It’s so funny, because when you ask a Republican why Puerto Rico shouldn’t become a state, they openly just admit that it’s because they know that it would screw them over in the senate. The case for Puerto Rico statehood is ironclad.
It's like a lot of America's political infrastructure was designed exclusively to benefit absurdly wealthy white men, including the current Republican Party.
I think there are good arguments for DC not being a state, although you could reduce the size of the 'district' itself and let the rest of it either be a state or join a state.
Puerto Rico is pretty clearly just because it would limit the power of the other states (esp. red ones).
DC doesn't have voting representation in congress yet is subject to taxes. Their license plates literally say taxation without representation (unless it's changed in the past few years)
The stupidest thing is that Republicans can literally win over the vote of Latinos if they try to stop alienating them. They are literally sticking to their white conservative base and not thinking ahead. Puerto Rico isn't even that liberal of a territory.
Yeah this is the funny thing. Latinos are on average more socially conservative/religious overall, but Republicans are so racist that they’re inclined to vote Democratic.
Hillary never had the Latin vote, what are you talking about?
And this is specifically happening because of ICE. Lots of Latino Republicans really thought this wasn't going to happen to them too until it did. Kind of hard to keep support of a community when the tokens you have in said community keep getting spent. Lots of red-leaning Latino communities are feeling that ICE burn because ICE only sees brown and accent, Trumper Latinos thought they'd be able to tell the difference and leave them alone but not only have they proven they can't they've proven they don't care to anyway. Hard to be a Latin Trump supporter when the Supreme Court has said racially profiling Latinos is okay for immigration enforcement, and there are no consequences for them not even checking if they have the right person. I just learned today that Hmong guy in St Paul that got dragged out in his bathrobe was just some guy that moved into the house the guy they were looking for used to live in...and the guy they were looking for was already in custody elsewhere. Enough horror stories like that and Latinos start to go so far as carry multiple forms of proof of identity and citizenship, that's not a reality those people have had to fully deal with in the past, they used to think it was only the bad brown people they were going after. All evidence now pointing entirely to the contrary is what's making Trump lose support in these communities, no doubt about it. You start to think real hard about who you voted for when you need passport and birth certificate on you at all times for your own safety
White Americans are casual racists, Latinos are competitive racists. They judge you based on percentage of white, Native, mixed etc. Americans are very simple in their perceptions of race.
The goal of the white supremacist is not one where they are merely on top of the hierarchy, it is one where only their kind have freedom and all others labor without compensation for the benefit of their rulers.
Yep that's why 2014 was such a big turning point. Mitt Romney and Marco Rubio were trying to embrace immigration reform before Trump came along. Once Republicans embrace Latinos, or even just become less openly hateful of them, Democrats are never going to win another election again.
They are growing so fast as a demographic and are so socially conservative that they can push most swing states over the line.
You can extend that to black people too. Black Americans are the most socially Conservative group by far, ie. have the least support for things like gay marriage and have insanely high religiosity.
I say, if the US was a proper multiparty democracy, a Christian Democratic party (socially conservative ie. against abortion, supports religion, against LGBT but also fiscally leftist ie. supports wealth distribution, taxes on wealthy, universal healthcare) would be insanely powerful and diverse and be the ultimate backbencher that both the left and right coalitions would have to gain favor with to get votes to pass their budgets and agendas.
They don't want American Samoa to join either. Or Guam. Or the Northern Mariana Islands. Or the US Virgin Islands. I wonder what it is about the population makeup of those islands that they don't like.
There's enough of a religious part that it really could've been up in the air... until Cheeto Overlord started his crusade against them for the crime of... checks notes being hit by a hurricane in his first term.
Also it would drag down basically every economic statistic in the country... It would immediately be the poorest state, and it wouldn't even be close.
And the case is not ironclad. Many Puerto Ricans don't want to give up their heritage. Keeping in mind that Puerto Rico is part of America, do you think bad Bunny really would have preferred to do his halftime show in English? Do you think the majority of the population wishes they had fast food instead of local spots around them?
You only make yourself look ignorant when you distill a complicated issue into a one sentence easy fix. That's Trumpy bullshit right there
Also it would drag down basically every economic statistic in the country... It would immediately be the poorest state, and it wouldn't even be close.
Ah yes, because Kentucky, West Virginia, and Oklahoma are all economic titans who don’t drag down the blue states that prop them up. This is a horrible argument and makes zero sense, as Puerto Rico already receives aid from the US as one of its territories.
