With the mid-term elections less than three months away, Telemundo’s morning show hosts aren’t waiting to begin their openly anti-Trump get-out-the-vote drive.
The electoral activism kicked off as the hosts engaged in a round of severe criticism of the Trump administration for having earlier this summer separated adults and minors who unlawfully entered the United States.
ADAMARI LOPEZ, HOST, TELEMUNDO: Nothing justifies it. In terms of this issue, the truth is that it truly breaks our hearts how people who are desperate in their countries come to a place that supposedly is a country of freedom, trying to find a better future for themselves and their children above all, they confront this type of situation. People who show up with an asylum claim and what they want is to find the best way of life for their children, but they end up separated. I know it is a tactic of intimidation.
MARCO ANTONIO REGIL, HOST, TELEMUNDO: That’s what it is, that’s what it is, you have to scare.
ROSELYN SANCHEZ, ACTRESS AND GUEST HOST: It is a policy, it is a strategy for them to say let's do something drastic, radical, for those thinking about coming to this country from Latin America. Because this is a vendetta against the Latinos.
LOPEZ: Of course.
REGIL: But it is inhumane, it is cruel.
LOPEZ: Of course and what we were saying, it got out of the government’s hands.
SANCHEZ: It got out of hand, of course
HÉCTOR SANDARTI, HOST, TELEMUNDO: It’s just look, what is clear is that it is a way to intimidate but it is not working. When we interviewed the Salvadorian lady who came with her daughter who had a very strong trauma, they said they would do it again.
SANCHEZ: Hah!
SANDARTI: My fellow Guatemalan who was just interviewed came out in the report and said I'm sorry for everything that happened. I really I think it's a way to intimidate that got out of hand, because it continues to be totally inhumane.
SANCHEZ: That it got out of hand.
LOPEZ: Of course!
REGIL: Inhumane, cruel, there is no compassion. It’s making the whole world see the United States. Imagine, the United States that must be the leader of the free world.
LOPEZ: A world power.
SANCHEZ: Of democracy, of liberty, of course!
REGIL: Of unification. The United States that helped to liberate us from Hitler in the past, where is that United States?
After that warm-up, it was a short-step to go into get-out-the-anti-Trump vote mode. Host Marco Antonio Regil led the charge, beginning by saying he wouldn’t tell viewers who to vote for, but then proceeding to make clear who they should vote for in no uncertain terms.
REGIL: There’s a protest of...
LOPEZ: In Washington D.C.
REGIL: In Washington D.C.,at the Capitol, of the activists who are asking for an immediate reunification and I say to all of you who are watching us in the United States and who can vote: elections are coming at all levels. If you are worried and this seems unfair to you, I am not going to tell you who to vote for, but if you are worried let’s go out and vote and make a difference and choose candidates who do not support this injustice, right?
The clear GOTV call was not an isolated incident, either. It has happened twice in recent weeks. On the second occasion, the topic was President Trump’s border wall project.
Hosts Marco Antonio Regil, Adamari López and Héctor Sandarti tag-teamed to make it clear that in their eyes, the mid-terms are also a referendum on “Trump’s wall.”
MARCO ANTONIO REGIL, HOST, TELEMUNDO: We must remember that Donald Trump: it was his campaign for the presidency.
ADAMARI LOPEZ, HOST, TELEMUNDO: Of course, it was part of his campaign.
MARCO ANTONIO REGIL: What are we going to build?
ADAMARI LOPEZ and MARCO ANTONIO REGIL, IN UNISON: A wall.
MARCO ANTONIO REGIL: Who is going to pay for it?
ADAMARI LOPEZ and MARCO ANTONIO REGIL, IN UNISON: Mexico.
MARCO ANTONIO REGIL: And now to go back it is, it was a very strong campaign promise to his followers. What I can tell you is that you have to go out and vote. I'm not going to tell you who to vote for, that’s for you to decide, we're in a free country, but Latinos let’s vote, because if we do not vote, we do not exist in the eyes of the politicians or any party. If we Latinos don’t vote, they are not going to take us into account and it is very important that Latinos, Republicans and Democrats...
ADAMARI LOPEZ: Yes.
MARCO ANTONIO REGIL: Go out and vote, that we be part of the number, because not everyone agrees with this wall.
HÉCTOR SANDARTI, HOST, TELEMUNDO: Sure, sure.
REGIL: Not everyone.
