“Latinx Pride Meets Political Power: Hispanic Conservatives Stance for Univision Against Trump Interview Fire

In a surprise turn of events, the Hispanic-conservative community stepped forward to defend Univision’s airing of an interview with President Trump. Univision, one of the largest Hispanic-focused broadcasters in the US, courted much controversy after broadcasting the interview that included a series of probing questions. The President’s responses were met with a deluge of outrage, particularly within the Hispanic community where many found his rhetoric offensive. With tensions so high, it was a shock when Hispanic-conservative media personalities stepped in front of the camera to defend Univision’s decisions. These media personalities, which included high-profile figures like Joe “The Bull” Martinez, Sarah Rumpf and Suzanna Caballero, were under no illusion that they were putting themselves at risk with their public displays of support. However, the Hispanic-conservative media personalities all explained that they accepted the risk simply because they felt it was the right thing to do. They reasoned that it was important to have dialogue and that silencing it simply because of one person’s opinion would be a disservice to the country and its people. The most vocal of these saw the President’s airings of views as an opportunity to learn more about the man and his policies while also presenting a different narrative from those in the same political party but with a different opinion. This unified message of support was echoed across differing Hispanic-conservative platforms thanks to the use of social media. This allowed the Spanish-language hashtag #ChidosValientes (which means “Brave Hearts”) to quickly become trending. This willingness to go against the trend and defend Univision was far from a one-off occurrence. It was a sign that while there is still much to learn about the Hispanic-conservative movement, this newfound willingness to speak up and defend the right of all to have a voice, free from fear of repercussions, may be just the first of manyDisplaysteps.