Austere

The problem IMO is the shift in the Hispanic vote. Yes, the Admin. aggressive immigration enforcement was one bright spot in terms of his approval. BUT, when the emphasis shifted to arreseting and removing aliens the in the interior of the country, rather than at the border or just focusing on criminals, it developed a very real dynamic of Hispanic citizens knowing someone removed, knowing the family of someone removed, and/or knowing the friends of someone removed. This "personalized" the traumatic experience for the legal/citizens of the Hispanic community in ways that border enforcement and removal of criminal aliens did not. These stories spread like WILDFIRE through the Mexican, Central American, and South American communities. I say this as someone who supports the aggressive enforcement in the interior of the country. It's the only effective way to deal with what Biden and the Dems did by opening the border. But at the same time its necessary to recognize the collateral electoral consequences, particularly where there was such a massive and effective messaging operation on the other side filling media with sob stories -- almost ENTIRELY about long-term residents with businesses and families "uprooted" from "productive" lives and shipped back to countries they have been away from for decades. That is going to resonate in "immigrant" communities where "Everyone knows someone" adversely affected by the policy. Dumping Noem and Bovino was the right move, but likely came too late to reverse the sentiment. Trump received mid-40% of the Hispanic vote in 2024. In the midterm GOP candidates were around 33% nationally. In Texas the swing by Hispanics back to Dems was every sharper -- Paxton received only 31%, and in some heavily Hispanic areas he was in the mid-20% range. And -- as is always the case -- the Admin. was "rewarded" by supporters of his immigration policy. Voters gripe -- many that supported his aggressive immigration policies found reasons to vote against him on other issues like cost of gas and groceries. Wiles had plenty of data showing it happening in Florida, and it wasn't hard to extrapolate that to other states where Hispanic citizens are a key demographic to winning statewide.

If Rubio resigns it’s because he’ll be running for 2028 by March. His Cuban heritage and aggressive foreign policy in the Western Hemisphere makes him an avowed anti/socialist/communist. The DSA is ascendant. Rubio is a “Happy Warrior” in the environment. His first mission will be to reconnect the GOP to all the various Spanish-speaking components of the Hispanic community.