Buzz saw

Donald Trump is about to walk into a buzz saw

‘It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad that this man is leading in the polls,’ said the spokesman for a group set to host Trump next week.

By Ben Schreckinger

If Donald Trump thought Megyn Kelly was tough, he should get ready for the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Next Thursday, the businessman will sit down with the group to answer some questions, and its leaders are making it clear that that interview will not be easy.

“We’re not going to go easy on him. A lot of people think it’s just going to be this positive thing,” said the group’s communications director, Ammar Campa-Najjar, who went on to share some choice words about the businessman, his ideas and his candidacy. They included “sad,” “absurd” and “broken.”

“I’ve been tight-lipped for a while, but I’ve got to speak up now,” said Campa-Najjar. “It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad that this man is leading in the polls and that this is his idea for a fiscally responsible, fair and feasible plan for dealing with immigrants.”

Citing its $400 billion price tag, Campa-Najjar said Trump’s immigration plan is a fiscal loser. He added, “The deporting thing is so absurd that no one can get behind it and he needs to explain how that’s going to work.”

Campa-Najjar also dismissed the Trump campaign’s claims that Trump already enjoys support among many Hispanics and his belief that he will win over many others.

“When we talk to them, they give the impression they’re doing so well with Hispanics: ‘Oh Hispanics love me,’ and I think that’s, at best, out of touch with reality,” he said.

Campa-Najjar pointed to the small sample of a July poll, oft-cited by Trump, that shows him winning Hispanic Republicans in Nevada with 31 percent support. “Congratulations, you got 80 Hispanics to say they support you,” he said. “There’s 55 million Hispanics, and you need 47 percent of the Hispanic votes to win the White House, according to some estimates.”

(In a national ABC/Washington Post poll conducted in July, 84 percent of Hispanics said they “definitely would not” vote for Trump.)

“What we’re hearing is he has virtually no chance of winning back support from the Hispanic business community,” said Campa-Najjar. “That’s putting it mildly — he never had it. At best, he could clarify his stance.”

A Trump campaign spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Hispanic Chamber’s president and CEO, Javier Palomarez, also said Trump was in for rigorous questioning. “We will challenge Mr. Trump on his views. We’ll challenge him on his rhetoric. We intend to have a very candid discussion,” Palomarez said. “He claims he’s been mischaracterized so this will give him an opportunity to set the record straight, and we’ll allow our constituency of business owners and executives to be the judge and jury of Donald Trump and his words.”

Citing a shared interest in business, Campa-Najjar predicted that Trump and the chamber’s members could also reach some common ground. “I’m sure we’ll find some things that we don’t outright disagree with,” he said. “A broken clock is right twice a day.”