AWKWARD

New RNC Hispanic Spokeswoman: Trump is ‘Dangerous’

The RNC’s head of Hispanic outreach quit because of Trump rhetoric. Judging by her replacement’s comments a few months ago, the new chief of outreach is going to have a tough road ahead.

The Republican National Committee’s head of Hispanic outreach is on her way out the door due to her reported disgust over Donald Trump’s bigoted rhetoric—and her successor doesn’t seem too enamored by the new GOP standard bearer, either.

On Wednesday, The New York Times reported that Ruth Guerra, a bilingual spokeswoman of Mexican descent who was charged with delivering the GOP’s message to Latino voters, was resigning her post this month. The reason seemed obvious: She had apparently told colleagues that she was growing increasingly uncomfortable working for Trump, a man whose attacks on Mexicans and immigrants have come to largely define his campaign.

Guerra’s replacement, a Floridian commentator and strategist named Helen Aguirre Ferré, was announced the same day.

“I am proud to be joining the RNC at such a critical time,” the new Director of Hispanic Communications said. “This is one of the most important elections of our lifetime, and I’m eager to make the case to the Hispanic community why Republican ideas and values are the way forward for our country after eight years of an Obama agenda which has failed all Americans.”

It wasn’t too long ago that Ferré was sounding the alarm about the dangers and the violence of Trump’s presidential run.

In March, she appeared on NewsmaxTV to discuss, among other topics, the frequency of brawling and physical violence at Trump rallies.

“Donald Trump has contributed to this [culture of violence that we’re seeing],” she said. “And there is very clear evidence in his speeches and his rallies that he does instigate that violence. And then he’ll say, ‘I will pay for your attorney,’ or ‘Don’t rough them up too much,’ as if [the anti-Trump protesters] were going to be...roughed up anyway. But just the introduction to that in the political context from a candidate is so dangerous, and so divisive. And even when he speaks in defense of his [actions]...he comes back to illegal immigration and immigrants, as if immigrants were a problem with the violence yesterday. He [also] doesn’t denounce the violence that was committed against journalists … Trump hasn't come out and said, ‘Don't do that. We don't condone that, this is a place of peace.’ And he's not trying to be peaceful—he's actually rallying up the support.”

“He’s not a peacemaker,” she continued. “We’re looking for a better future for our children, we’re not looking for a police state...Donald Trump loves to stir up the pot, but he’s not offering any solutions.”

She concluded by calling Trump one of the “principal instigators of the violence that we’re seeing.”

On Thursday, the Democratic National Committee began circulating a two-month-old video of Ferré stating that, “what we’ve seen is a pattern from Donald Trump that’s anti-women.” Ferré herself has already scrubbed her Twitter feed of posts slamming the now-presumptive Republican presidential nominee, including one tweet declaring that “women & country deserve better” than Trump.

“It’s all he’ll ever be & it’s not flattering. Trump back to being Trump,” she tweeted in late April.

“[I] wonder if [Chris Christie] and [Jeff Sessions] now regret supporting Trump or do the means justify the end? Telling either way,” she tweeted in late February.

The Trump campaign, the RNC, and Ferré did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast’s requests for comment on this story.

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Asawin SuebsaengSenior Political Reporter

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