SALT LAKE CITY, UT - AUGUST 6: Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson talks to a crowd of supporters at a rally on August 6, 2015 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Johnson has spent the day campaigning in Salt Lake City, the home town of former republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. (Photo by George Frey/Getty Images) (2016 Getty Images)
The head of Hispanic Outreach for the Libertarian Party, who is Republican, says he joined up with the third party because he believes GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump is “the worst of the worst.”
Speaking to The Hill, Juan Hernández, who took the post with the Libertarian Party last week, said that he is not leaving the Republican Party, but is backing Libertarian Gary Johnson’s bid for the White House because he believes the former New Mexico governor "comes with a message that brings both of my worlds together."
Johnson’s message of small government and letting states decide on social issues resonated with Hernández because it "fits Hispanics so well."
"We came here, we’re religious, we don’t want to get into the debate over gay marriage," Hernández said of Hispanics. "Let states decide."
As for Trump, Hernández said “there are just so many reasons” why he can’t support the boisterous billionaire.
While he says that Trump’s call to build a massive wall along the United States’ southern border with Mexico and his proposal to deport the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the country would be an “insult” to Hispanics, Hernández said his opposition to Trump goes even further.
Trump would "not only be a disaster for Hispanics, for Republicans, for Americans, for the world. I really fear a Trump president. The way he speaks of bombing other nations, the Muslims?"
Hernández, however, said he never had any plans of supporting Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
"It’s not a matter of I’ll go with the lesser of two evils, I think we have to vote on principle," said Hernández.
"Since she was first lady of Arkansas, she and her husband were always en la orillita of what’s appropriate,” Hernández said, using the Mexican Spanish phrase that roughly translates to in gray space.
Hernández has previously worked as an advisor for presidential candidates in the U.S., Mexico and Guatemala, including Arizona Sen. John McCain’s failed bid in 2008 and former Mexican Presidents Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderón.
Besides Hernández, the Johnson campaign nabbed another high profile Republican boost on Wednesday when Virginia Rep. Scott Rigell said he thinks Johnson can win the presidency.
"This may surprise you to hear, but I'm ready to defend the proposition that Gov. Johnson can win," Rigell said.
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