Donald Trump's town hall hosted by Univision on Wednesday was a golden opportunity for the former president to talk directly to Latinos, which are for many analysts the key demographic that will shape election results come November.
For a full hour, Trump answered questions from Latino audience members, focusing a large portion of his address on the economy, claiming that Latinos were better off during his presidency. He also defended his stance on undocumented immigrants, doubled down on false claims about Haitians eating pets and had enough time to even list three virtues about his adversary, Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.
However, the event has garnered criticism over the last few days, including one attendee who flat out claimed he did not receive the answers he was looking for and had decided not to vote for Trump after the event:
Q: Did you receive the answer you were looking for from Trump?
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) October 17, 2024
Undecided voter: No
Q: You came here undecided to this town hall. Have you made a decision?
Undecided voter: I am not going to vote for Trump https://t.co/LHAsYkjdkb pic.twitter.com/EeEzzrDUOx
The list of critics got even bigger on Thursday as Univision's former president, Joaquín Blaya, went on MSNBC's Morning Joe and blasted his former network for its "lack of integrity" in allowing Trump to speak uninterrupted without fact-checking.
"It was really not a town hall, it was an infomercial in where they brought in audience as props. They did ask tough questions, but of course he went on to recite his concert of lies without any journalism integrity on the part of the network, without any fact-checking."
Blaya went on to say that "Univision did not distinguish themselves as being a true news organization" and claimed that the network "served as a platform for close to an hour of [Trump's] continuing recital of lies."
According to Blaya, part of the reason why the town hall was a "propaganda project" was because the event was moderated by Mexican journalist Enrique Acevedo instead of Jorge Ramos, who conservatives deem too biased against Trump.
"The main anchor of the Univision network is Jorge Ramos, one of the most respected journalists in America," Blaya said. "If the network was serious about conducting this in a journalistic manner, you would have thought that Jorge would have to be the person doing the interview and the town hall."
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