Ramos’s book offers a potential steppingstone to having more discussions about who we are and how that affects us politically.
By ROBERT LORENZO SOLÓRZANO ANDALUZ
EL NUEVO SOL
History, religion and political pasts. What do these three ideas have to do with Latinos going to the far-right? They might land closer to our corazóns than you think. If you aren’t careful, you can start warming up to the Trumpism takeover of the right too.
I draw this theory of Latinos shifting to the right from Defectors: The Rise of the Latino Far Right and What it Means for America by journalist Paola Ramos. After finishing the book for my Chicano Studies class, the truth is, becoming interested in the right’s Trumpism can happen to anyone of us.
What Paola Ramos argues is this; tribalism, traditionalism and trauma play significant factors in why Latinos are moving to the right. She argues that these three factors have influenced some Latino’s interest in the right’s values and even pushing some to the far-right.
Take Gabriel Garcia as an example.
Garcia is an insurrectionist that Ramos interviewed and wrote about. She explains how he was the perfect insurrectionist by exemplifying his tribalism, traditionalism, and trauma.
Ramos writes that Garcia exemplified his tribalism by a shirt he wore that stated: “Illegal Immigration Is Trespassing.” showing his loyalty to the “American side” of the southern immigration issue while otherizing illegal immigrants. She also includes his intent to preserve traditionalism, specifically gender roles and his commitment to upholding patriarchy through his involvement in the Proud Boys. Finally, she speaks about his deep-rooted trauma of his family fleeing communist Cuba that made him feel very threatened to the idea of it spreading in the U.S. If we look at these ideas closely, otherization, meaning to make someone or a group feel different, upholding patriarchy, and instilling the fear of communism were key strategies in Trump’s political campaign.
Garcia is an extreme example, and you might be thinking, ‘Yeah, that can never be me.’ But Ramos discusses the possible beginnings of this Latino shift by providing substantial evidence of what is shaping Latinos today.
She argues that Latinos having colonized pasts continue to shape the way we think today. She says that Christian nationalism, a significant factor in the MAGA movement, is the modern-day Manifest Destiny and the Spanish’s Doctrine of Discovery. But how can Latinos become involved in such an ideology that is Christian nationalism?
Ramos includes how Latinos are gearing more toward Protestant beliefs. She highlights this by saying how 55% of Latino Protestants support Christian nationalist ideology and presents this evidence by interviewing Luis Cabrera, a pastor from an evangelical church in Harlington, Texas that consistently politicizes his faith and his followers.
Lastly, Ramos highlights the political trauma Latinos carry in them that influences their ballot choice. She speaks about the right’s rhetoric of Kamala Harris being a communist and socialism taking over. Some of us might brush these statements off, but what Ramos is arguing is this is a strategy used by the right to gain power by tapping into Latino vulnerabilities. If we look at our families histories, how many of our parents immigrated here because of political turmoil? How many are actually terrified of communism because they saw it firsthand? How many fled before they could?
Statistics from the 2016 election show that 29% of Latinos voted for Trump. In 2024, that percentage was 42%.
Ramos presents good reason as to why we are seeing this increase in Latino support for Trump and the right. From Pastor Cabrera, he believes that Latinos are finally starting to vote on their values. But is this true? Are our values based on forced colonial beliefs, an ideology that reigns white supremacy, and politicians that only care for power and money?
In the words of Ramos, “We have an opportunity to harness our collective power and reimagine a future that bears no resemblance to any past we’ve been subjected to, on either side of the border. To do that we must not be scared to face ourselves. Only then can we turn our stories of defection into a story of unprecedented unity.”
I liked Ramos’s book because it did a great job asking Latinos to hold up a mirror to themselves. It also does a good job tapping into topics we usually find hard talking about like trauma and religion. Especially with my generation’s push of trauma understanding, I think Ramos’s book offers a potential steppingstone to having more discussions about who we are and how that affects us politically. She also does a good job bringing up political history of Latin America and makes one wonder; what is the difference between U.S. Socialism and Latin American Socialism?
This book would be for you if you like political theory, non-fiction, and are Latino or curious about the politics of Latino culture.
Furthermore, this is Ramos’s 2nd installation of writing about Latinos, with her first being Finding Latinx: In Seach of the Voices Redefining Latino Identity published in 2020. She has been a correspondent for Vice and a contributor to Telemundo and MSNBC, as well as contributing to Latina, Popsugar, and Bustle. She is also the daughter of well-known Spanish-language news anchor Jorge Ramos.
Tags: Paola Ramos
