Trump 2.0 and South Texas

Another round of “I was told that the leopards would be eating someone else’s faces. Well, I told myself that at least”:

Home builders are warning President Donald Trump that his aggressive immigration enforcement efforts are hurting their industry. They’re cautioning that Republican candidates could soon be hurt, too.

Construction executives have held multiple meetings over the last month with the White House and Congress to discuss how immigration busts on job sites and in communities are scaring away employees, making it more expensive to build homes in a market desperate for new supply. Beyond the affordability issue, the executives made an electability argument, raising concerns to GOP leaders that support among Hispanic voters is eroding, particularly in regions that swung to Trump in 2024.

Hill Republicans have held separate meetings with White House officials to share their own electoral concerns.

This story is based on eight interviews with home builders, lawmakers and others familiar with the meetings.

“I told [lawmakers] straight up: South Texas will never be red again,” said Mario Guerrero, the CEO of the South Texas Builders Association, a Trump voter who traveled to Washington last week.

He urged the administration and lawmakers to ease up on enforcement at construction sites, warning that employees are afraid to go to work.

The construction industry is one of the latest and clearest examples of how the president’s mass deportation agenda continues to clash with his economic goals of bringing down prices and political aims of keeping control of Congress. Even the president’s allies fear disruptions to labor-heavy industries will undermine the gains with Latino voters Republicans have made in recent years, in large part because of Trump’s economic agenda.

I’m sure President Miller will be very receptive to these pleas!

Thermostatic public opinion probably represents to some degree a natural tendency of dissatisfaction among the marginal electorate. But it’s going to be particularly forceful in this case wherever the massive gap between the 2024 projection of Trump (moderate who will own the libs and bring the 2019 economy back) and the actual Trump has material consequences that can’t be ignored. I’m also curious how Trump going out of his way to alienate Hispanic voters will affect the mid-term Texas gerrymanders,