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NYT Attempts to Label Mayra Flores ‘Far Right’ in Ludicrous Hit Piece

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THIS WEDNESDAY, July 6, an article was published in The New York Times by national politics reporter Jennifer Medina. The title of the piece, published in English and Spanish, is suggestive of the content of the body, which is being widely criticized on social networks: “The Rise of the Far-Right Latina.”

The Times article against conservative Latina politicians shows an image of Mayra Flores, the Republican representative for the 34th district in Texas. (Screenshot)

What Exactly Is Being Far Right?

NYT’s Medina targets three GOP politicians in particular: Rep. Mayra Flores, Monica de la Cruz, and Cassy Garcia. In her piece, the reporter explains that after the rise of Donald Trump, Texas Republicans forgot to toe the line of “Bush-era compassionate conservatism” to embrace the supposedly “extreme” style of former President Trump.

“Such was the Texas of old. The Trump age has given rise to a new brand of Texas Republicans, one of whom is already walking the halls of Congress: the far-right Latina,” Medina writes in reference to Mayra Flores, who recently won a historic special election in the Rio Grande Valley, a region historically dominated by the DNC.

Then, Medina claimed that there are “Other pro-Trump Latinas” who are running “for House seats in Virginia, Florida and New Mexico, among other places.”

In other words, although Medina did not name all the politicians of Hispanic origin who are competing for a seat in Congress at a national level, she does include them within a sort of new radical force that the GOP is promoting to win over the Latino vote.

What are these “extremist” ideas that are rapidly growing nationally? Increased border security in the midst of one of the worst immigration crises facing the United States in its history, the respect for law enforcement who stoically fight criminal gangs operating along the border, faith in God, the love for the country, the defense of the traditional family and the pursuit of the American Dream.

Flores, Cruz and Garcia — the latter two are candidates in the South Texas districts of McAllen and Laredo — espouse each of these conservative and patriotic ideals, shared by much of the Hispanic community nationwide and the electorate in their respective regions who are, ultimately, the voters these congresswomen and candidates represent.

However, against all logic, The New York Times criticizes Mayra Flores for saying that in her district people are more concerned about inflation destroying their purchasing power and worsening their quality of life than they are about the controversial January 6 Committee.

“Honestly, my district doesn’t care about that,” Flores told The Times about the congressional hearings on Jan. 6. “My district is struggling to pay their bills. That’s what we’re supposed to be focusing on.”

Despite the fact that Flores was not endorsed by former President Trump for the election, The Times insists on attacking her by associating her with the president: “Only Ms. De La Cruz has been endorsed by Mr. Trump, yet they all remain outspoken advocates for him, his movement and his tough talk on restricting immigration and building the border wall.”

The newspaper sought to associate the former congresswoman with conspiracy theories such as QAnon, the holding of radical rhetoric against Democrats for calling Joe Biden “the worst president of the United States”, or calling for his impeachment.

A failed article

But The Times’ attacks did not have the expected effect, at least on social networks, where the article is receiving harsh questioning for the “double standard” of the media outlet’s editorial line.

For example, many of the criticisms against The Times, such as one by media analyst Drew Holden, point out that the newspaper tends to highlight only progressive Latino politicians, such as democratic-socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has been vaunted in nearly every national media outlet despite her support for Marxism or even anti-institutional positions such as eliminating or controlling the Supreme Court.

Other criticisms from users of Latino origin, which continue to grow as the hours go by, suggest that The Times seeks to single out as “radical” anything that is not close to the political left.

“If you’re not a progressive, are you a ‘far right’ Latina? Because we hold values centered on faith, family and hard-work? And because we’ve experienced first-hand what big government can do to our home countries and we reject those policies and embrace freedom? Girl, please,” tweeted Josselin Castillo, who works for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR)

Independent journalist Glenn Greenwald also criticized The Times for its contradictions when questioning Trump, who was constantly attacked for supposedly promoting “white supremacy” and now they criticize him for opening the way to “the far-right Latina”, something completely incoherent and incompatible.

The NYT attacking Trump for giving white supremacists an unequivocal boost.  (Screenshot)
The NYT says Trump paved the way for the far-right Latina. (Screenshot)

Ultimately, the attack starring Jennifer Medina and The New York Times is mostly tied to the ideas and values espoused by these conservative Latina politicians. Ideals that are very present in Hispanic families living all over the country and not only in the districts in South Texas, where Mayra Flores, Monica de la Cruz, and Cassy Garcia, are competing as never before in recent Texas history to change the political color of predominantly Latino districts.

These are not extremist ideas, simply conservative and patriotic.

Emmanuel Alejandro Rondón is a journalist at El American specializing in the areas of American politics and media analysis // Emmanuel Alejandro Rondón es periodista de El American especializado en las áreas de política americana y análisis de medios de comunicación.

Contacto: [email protected]

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