Florida's Latino GOPers give Trump pass on dictator speech: 'I know he's not Hitler'

Latino Republicans in Florida are largely giving Donald Trump a pass for anti-immigration rhetoric that directly mirrors passages of Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf."

Despite a large portion of the community being made up of those who fled repressive regimes in Venezuela, Cuba and Colombia, Politico reported that Trump’s latest “blood poisoning” speech — which echoes Hitler's declaration the Jews "poison" a nation's blood — is largely being brushed off.

“I don’t agree with the rhetoric, I certainly don’t support everything he says,” Rep. Carlos Giménez (R-FL), whose family came to the U.S. from Cuba, told Politico for an article published Wednesday. “But I know he’s not Hitler.”

Politico said Giménez’s comments were reflective of the wider Florida Latino Republican community. They’re wary of Trump's fascistic theme, but they’re on board with the strong immigrant stance.

“We know that Trump is not a diplomatic politician,” said Ernessto Ackerman, a GOP committeeman and member of the advocacy group Independent Venezuelan American Citizens. “He has his way of saying things that sound very rude and very aggressive, but that’s the way he talks.”

If he was to tone down his rhetoric, “That won’t change that people are coming here through open borders and we don’t know who’s coming,” he said.

Politico credited Biden’s 2020 loss in Florida, in part, to a lack of support among Hispanics in the south of the state.

ALSO READ: Neo-Nazi leader says he's banned from U.S. military bases

Trump has actively tried to woo them — even visiting the famous Cuban restaurant Versailles immediately after his arraignment in the classified documents case,

Esteban Bovo, the Republican mayor of Hialeah where Trump recently held a rally, told Politico, “Perhaps the choice of words or the description might not be the one one would like to hear, but make no mistake: It does hurt us as a country when people are coming not to be part of the American dream but to take and to be reliant on public housing and health care and government handouts.”

Biden’s campaign recently spent $25 million on bilingual ads directly comparing Trump to former Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chávez. The ads, however, did not air in Florida, Politico reported.

Instead, different ads there heralded “how President Biden has proven to be unafraid to stand up against dictators, and is fighting for freedom and opportunity.”

Democrats told Politico Trump’s support among the conservative Latinos was puzzling.

“It’s very hard to believe as many people voted for him when he says they are all rapists and murderers. How people support that, I don’t understand, but it is what it is,” said Hendry County Democratic chair Keith Richter.