SANDARTI: And the vote would be well studied, well thought out...
REGIL: Yes.
SANDARTI: Would be a vote that is based on reasons that help us as a community.
Once again, the hosts' words that they aren’t going “to tell you who to vote for” ring hollow when the voting criteria and so-called “reasons that help us as a community” are so obviously one-sided.
This, from the same network that for two months in a row has refused to report on record-low Hispanic unemployment and other positive economic news for millions of individuals and businesses under President Trump. In these Telemundo hosts’ eyes, those reasons apparently are not to be taken into account as ones that “help us as a community.”
Below is the transcript of the entire above-referenced report, as aired during the July 26, 2018 edition of the Telemundo morning show Un Nuevo Día:
ADAMARI LOPEZ, HOST, TELEMUNDO: Nothing justifies it. In terms of this issue, the truth is that it truly breaks our hearts how people who are desperate in their countries come to a place that supposedly is a country of freedom, trying to find a better future for themselves and their children above all, they confront this type of situation. People who show up with an asylum claim and what they want is to find the best way of life for their children, but they end up separated. I know it is a tactic of intimidation.
MARCO ANTONIO REGIL, HOST, TELEMUNDO: That’s what it is, that’s what it is, you have to scare.
ROSELYN SANCHEZ, ACTRESS AND GUEST HOST: It is a policy, it is a strategy for them to say let's do something drastic, radical, for those thinking about coming to this country from Latin America. Because this is a vendetta against the Latinos.
LOPEZ: Of course.
REGIL: but it is inhumane, it is cruel.
LOPEZ: Of course and what we were saying, it got out of the government’s hands.
ROSELYN SANCHEZ: It got out of hand, of course
HÉCTOR SANDARTI, HOST, TELEMUNDO: It’s just look, what is clear is that it is a way to intimidate but it is not working. When we interviewed the Salvadorian lady who came with her daughter who had a very strong trauma, they said they would do it again.
SANCHEZ: Hah!
SANDARTI: My fellow Guatemalan who was just interviewed came out in the report and said I'm sorry for everything that happened. I really I think it's a way to intimidate that got out of hand, because it continues to be totally inhumane.
SANCHEZ: That it got out of hand.
LOPEZ: Of course!
REGIL: Inhumane, cruel, there is no compassion. It’s making the whole world see the United States. Imagine, the United States that must be the leader of the free world.
LOPEZ: A world power.
SANCHEZ: Of democracy, of liberty, of course!
REGIL: Of unification. The United States that helped to liberate us from Hitler in the past, where is that United States?
Second Video
MARCO ANTONIO REGIL, HOST, TELEMUNDO: There’s a protest of
ADAMARI LOPEZ, HOST, TELEMUNDO: In Washington D.C.
REGIL: In Washington D.C., at the Capitol, of the activists who are asking for an immediate reunification and I say to all of you who are watching us in the United States and who can vote: elections are coming at all levels. If you are worried and this seems unfair to you, I am not going to tell you who to vote for, but if you are worried let’s go out and vote and make a difference and choose candidates who do not support this injustice, right?
Below is the transcript of the entire above-referenced report, as aired on July 30, 2018 during the edition of the Telemundo morning show Un Nuevo Día:
Third Video
MARCO ANTONIO REGIL, HOST, TELEMUNDO: We must remember that Donald Trump: it was his campaign for the presidency.
ADAMARI LOPEZ, HOST, TELEMUNDO: Of course, it was part of his campaign.
REGIL: What are we going to build?
LOPEZ and REGIL, IN UNISON: A wall.
REGIL: Who is going to pay for it?
LOPEZ and REGIL, IN UNISON: Mexico.
REGIL: And now to go back it is, it was a very strong campaign promise to his followers. What I can tell you is that you have to go out and vote. I'm not going to tell you who to vote for, that’s for you to decide, we're in a free country, but Latinos let’s vote, because if we do not vote, we do not exist in the eyes of the politicians or any party. If we Latinos don’t vote, they are not going to take us into account and it is very important that Latinos, Republicans and Democrats...
LOPEZ: Yes.
REGIL: Go out and vote, that we be part of the number, because not everyone agrees with this wall.
HÉCTOR SANDARTI: Sure, sure.
REGIL: Not everyone.
SANDARTI: And the vote would be well studied, well thought out...
REGIL: Yes.
SANDARTI: Would be a vote that is based on reasons that help us as a community.