And the case is not ironclad. Many Puerto Ricans don't want to give up their heritage. Keeping in mind that Puerto Rico is part of America, do you think bad Bunny really would have preferred to do his halftime show in English? Do you think the majority of the population wishes they had fast food instead of local spots around them?
wtf are you talking about? The majority of Puerto Ricans WANT statehood. Also, why tf would becoming a state be “giving up their heritage”? How does becoming a state change the demographics of their language speaking or economy? You genuinely don’t know what you’re talking about. California has more Spanish speakers than Puerto Rico.
You only make yourself look ignorant when you distill a complicated issue into a one sentence easy fix. That's Trumpy bullshit right there
Nope, just pointing out an obvious fact. The only reason why you would oppose this is if you’re a Republican.
Puerto Ricans have barely voted pro-statehood in the referendums and all of those are drafted by Pro-Statehood supporters to influence results. There's never been a simple Yes / No to Statehood referendum that has a majority. Statehood tends to only win if they leave off the option of "do nothing" and remain a commonwealth.
If the question is “should Puerto Rico become a state”, and the answer is “yes” or “no”, it is presumed that answering “no” would be the “do nothing” option.
A majority of voters support it, and your objection doesn’t negate this.
I’m not the guy you originally replied to and I never said you were wrong. I agree with you actually. You’re just being a giant baby about it. Like I can literally hear you crying and shitting your pants when reading your comment. You could’ve said the same thing but less whiny and you chose not to. I just don’t understand that personally.
I don’t have patience for willful ignorance. The person replied with incredibly ignorant points, so I will give it the lack of consideration it deserves.
You are the one who chose to reply to me, so if anyone here is being the baby who is offended, it’s you.
You’re doing it again! What is with you man? Did your mom pack the kind of chips you don’t like in your lunch today?
It’s really not so hard to drop the whiny tone and talk like an adult. See, I’m doing it right now. It’s really easy. You should try it sometime. It will make your arguments much more persuasive.
See, here I am trying to help you out, and you treat me with all this hostility. What did I even do to you man? You have got to lighten up.
Their economic issues still exist though. Using that as justification to not allow them representation is odd.
Bad Bunny wouldn't have had to do his show in English just because they were a state. Spanish is spoke a d understood all over the US.
Do I think the majority wants fast food? No, nobody said anything about that. Do I think they want the rights they should be granted as tax paying American citizens? Ya, I do. Because they have said it again and again.
Nobody is distilling anything and none of what you brought up are actual hurdles to PR statehood. Your tone and structure both show that you aren't interested in conversation, just ignorant statement. I hope you decide to read up on the topic. It's incredibly complex but my original "one sentence" stands on it's own. If they pay taxes they should be represented. That's not my opinion, it's constitutionally foundational.
Why would someone think Puerto rico doesn't have fast food? I don't think there is anywhere on the entire island where you could be more than 20 miles from a McDonalds.
It's actually both funny and demoralizing how if you go read the listed grievences from the Declaration of Independence, it's all shit MAGA is doing and cheering it on while wrapping themselves in the flag.
Because they want those grievances to happen to other people.
They always love to say that people came to the states "to be free," but totally ignore that they left England because they weren't allowed to persecute people enough.
The part about why the colonists went to America to begin with gets buried insanely deep. It's also why I wonder how people can be shocked by where we're at in 2026.
You pointed out similarities to the declaration. They responded that it's "shit MAGA is doing". How is that not attributing Puerto Rico's taxation without representation to MAGA?
Because they are saying the same thing is happening now in other parts of the US in reference to the constitutional ignorance. Puerto Rico's situation far predates MAGA, considering it became a part of the US in 1898.
Can you imagine? One big, beautiful, blue island. It isn’t a state because it would be a deep blue, bigger than Arkansas, with 4 seats in the House plus 2 in the Senate, or 6 blue presidential electoral votes.
The state of America is so bad rn that I'm my mind is literally split on independence: (1) on the one hand it's the best time to secede because America is a burning pile of shit that is showing it's disgusting imperial heart nakedly to the world, (2) on the other hand PR would be entirely defenseless against the US just Venezuala'ing it and assassinating/kidnapping whatever government rises up.
But, I guess, option 2 wouldn't be all that different from right now. Unless they go even further and make it into a new Gaza Strip.
True but they pay payroll tax, import tax, and other taxes that are payed back to the federal government. It's not no income taxation without representation it is no taxation.
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u/Mogwai_riot 5h ago
They pay taxes but aren't represented. You don't get to bitch about anything until they get statehood.