CLEVELAND — Ann Coulter, the nativist firebrand, delivered a harsh anti-immigration speech Wednesday to California delegates to the Republican National Convention, warning them that the state’s growing diversity had decimated their party and threatened to undermine the nation.
“There are 200 separate languages spoken in California … the country is slipping away from us so fast,” Coulter told the GOP delegates as they ate breakfast in their hotel outside Cleveland.
Coulter, the author of the anti-immigration book “Adios America,” appeared to be an odd choice to address a delegation that includes more than a dozen Latino members. Her appearance was personally arranged by Silicon Valley tycoon Peter Thiel, said Tim Clark, Trump’s California campaign director.
Thiel, a Trump delegate from San Francisco, is scheduled to address the convention on Thursday.
Coulter took partial credit for Trump’s tough stance on illegal immigration, saying that he had read “Adios America.”
“That’s where he got all that great stuff about Mexican rapists,” she said.
Coulter offered a dim view of California’s GOP. “You’ve sent us two of our greatest presidents: Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, and now Republicans can’t get elected statewide in California because of immigration,” she said. “This is why Trump’s election is absolutely critical.”
Coulter received polite applause from delegation members. “She likes to be controversial, but she gets it right most of the time,” said Davis resident Alzada Knickerbocker, a guest of the delegation.
Marco Gutierrez, a member of Latinos for Trump, took issue with Coulter’s depictions of Mexicans in her book, but he found nothing offensive in her remarks on Wednesday.
“It’s like going to a therapist and talking about your family issues,” he said. “Why am I going to be offended if it’s a real thing? I think we have issues in our Hispanic culture that need to be dealt with.”`
