Rosario Marin, anti-Trump Republican: ‘Harris can win by 10 million votes and still lose the presidency’

There are few Latina politicians in the United States with a story like that of Rosario Marin. The 66-year-old, born in Mexico City, headed the U.S. Department of the Treasury in the first administration of George W. Bush (2001-2004), whom she still affectionately calls “my president.” Marin, a Republican from California, embodies much of the “American dream.” She immigrated legally with one of her three brothers because of a job opportunity offered to her father, a janitor, and her mother, a seamstress. In 1994, she embarked on a career in politics after being elected as a councilwoman in Huntington Park, a city south of Los Angeles with a large middle-class Latino community. Marin, of conservative convictions, was the first female mayor of the town. For years, she was the friendly face of the party for Latinos in the most diverse state in the country, even when Republicans supported harsh measures against immigrants like her.

In 2016, Donald Trump burst onto the national scene with harsh anti-immigration rhetoric. This forced party members to choose between two positions: join his ranks or become pariahs. Marín chose the latter, led by her convictions.

Question: Who are you going to vote for?

Answer. Kamala Harris.

Q. But you have been a member of the Republican Party all your life.

A. Since Trump started his campaign the first time, when the first thing he said as he came down those golden stairs was to insult the immigrant community, and Mexicans in particular, I decided that I would never support him. On the other hand, I am a woman and he thinks that because he is famous he can grope anyone. The worst thing for me is that he has made fun of people with disabilities, and I have a son with Down syndrome. Those are not the Republicans that I have represented, but there is no Republican Party anymore. Trump is the party.

Q. Do you still consider yourself a Republican?

A. Yes. And he is not. One of the great things about the party is self-determination: you fight for yourself, you stand up, you accept your responsibility. We have never seen him take responsibility for the bad things he has done. We are supposed to be fiscally conservative and tighten our belts, and he was the president who expanded foreign debt the most.

Q. As a conservative, what is your position on abortion?

A. I am Catholic and I believe that life begins at the moment of conception. But that does not give me the authority to tell anyone, another woman, what to do with her body. Who am I to impose my religious values on anyone else? For a long time, Trump’s position was in favor of abortion. When he became a Republican candidate, he understood that there is this important group of evangelicals, and that for them this is the most important issue. That is a strategy, not a conviction. His wife Melania has just confessed that she is in favor of abortion. What a coincidence! Why didn’t she say it when the judges were discussing Roe v. Wade? It is very curious that they do it now that they know perfectly well that there are many women against Trump.

Q. What future do the so-called “never Trump” Republicans have?

A. We are now without a party. There are many of us and we are becoming more united. I have been neutral from the beginning. I started by being one of the few people who came out and said I was not going to vote for him. That led me to lose many false friends within the party. In 2020, when he wanted to be re-elected, more joined this effort. Today there are many more, 40 out of 44 members of his administration have said no to him in books, articles, on social networks. Do you have to wonder what’s going on with those remaining four? I tell people not to listen to me, I’ve always been against him; listen to the people who have worked with him every day. Dick Cheney, the staunchest conservative Republican you can imagine, has said we can’t have that man in the presidency. At a Zoom rally of Republicans against Trump there were over 70,000 people connected.

Q. So how do you explain the polls being so close?

A. We are a democracy in the light of the world and we are not a democracy, but a republic based on Electoral College representation. When our founders created the United States, they knew that eventually it was going to be a very populous land. They could not allow two large states to have all the power. So it made sense to have the Electoral College to give representation to the smaller states. In this election there are seven swing states. Whoever wins four wins the presidency. They are small states and they are going to decide for all of us. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by almost three million votes. Biden won it by seven million. I predict Harris will win by 10 million votes. And yet she may still lose. The system was meant to be fair at the time, but today it is unfair for the democracy that we are.

Q. Your story reflects what some call the American dream. Trump and J.D. Vance say it no longer exists. What do you think?

A. Of course it still exists. We are the country that wins the most Nobel Prizes every year. We are the country that everyone wants to sell to and that everyone wants to come to. The American dream is an idea, which is what this nation is based on. That is not going to change because a politician says it doesn’t exist. Did it exist for them and for no one else? How embarrassing that they say that.

Q. What do you think about 54% of Americans supporting Trump’s mass deportation?

A. I’m not surprised. When they deport all these people, who will clean their houses and cars? Who will take care of their children and elderly? Who will put roofs on their houses? Many of these jobs are difficult and no one else will want to do them. All these people pay taxes and social security. I’m tired of the immigrant community being used every election cycle. Every campaign is the same. Right now it’s Hispanics, but before it was the Poles, the Italians, the Irish, the Chinese, and the Japanese. That’s the difference with the leaders we had before. George W. Bush named more Hispanics to his Cabinet in the first year of his administration than Bill Clinton did in eight years.

Q. Trump also has a 40% approval rating among Latinos. How do you explain this?

A. It’s incredible, but that’s something that happens with immigrant communities. When you come to this country, you feel very welcomed by the Democratic Party. Once you have your house, you’re a professional, you have a business, you suddenly wonder how much more money you can have in your pocket. It’s logical. Republicans tend to make sure that instead of giving so much money to the government, the money stays in your pocket.

Q. And isn’t Biden leaving behind many debts with the community by failing to fulfill the promise of immigration reform?

A. Obama also promised the same thing, but he went for something that was more important to him: health care reform. Today Hispanics are a little reluctant. There is frustration at all levels of pro-Latino, pro-immigrant organizations. Both parties have promised immigration reform and they haven’t done it.

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