Trump’s Recent Interview Reveals How Much He and His Hand-Picked Candidate Have in Common

Last week, Donald Trump gave an interview to Time that revealed a shocking glimpse of his plans for a potential second term. After 113 days on the campaign trail, voters still do not know much about where No-Answer Nella stands on issues, but it’s clear that the candidate, who moved back to New Mexico while  being recruited to run by national Trump allies, has more in common with the former president than she wants to admit.

“Carefully concealed under No-Answer Nella’s attempts at political maneuvering are her alarming ties to Trump and his extreme agenda,” said Democratic Party of New Mexico Spokesperson Daniel Garcia. “From opposing federal protections on abortion and favoring tax cuts for the wealthy, to supporting draconian immigration policies and embracing extremism, Trump and Nella’s priorities are too MAGA for New Mexico.”

Nella told a group of Bernalillo County Republicans on April 16th of this year that she was handpicked by MAGA Trump allies to run for New Mexico’s Senate seat. Nella admitted to being recruited to run by the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the campaign organization of the Senate Republicans, four years ago, around the time she moved to New Mexico. Nella referred to Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) who is Trump’s pick to replace Mitch McConnell and Chair of the NRSC as a “mentor” and said of the organization, “…they’ve given us staff, coaching, they've introduced us to donors…”

Even though Nella refuses to say if she voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020 and if she will vote for him this year, the two candidates who will be on the top of the ticket for the GOP in New Mexico share some alarming similarities. 

On abortion, Trump and Nella share similar stances, both opposing federal protections that would leave the door open to more extreme bans in states across the U.S. Trump continually takes credit for overturning Roe v. Wade and has called for punishing women who get an abortion. In the recent Time interview, he even supported states being allowed to monitor pregnancies. Like Trump, Nella says she thinks abortion should be an issue left up to states, but with Trump’s history of backtracking on the issue and Nella’s coziness with national MAGA Republicans, she cannot be trusted to protect abortion rights should she ever have the chance to vote on future Supreme Court appointments, federal restrictions on abortion medication, codifying the protections of Roe, or anything related to reproductive rights.

On economic policy, Nella and Trump share similar favoritism towards the wealthy. Thanks to Trump’s tax cuts for the rich, billionaires paid less taxes than the working class for the first time in history during his term. Last week’s Time article revealed that Trump plans to double down on his tax scam that prioritizes corporate profits over helping working families by extending his tax cuts for high-income brackets, 100% business expensing, and the doubling of the estate tax deduction. In a fundraising letter from last month, Nella came out in favor of tax cuts for the wealthy, the kind that she and her Wall Street buddies would benefit from, and opposed government investment which is creating jobs right here in New Mexico. 

On immigration, Nella is following Trump’s lead on the border. As two East Coast Elites who have spent little time in a border state, Trump and Nella espouse similar right-wing rhetoric that utilizes racially charged language to broadly characterize asylum seekers and immigrants as criminals, terrorists, & drug traffickers with calls to “close the border” while refusing to work with Democrats on solutions. Trump ordered Congressional Republicans to reject a bipartisan border deal with Democrats, just so he and GOP candidates like Nella could campaign on the issue and present the same ideas as their own.

On embracing extremism, Nella’s alignment with Trump is perhaps the most concerning of all. In the Time interview, Trump said he would consider pardoning the January 6th insurrectionists who attacked the Capitol and continues to refuse to commit to accepting the results of the 2024 election, win or lose. Nella has been silent when it comes to rejecting MAGA attacks on democracy, in fact, she donated the max amount allowed to Yvette Herrell who voted against certifying the 2020 election results. In March, Nella accepted a $500 campaign contribution from Debbie Weh-Maestas, one of New Mexico’s fake electors who tried to falsely award NM’s electoral votes to Trump after he lost the 2020 election, who was recently selected as a presidential elector by Steve Pearce yet again. Nella has so far refused to return the cash, which is no surprise given that she was recruited by MAGA Trump allies to be their candidate and puts their agenda over New Mexico’s.