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On the street of Little Havana in Florida, an old man watches the world go by.
He gently leans back in his chair as the headlines of the Spanish news blare on a portable radio.
Later, Francisco sells peanuts.
“Peanuts”, calls the tourists who pass.
In this corner of Miami Donald trump has found favor.
“Donald Trump is great,” Francisco tells me before beginning to speak in fluent Spanish about why he is the best leader for the United States.
An avalanche of support from Latinos here helped propel the president to victory in Florida, a state that must win if it wants to keep the White House.
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“I like everything, how he says, how he does it, he is good, good people for the community.” Raúl Rodríguez says that he fled from here Cuba in the 1990s.
“Why do not you like it Joe biden?” I ask
“Joe Biden is too weak,” he replies.
It is estimated that around 55% of Florida’s Cuban-American vote went to Donald Trump, sparking a mini red wave.
Politics is a sensitive subject for many residents who settled here in Little Havana after escaping from communist regimes.
People politely decline our interview requests, a friendly waiter tells us they are scarred by the past.
At the El Cristo restaurant, we met José Santana. His father was Cuban, his mother from El Salvador. His family escaped here when he was three years old.
“Trump is a little stronger, a little stronger vision of dictators. He is trying to end communism in countries that are our neighbors like Cuba,” he says.
Explain that many Cubans initially liked it Barack Obama but their decision to reestablish relations with Raúl Castro left them deeply uneasy.
Across the street, Jonny ‘Big Papa’ Carducca is even clearer. “They think Joe Biden is a socialist,” he says.
Donald Trump’s misrepresentation of Joe Biden as a left-wing extremist has leaked here, eroding trust in Democrats and sow doubts in the electoral process.
“I would back him to the end,” Jonny says when asked if he would support Trump if he challenges the election results in the Supreme Court.
After all, Trump is her man.
After a brief visit to Little Havana, one thing is clear; a legal challenge from Donald Trump could still provoke a popular one.
His base here, and across the country, is unshakable, he no doubt supports it.
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