Republicans have lashed out at the proposed sale of 18 Spanish-language radio stations to a left-wing media network funded in part by an investment fund with ties to billionaire George Soros.
Former Trump Campaign advisor Steve Cortes told Fox News on Wednesday that he believes Soros’ move to back the fund indicates that liberals "rightly fret about the incredible gains among Hispanics for the America First movement" that has caused many of them to ditch the Democratic Party.
“The radicalism of the Democrats today has effectively left formerly Dem-leaning Latinos as political orphans. Hispanics increasingly rally to the America First combination of cultural conservatism plus patriotic populist economics”, he argued.
Republican Senator Maro Rubio, in turn, tweeted that “a front group led by left wing operatives & financed by Soros linked money is buying up Spanish language radio stations because they still don’t realise that the reason why they are bleeding Hispanic support isn’t ‘misinformation’, it’s their socialism”.
The tweet came after Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis released several radio spots in Spanish to alert residents to the “purchase of Hispanic radio stations meant to disinform the community”.
“Warning! The left is taking control of our local media,” one of the ads states in Spanish, arguing that Democrats “are coming with their ideological agenda”.
According to the spot, “Soros and his minions know what this community represents in the fight against socialism in America. This community will not get confused. Under Governor Ron DeSantis’s leadership Florida is standing against the corporate media and leftist disinformation.”
Media Research Centre Latino director Jorge Bonilla has, meanwhile, told Fox News that the purchase of the Hispanic stations by the Soros-funded network "reeks of desperation" ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
“The left, increasingly feeling entitled to Hispanics yet unable to persuade them, openly seeks to control their access to information. This is the true aim of the ‘Spanish-language disinformation’ campaign of the past few years. Censorship and control,” Bonilla asserted.
Democrats Buy 18 Hispanic Radio Stations
Last week, a group of Latinos, including several prominent Democrats, inked a $60 million deal to buy 18 Hispanic radio stations, among them the conservative Radio Mambi in Miami, in 10 US cities. These include Los Angeles, New York City, Miami, Houston, Chicago, Dallas, San Antonio, McAllen, Fresno and Las Vegas.
The formation of the Latino Media Network was partially sponsored by Lakestar Finance, an investment group affiliated with Soros Fund Management.
Stephanie Valencia, a former Obama administration staffer, and Jess Morales Rocketto, who worked on Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, said in an interview with the news website Axios that their new Spanish-language radio portfolio will reach one-third of all Hispanics living in the US.
The project comes amid growing concerns by Democrats over their party's loss in support from large swaths of Hispanic voters.
In April, polling data by Quinnipiac University found that Biden’s approval rating has dropped to just 26% among Hispanic voters, with 54% of Latinos telling the pollster they disapprove of the job Biden is doing as president, and 20% finding it difficult to say.
Biden’s approval among Latinos is the lowest of any US president since at least 1980, when Ronald Reagan won the election with 35 percent support among the demographic.