Don’t hold your breath, there will be no Latinos in Trump’s cabinet
By Victor Landa, NewsTaco (2.5 minute read) 
I’ve been joking this morning that [tweet_dis]if you were holding your breath waiting for Donald Trump to appoint a Latino to his cabinet, you better take a breath before you turn blue. It’s official, it’s not going to happen.[/tweet_dis]
Trump is set to announce sometime today that he’s picked former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue (seen in the picture above pointing to a map while then-Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar watches) to be his Ag Secretary.
We’re not a game
Agriculture was the remaining available slot in his cabinet for a Latino. Former California Lt. Governor Abel Maldonado had been mentioned as a front runner for the position, even though there was serious push-back from Trump advisors to not “politicize” the appointment after another Latino, former Texas Congressman Henry Bonilla, was considered for the post. This is how Politico reported the back-room pressures:
“Forrest Lucas, Select Milk CEO Mike McCloskey and former congressional candidate Kip Tom, regularly voiced their disapproval about the different candidates.
[pullquote]Apoplectic is what the U.S. Latino comunity should be. Apoplectic that of the 55 million Latinos in the U.S. Trump and his transition team couldn’t find one, one that fit their requirements for a cabinet position.[/pullquote]“Lucas was ‘apoplectic,’ after hearing that former Texas Rep. Henry Bonilla, a one-time television executive and former chairman of the House Appropriations Committee’s agriculture panel, was in the running last weekend, one source said, and called Pence to repeat a message: The Agriculture secretary, while not the most prominent Cabinet position, isn’t a game.”
Apoplectic.
It was a revelation. Not that there’s back-room pressure by oil companies and other big business special interest people. That’s common in the swamp. It was revealing that Henry Bonilla was up for the post and it wasn’t reported until now.
Apoplectic is what the U.S. Latino comunity should be. Apoplectic that of the 55 million Latinos in the U.S. Trump and his transition team couldn’t find one, one that fit their requirements for a cabinet position. Apoplectic that Trump’s advisors see Latinos as a game. Apoplectic that the Trumpian set equates inclusion with politicizing cabinet choices. Apoplectic that Trump and his team don’t see qualified people when they see Latinos, they see us as a sub-set of unqualified Americans first (that’s if they see us as American at all).
If you’re counting, this is the first time in 30 years that the U.S. President’s cabinet has no Latinos. Ronald Reagan started the streak by appointing Lauro Cavazos to head the Education Department and every president after him has had at least one Latino in his cabinet.
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[Photo by Photo by Michael Vadon/Flickr]
