Strange that one of the first times you see a Republican show concern for the plight of Puerto Ricans — at least since Donald Trump whipped paper towels at their hurricane-soaked heads — it’s because he doesn’t want them voting against him.
Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, and as such they’re allowed to vote in U.S. elections in any state, as long as they establish residency. It would be like a Mississippi resident moving to, say, Massachusetts to look for work and/or exercise his sacred, constitutionally protected right to make his new home just as unlivable as the old one.
But John Ward, a candidate for U.S. Congress in Florida, doesn’t want to see Puerto Ricans voting in his district in November. He wants to send them back to their homes. Interesting how rebuilding Puerto Rico has suddenly become such an urgent priority now.
From today’s Orlando Sentinel:
At a forum at the Mount Dora Republican Club last month for candidates running to succeed U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis in District 6, which includes Mount Dora and Volusia County, Ward said, “I don’t think [Puerto Ricans] should be allowed to register to vote.”
“And it’s not lost on me that I think the Democrat Party is really hoping they can change the voter register in a lot of counties and districts,” Ward said, according to video of the event posted on his rival Fred Costello’s YouTube page. “And I don’t think they should be allowed to do that.”
Ward continued, “We should be looking to put the Puerto Ricans back in their homes” post-Hurricane Maria. “The idea that they can come to the mainland United States, I don’t necessarily have a problem with that. But I think we should be thinking about it in terms of getting them back home, and providing the capital and resources to rebuild Puerto Rico. Which I honestly think is where they belong.”
So if a bunch of pissed off conservative New Englanders moved to Florida because they hated the restrictive gun laws in their home states, would Ward still be able to get away with saying they don’t deserve a vote?
Is there something about Puerto Ricans that’s somehow different?
Gee, I don’t know. I’m drawing a blanco.
Oh, and here’s Ward’s crappy answer, in all its glory:
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