racist, anti-woke, stunts he pulls and he'll never He be president

[TheRealNorth]

4. There is racism/classism within the Latino community

[LenaBaby61]

8. REALLY THIS 👆🏻👆🏻👆🏻👆🏻

[Marius25]

5. Most Cubans probably support this.

There's lots of hate for other Hispanics among certain Hispanic groups. Most Cuban voters in Florida are pro-fascism it seems like.

[inthewind21]

6. Cubans

in Florida could care less. They got theirs. @* those "others"

Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Cuban Adjustment Act to provide Cuban immigrants with a quick path to legal residency. While the law originally called for applicants to have resided in the United States for at least two years, the requirement was lowered to one year in 1976.

But Mexican dreamers who have been here damn near if not their entire lives, oh no, we can't have that now can we?

[Brother Buzz]

9. He only panders to the moneyed (I've got mine) Cubans who vote

2nd and 3rd generation Cubans (I believe most of the 1st generation have crossed to rainbow bridge).

[atreides1]

11. Good point.

But before they crossed over the River Styx...that 1st generation made sure that the 2nd and 3rd generations believed that Fulgencio Batista was a benevolent leader who only had the interests of the Cuban people at heart and that if it wasn't for the evil Castro and his cohorts...the people would have been living in a paradise of plenty!!!

[Brother Buzz]

13. And rubbing shoulders with the mob bosses

[LeftInTX]

10. I have no idea which political party the Mariel Boat Lift people belong to

I always think of conservative Cubans as Desi Arnaz, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio types.

Yes, Desi was a Republican.

[In It to Win It]

12. Cubans that I've been around tend to not care about immigration unless it's Cubans

being sent back to Cuba, which is never happening.

They'll tell you to send every single one of them back to their country, but the Cubans back to Cuba is a no-no.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

14. DeSantis invites election backlash with Martha's Vineyard stunt

DeathSantis is being compared to Castro and is pissing off Venezuela voters.

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/desantis-invites-election-backlash-marthas-vineyard-stunt-rcna48307

The Miami Herald reported late last week on the fact that prominent voices in the Venezuelan American community were not pleased. Maria Corina Vegas, who helps lead the bipartisan American Business Immigration Coalition, told the newspaper, “The governor likes to pander to communities like mine, traumatized by political persecution and violence. This is a new low, even for this governor.”

Yareliz Mendez-Zamora, who helps lead the Florida Immigrant Coalition, added that DeSantis and his lieutenant governor — who recently said that Cuban immigrants who were in Florida “illegally” should be bused out of the state — are “showing that they’re against all immigrants.”

A day later, Politico reported:

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ decision to transport mostly Venezuelan migrants to Martha’s Vineyard earlier this week could hurt the Republican governor in November with a key constituency that the GOP has sought to win over. The move by DeSantis dominated the radio and television airwaves in South Florida — where large swaths of Hispanic voters live. One Spanish radio host loudly denounced the move and even compared DeSantis’ actions to that of deceased Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, who relocated Cubans in the early ’60s.

In case this isn’t painfully obvious, I can safely say, as a Miami native, that when a governor is being compared to Castro on Spanish-language radio in the Miami area, that’s not great for an incumbent......

We’ll know soon enough whether the governor pays a price for this. He might not: DeSantis’ advantage in statewide polling already suggests that Floridians are willing to overlook the Republican’s many failures.

But Democrats were looking for something that might shake up the race, and the governor just handed them a controversy that could do exactly that

[Just A Box Of Rain]

15. Charlie Crist could pick up a lot of votes by blasting DeSantis for turning on refugees

who are fleeing from authoritarian-socialist oppression.

You win elections by finding votes in "the center" and flipping Cubans, Venezuelans, and others is quite possible around this potent issue in Florida.

Crist would be wise to pound DeSantis on this issue, and with this type of framing, in my estimation.

[karynnj]

16. Not just Cubans, but isn't there a huge Venezuelan expat population in Florida

Which I think is aligned with the Cuban population.