Telenovela tycoons stepped in to hand Trump a 'shock' election assist: report
December 09, 2024
Donald Trump's surprising strength among Hispanic voters in the 2024 presidential election can be traced to son-in-law Jared Kushner's relationship with two media executives from Mexico who used their pull to get him a coveted interview on Univision that left insiders at the network shocked, according to a report.
The Wall Street Journal's Santiago Pérez and José de Córdoba reported tycoons Alfonso de Angoitia and Bernardo Gómez, known for their "longstanding influence of Grupo Televisa, a company that gained fame for taking soap operas, called telenovelas," have ties to Kushner dating back to the first Trump administration and helped set in motion the interview with Univision's Enrique Acevedo that boosted Trump's election prospects with Hispanic viewers.
The report noted that the two execs were in a place of influence when network officials began to fear a loss of "clout and access to newsmakers," with the company’s board pushing for news coverage to move more to the center.
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That occurred at the same time the Trump camp was attempting to find a way to peel off Hispanic voters from the Democratic party.
The Journal reported that a "quarter of Hispanics prefer to get their news from Spanish-language media," which handed Trump an audience he had not reached before after the interview was brokered between the two parties.
"The Trump interview, conducted by news anchor Enrique Acevedo, made news across the U.S." the Journal reported. "Trump discussed the possibility of the Justice Department prosecuting political opponents and defended family separation as a deterrent against illegal immigration. For network executives, the interview demonstrated TelevisaUnivision’s new reach into the U.S. mainstream."
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The report went on to note that not everyone at the network was pleased with the turn of events.
"Inside TelevisaUnivision’s Miami studio, the newsroom was shocked. The interview helped convert Trump — who had called Mexican migrants rapists and criminals — into a respectable candidate that Hispanics might consider supporting," the report stated before adding, "[Interviewer] Acevedo dismissed criticism from colleagues that he was soft on Trump. “'You don’t make news by confronting Trump,' he said."
According to the report, TelevisaUnivision’s news executives said the "numbers signaled a shift in voter intention toward Trump," which ultimately proved to be true.
You can read more here and watch the pivotal interview with Acevedo below:
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