This is sage advice that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump should have heeded before making disparaging remarks about Mexican Americans and Hispanics.
In a quiet restaurant in Denver's 16th Street Mall, an efficient young lady – part white, part Hispanic – is busy taking orders.
During a lull in the day, she tells the Dhaka Tribune: “What is at stake [in the 2016 US presidential elections] is the very soul of the United States.”
The Metropolitan State University student continues: “People say they don't like Hillary Clinton because she's a politician, but so, by definition, is Trump. And at least she doesn't go around making racist speeches.”
The 20-year-old, asking not to be named because “the restaurant management might not like it,” says she is going to vote to defend “an America that is open and inclusive, not closed and exclusive.”
This sentiment has taken Latino voters by storm.
An unexpected surge in Hispanic voting in Florida, Arizona and Texas has got Republicans feeling the heat.
Florida Democratic strategist Steve Schale estimates that “Hispanic turnout in 2016 has already exceeded — by 170,000 ballots — Hispanic early voting in the entire 2012 cycle,” Politico reports.
This is significant.
In 2012, exit polls suggested that Latinos helped Barack Obama trounce Mitt Romney, giving Obama 71% of their vote to 21% for his opponent.
This year, the sleeping giant of Latino votes has risen from its long slumber.
In 2012, Latinos logged a mere 48% voter turnout compared to a 60% national average. White turnout was 62%, black 66%.
Obama's first victory in 2008 saw the highest voter turnout since John F Kennedy was voted into office, with 61% showing up on election day.
This year, turnout could be as high as 64%, historian Peter Kuznick believes.
“If everybody just shows up to vote, I believe we'll get the America we believe in,” the waitress tells me.
Donald Trump has given Latinos very good reason for doing so.
Thursday, June 04, 2026
