Going on Spanish-language radio to call a popular Democratic politician an agent of Castro is a pretty standard tactic for South Florida Republicans. What's slightly weirder is to do it while promising in English to run a clean campaign. What's very weird is lying about it when caught. Watch as the Naples Daily News commits real journalism:
Recent Bluessky Posts- Jotwell Constitutional Law: Pat Gudridge, Mississippi Goddam!, JOTWELL (June 16, 2026) (reviewing Brandon M. Terry, Shattered Dreams, Infinite Hope: A Tragic Vision of the Civil Rights Movement (2025)), conlaw.jotwell.com/mississippi-.... June 17, 2026 Jotwell
- Jotwell Juris: Erik Encarnacion, The Rule of Law, through Thick and Thin, JOTWELL (June 15, 2026) (reviewing Felipe Jiménez, The Rule of Law, __ Mich. St. L. Rev. __ (forthcoming 2026), available at SSRN (Dec. 05, 2025)), juris.jotwell.com/the-rule-of-.... June 17, 2026 Jotwell
- My brother @froomkin.bsky.social is the media critic, but in the unlikely event the Iran framework deal survives Trump learning what's actually in it, I hope the media explains the payments to Iran in understandable terms, e.g. deflating every $1 bn by 72 mill US households=$14. E.g. $300bn=>$4,200. June 15, 2026 Michael Froomkin
- Wait and see: it's the cover-up that gets you... edition.cnn.com/2026/06/14/p... June 15, 2026 Michael Froomkin
- And yes I got the reference. But I don't have even a stochastic parrot. June 15, 2026 Michael Froomkin
That sort of thing is EXACTLY why it’s a bad idea to try to have one polity with two languages. It facilitates politicians saying one thing to one language group, and something entirely different to another. (Something they try anyway, but the two groups speaking different languages makes it more likely to succeed.)
Bilingualism is bad for democracy.
Actually, the more bilingualism there is, the harder it is to get away with this stuff. It’s two co-existing monolingualisms that cause the problem. Moral of the story: start teaching English to Spanish-speakers in kindergarten, and Spanish to English-speakers. Don’t wait until middle school to start the second language.
It’s monolingualism that is bad for democracy. The more languages everyone speaks, the less tricks like this can work. (Not to mention that multilingualism is good for trade and diplomacy too.)