Maybe it鈥檚 because I live in Miami 鈥� where news from Havana matters more than what happens in Hialeah 鈥� but here鈥檚 my takeaway from this month鈥檚 party conventions:
The Republicans are much better at using Latin America as a political prop than the Democrats are. But I don鈥檛 really mean that as a compliment.
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This week鈥檚 virtual Republican National Convention 鈥� most dramatically Maximo Alvarez 鈥� has warned voters over and over that totalitarian socialist regimes in Latin America, like communist Cuba鈥檚, are what America鈥檚 in for if Joe Biden and the Democrats win in November.
That鈥檚 the kind of over-the-top propaganda we expect from, well, totalitarian socialist regimes in Latin America.
But it鈥檚 effective propaganda 鈥� and not just in Latino-majority Miami, where an understandable hatred of left-wing authoritarians in Latin America is a voter boon for President Trump.
It also resonates in Latino-wary Middle America, where Trump鈥檚 convinced millions of white suburbanites to imagine Latin America as a cauldron of "rapists and drug traffickers."
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They were the folks an emotional Alvarez, who escaped the Cuban Revolution in 1961, was addressing when he said, 鈥淲hen I watch the news [of social unrest] in Seattle, Chicago, Portland and other cities鈥 hear echoes of my former life鈥� in Cuba. Biden, he asserted, will make America swallow that same 鈥減oison pill.鈥�
The next night, Florida鈥檚 Cuban-American Lieutenant Governor, Jeanette Nu帽ez, unwavering resolve confronting [left-wing] tyrants in countries like Venezuela, Cuba鈥nd Nicaragua鈥� and wants to block 鈥渢he socialist takeover of our nation鈥� by Biden.
So why didn鈥檛 Democrats put the same Latin America scream screen behind their virtual convention speakers last week?
They certainly could have. There鈥檚 more than enough agreement out there 鈥� in both Miami and Middle America 鈥� that even if Trump's record doesn't match Fidel Castro's, you can still draw an eerie analogy between him and Latin America's authoritarians.
Why didn't Democrats put the Latin America scream screen behind their convention speakers 鈥� and pin the caudillo on the elephant the way Republicans are playing pin the communist on the donkey?
On the Univision-Facebook Watch program 鈥淩eal America with Jorge Ramos,鈥� correspondent Tim Rogers astutely Trump at least evokes Latin America鈥檚 long line of caudillos, or autocratic strongmen, right- and left-wing.
They include Trump鈥檚 bullying personality cult; his history of lies, narcissism, nepotism, subverting democratic institutions for personal political gain, addiction to executive fiat, attacks on the media and 鈥渃rying coup when faced with legal challenges to his authority.鈥�
This year the Democratic Super PAC Priorities U.S.A. got decent social media traction with its 鈥� ads in which Latinos, including Cuban and Venezuelan exiles, experience despotic d茅j脿 vu while talking about Trump.
In June, when Trump sent the military to fire pepper spray at people peacefully protesting racist police brutality near the White House, more than a few Venezuelan expats here said it reminded them of the late caudillo Hugo Ch谩vez.
鈥淲atching it was almost a PTSD episode for many of us,鈥� one told me.
RED-BAITING BONFIRE
Was it somehow out of bounds for Democrats last week to let speakers like that frame the Latin America comparisons? That sentiment, after all, parallels Alvarez鈥檚 鈥渆choes of my former life in Cuba鈥� line.
Perhaps it鈥檚 too parallel 鈥� and that may be a reason Democrats were reluctant to pin the caudillo on the elephant last week the way Republicans are playing pin the communist on the donkey this week.
They concede it鈥檚 easy to identify caudillo tendencies in Trump; but they fear there鈥檚 a risk that, in their case, comparing him too overtly to monsters like Augusto Pinochet and Fidel Castro could backfire.
It could appear hypocritical, for one thing, since they鈥檝e condemned the way Trump and the GOP have so overtly painted Biden in a beard, beret and fatigues smoking a Cohiba.
There鈥檚 also the risk of giving the GOP more kindling to throw on the red-baiting bonfire.
That includes more ads that rewind Democratic Senator and liberal darling Bernie Sanders鈥� remarks this year that things 鈥渨eren鈥檛 all bad鈥� in Cuba under Castro. Or the gushing eulogy that liberal California Congresswoman Karen Bass 鈥� who was on Biden鈥檚 V.P. short list 鈥� gave Castro when he died four years ago.
Better and safer, Democrats seem to have decided, to link Trump to the coronavirus misery in America rather than caudillo malevolence in Latin America.
They wager debating health care in Hialeah instead of the communist scare in Havana will resonate more in Miami 鈥� and Middle America.
