Libro.fm for Business
Start a membership, get two free audiobooks
Bookseller Created
Hispanic Heritage Month 2024
Become a member to shop our buy-one-get-one sale!
Get started
Send as gift
Add to Wish List
Almost ready!
In order to save audiobooks to your Wish List you must be signed in to your account.
Log in Create account
One week only!
Become a member and shop our members-only buy-one-get-one sale in support of local bookstores.
Get started
Limited-time offer
Get two free audiobooks!
Now’s a great time to shop indie. When you start a new one credit per month membership supporting local bookstores with promo code SWITCH, we’ll give you two bonus audiobook credits at sign-up.
Sign up todayDefectors
The Rise of the Latino Far Right and What It Means for America
Narrator
Victoria Villarreal
This audiobook uses AI narration.
We’re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.
Learn more
Length
9 hours 12 minutes
Language
English
An award-winning journalist's exploration of how race, identity and political trauma have influenced the rise in far-right sentiment among Latinos, and how this group can shape American politics
“A deeply reported, surprisingly personal exploration of a phenomenon that is little understood in our politics: the affiliation of Latino voters with causes and candidates that would seem, at first glance, unwelcoming to them."—Rachel Maddow
Democrats have historically assumed they can rely on the Latino vote, but recent elections have called that loyalty into question. In fact, despite his vociferous anti-immigrant rhetoric and disastrous border policies, Trump won a higher percentage of the Latino vote in 2020 than he did in 2016. Now, journalist Paola Ramos pulls back the curtain on these voters, traveling around the country to uncover what motivates them to vote for and support issues that seem so at odds with their self-interest.
From coast to coast, cities to rural towns, Defectors introduces readers to underdog GOP candidates, January 6th insurrectionists, Evangelical pastors and culture war crusaders, aiming to identify the influences at the heart of this rightward shift. Through their stories, Ramos shows how tribalism, traditionalism, and political trauma within the Latino community has been weaponized to radicalize and convert voters who, like many of their white counterparts, are fearful of losing their place in American society.
We meet Monica de la Cruz, a Republican congresswoman from the Rio Grande Valley who won on a platform centered on finishing “what Donald Trump started” and pushing the Great Replacement Theory; David Ortiz, a Mexican man who refers to himself as a Spaniard and opposed the removal of a statue of a Spanish conquistador in New Mexico; Luis Cabrera, an evangelical pastor pushing to “Make America Godly Again;” Anthony Aguero, an independent journalist turned border vigilante; and countless other individuals and communities that make up the rising conservative Latino population. Cross-cultural and assiduously reported, Defectors highlights how one of America's most powerful and misunderstood electorates may come to define the future of American politics.
Paola Ramos is an author and Emmy-Award winning journalist. She is a contributor for Telemundo News and MSNBC, where she is the host of “Field Report.” Ramos is a former Correspondent for Vice News. Prior to her career in journalism, Ramos was the Deputy Director of Hispanic Media for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, a political appointee during the Obama Administration, and served in President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign.
She is also a former Hauser Leader in the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School, where she received her Master’s in Public Policy, and recently joined the board of trustees of her alma mater, Barnard College. She is the author of Finding Latin-X: In Search of the Voices Redefining Latino Identity. Ramos was born in Miami to Cuban and Mexican parents, grew up in Madrid, and currently lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Reviews
"Ramos’s empathy is formidable. As frightened as she is by the defectors’ politics, she is always curious to learn more."—Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times
"Defectors is a deeply reported, surprisingly personal exploration of a phenomenon that is little understood in our politics: The affiliation of Latino voters with causes and candidates that would seem, at first glance, unwelcoming to them. Paola takes us into the lives of Latinos who support presidential candidates with plans for mass deportations or lead efforts to ban books and stop diversity initiatives. She introduces us to Latinos who patrol the border as vigilantes and Latinos who marched on the Capitol on January 6th. From Miami and the Bronx to Arizona, New Mexico and the Rio Grande Valley, Paola shows us why the Latino vote is not just increasingly powerful, but increasingly in flux. It turns out the answers are there if you ask the right questions, and that is exactly what Paola does in this terrific book."
—Rachel Maddow, Emmy award-winning host of The Rachel Maddow Show and New York Times bestselling author of Prequel
"Defectors...casts aside the misguided notion that Latinos are a monolith and looks at the small but expanding part of the population moving steadily right. Through reporting trips and conversations with experts and psychologists alike, Ramos interrogates the idea that the Latino electorate is aligned with progressive values, writing about an Afro-Latino former Proud Boy leader, a Latino border vigilante, and Latino insurrectionists who participated in the January 6 US Capitol attack. As she persuasively proves, not all white supremacists are white."
—Vogue
"It's hard to fathom how any vulnerable group, be they Latinos, Black, or even white women, can consistently vote for conservative candidates who are hostile to their interests, and their humanity. In Defectors, Paola Ramos seeks to understand ultra conservative Latinos, and instead of lecturing them, explains how they've come to support violent authoritarianism.”
—Elie Mystal, New York Times bestselling author of Allow Me to Retort
"With both humanizing compassion and sharp urgency, Defectors highlights the voices and ideologies behind our current political moment. Paola deftly shows how historical trauma and cultural values have caused a rightward shift among an increasingly politically active population and reveals why America's Latino voices will matter in this election more than ever, and in every election to come."
—Ana Navarro, Emmy award-winning cohost of "The View" Expand reviews