'Dumbfounding': Ex-Florida GOP chair can't believe what his 'beloved' party has become
October 22, 2024
A former Florida Republican Party official tore into former President Donald Trump on MSNBC on Tuesday and lamented what his longtime party has become.
Former Chairman Al Cardenas was particularly appalled by new reporting that Trump reneged on an offer to pay for the funeral of fallen soldier Vanessa Guillen, proclaiming, "It doesn't cost 60,000 bucks to bury a f---ing Mexican!"
"You are amongst a group that has received a fair amount of attention in the campaign and coverage," said anchor Chris Hayes. "People who are registered Republicans. People who have been Republicans most of their lives, who maybe voted for Trump before. Take me through how you ended up in the position you are in now, which is that you are voting for and have endorsed Kamala Harris and Tim Walz."
"Look, I've given, Chris, four decades of my life to build the Republican Party and you know it started out, in Florida, a Democrat state," said Cardenas. "We worked hard, day and night to turn it around. Never did I dream for a second that my party, my beloved party, would be where it is today and it is dumbfounding."
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Once upon a time, Cardenas lamented, Republicans worried that Ronald Reagan had too much baggage as a candidate because he was divorced.
"Imagine that. Being divorced being a disqualifier for the presidency. And look where we are 40 years later. It's just a cycle in America that will embarrass our grandchildren and their children, and the quicker we can do away with it the better."
Cardenas then took Hayes through his personal history of experiencing division in America.
"When I came to America with my parents, there were signs that said 'No dogs, no colored, and no Cubans,'" said Cardenas. "A Holocaust survivor looked at all of that nonsense and said, you come and stay here. Well, I've got five children. They didn't have to go through what I went through, because we worked very hard to make America better and to get us from beyond that point of just racial polarization. And these comments that the president made about the burial of that fine young lady, that Hispanic, was just heartbreaking. The comments he makes about poisoning the blood of Americans. The comments he makes about mass deportations. If you're a proud Hispanic and if you love this country, as I do and as most Hispanics do, how in the world can you support this gentleman for the presidency? It's just beyond me."
Watch the video below or at the link here.
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