Trump scrambles to appease crucial voting bloc that is slipping from GOP

President Donald Trump tossed a bone to a crucial voting block that's drifting away from the Republican Party less than a year after helping him win re-election.

The 79-year-old president received a higher percentage of the Latino vote in 2024 than any other Republican presidential candidate in history, with 46 percent of their vote, but Trump tried to shore up their support in a New Year's Eve social media post touting his accomplishments on border security.

"Paul Perez and the Border Patrol have done a fantastic job, and so proud that more than half are of Hispanic heritage, which Los Angeles’ incompetent Mayor, Karen Bass (who hasn’t even gotten the permits for people rebuilding their homes after the record setting fire that took place), and other Third Rate Politicians, are complaining about," Trump posted on Truth Social.

The Los Angeles mayor lamented last week about the administration's recruitment of Latinos for U.S. Border Patrol as "sad," and recent polls found 70 percent of Latinos disapprove of his job performance and 65 percent disapprove of his immigration policies, but Trump praised Perez, the National Border Patrol Council president, after he rebutted Bass on Fox News.

"Our Enlistment Numbers are at RECORDS, and we’ll keep it that way," Trump posted. "There is no group I am more proud of than Border Patrol and ICE, and nobody understands the Border better than our fantastic Hispanic population, which continues to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"