A disinformation campaign of conspiracy theories was motivating Florida’s Spanish-speaking voters as polling stations opened on Tuesday, driving support for US President Donald Trump.
The National spoke with voters in Hialeah, a Cuban-American neighbourhood of western Miami, who described Mr Trump as a crusader against evil, corruption and "deep state" forces, all of which are tropes from the QAnon conspiracy theory.
A barrage of conspiracy theories has been aimed at Hispanic voters in Florida, a key swing state that could determine whether Mr Trump beats his Democratic challenger Joe Biden and keeps the White House.
“Trump is like a messenger from God,” said Roberto Giraldo, 63, a Cuban American who has lived in the US for three decades.
“Trump wants to save America from the New Global Order, which is linked to the communists with China, with Russia, and they want to kill the system we have here in the United States.
“Trump is against that because God wants to keep America free.”
The New World Order is a decades-old conspiracy theory about a clandestine global government.
It has evolved in the US and elsewhere into QAnon theories about Mr Trump battling deep-state elites running a paedophile ring.
Before Tuesday’s presidential election, media monitors described a deluge of bizarre theories being peddled in Spanish to Latinos on social media, the messaging platform WhatsApp, radio and YouTube.
Bogus claims have clogged WhatsApp chats and Facebook feeds of Florida’s Latinos, who make up 17 per cent of the sunshine state’s electorate, hurting Mr Biden’s appeal among Hispanics.
They range from unproven claims of voter fraud to comparisons between the Black Lives Matter civil rights movement and Nazism.
Eduardo Gamarra, a professor of political science at Florida International University, told The National that QAnon-style theories were being "mainstreamed" among Latinos in southern Florida.
“These YouTube channels are run out of Venezuela or Colombia and look professionally produced, like regular news shows with respectable presenters who look like they’re saying something important,” Mr Gamarra said.
“But they’re talking about Joe Biden’s sexual preferences ... or how Black Lives Matter is really dominated by black magic and funded by George Soros.
“And it’s all under the umbrella of anti-communist sentiment.”
Mr Biden has a wide lead over Mr Trump in national opinion polls, but the two men are neck and neck in Florida, where the Democrat has struggled to appeal to a Latino community that might be able to push him over the edge.
The latest average of opinion polls by Real Clear Politics suggested that Mr Biden leads in Florida with 47.9 per cent compared with Mr Trump’s 47 per cent, although that 0.9 percentage point lead is well within the margin of error.
Worth 29 electoral college votes, Florida is the most valuable battleground state.
Thanks to its razor-thin vote margins and fast-changing demographics, it is notoriously difficult to predict in elections.
Cuban Americans are the largest Latino group and make up 29 per cent of the state’s 2.5 million registered Hispanic voters.
They overwhelmingly vote Republican, which is often attributed to their support for tough US policies against Havana’s leftist elite.
The second-biggest group, the Democrat-leaning Puerto Ricans, make up 27 per cent of Florida’s Latino voters, followed by people from Mexico, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Peru and elsewhere, the Pew Research Centre says.
Four years ago, Mr Trump beat Hillary Clinton by 113,000 votes in Florida.
Even small shifts among Hispanic voters could swing a state he needs to win to keep the Oval Office for another four years.
Other voters expressed concerns about how mainstream media outlets did not report about Mr Biden’s alleged corruption over his son’s dealings in Ukraine, another popular trope among US conspiracy theorists.
"I had no idea the media was so bad at covering up for a lot of bad politicians," Rick Meyer told The National at a polling station in Hialeah, before casting his vote for Mr Trump.
“I’ve been doing some research on Biden in this Ukraine thing. I’m not saying Trump’s an angel but if you do a little bit of research on this Biden guy, nobody in their right mind could vote for him.”
Mr Trump has claimed Mr Biden and his son, Hunter, made millions of dollars from China, Russia and through the Ukrainian gas company Burisma.
The allegations have not been proven but they resonate with many of the president’s supporters.
SPECS
Toyota land Cruiser 2020 5.7L VXR
Engine: 5.7-litre V8
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 362hp
Torque: 530Nm
Price: Dh329,000 (base model 4.0L EXR Dh215,900)
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Roll of honour 2019-2020
Dubai Rugby Sevens
Winners: Dubai Hurricanes
Runners up: Bahrain
West Asia Premiership
Winners: Bahrain
Runners up: UAE Premiership
UAE Premiership
Winners: Dubai Exiles
Runners up: Dubai Hurricanes
UAE Division One
Winners: Abu Dhabi Saracens
Runners up: Dubai Hurricanes II
UAE Division Two
Winners: Barrelhouse
Runners up: RAK Rugby
if you go
Getting there
Etihad (Etihad.com), Emirates (emirates.com) and Air France (www.airfrance.com) fly to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, from Abu Dhabi and Dubai respectively. Return flights cost from around Dh3,785. It takes about 40 minutes to get from Paris to Compiègne by train, with return tickets costing €19. The Glade of the Armistice is 6.6km east of the railway station.
Staying there
On a handsome, tree-lined street near the Chateau’s park, La Parenthèse du Rond Royal (laparenthesedurondroyal.com) offers spacious b&b accommodation with thoughtful design touches. Lots of natural woods, old fashioned travelling trunks as decoration and multi-nozzle showers are part of the look, while there are free bikes for those who want to cycle to the glade. Prices start at €120 a night.
More information: musee-armistice-14-18.fr ; compiegne-tourisme.fr; uk.france.fr
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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Itcan profile
Founders: Mansour Althani and Abdullah Althani
Based: Business Bay, with offices in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and India
Sector: Technology, digital marketing and e-commerce
Size: 70 employees
Revenue: On track to make Dh100 million in revenue this year since its 2015 launch
Funding: Self-funded to date
What drives subscription retailing?
Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.
The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.
The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.
The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.
UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.
That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.
Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
Tamkeen's offering
- Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
- Option 2: 50% across three years
- Option 3: 30% across five years
Retail gloom
Online grocer Ocado revealed retail sales fell 5.7 per cen in its first quarter as customers switched back to pre-pandemic shopping patterns.
It was a tough comparison from a year earlier, when the UK was in lockdown, but on a two-year basis its retail division, a joint venture with Marks&Spencer, rose 31.7 per cent over the quarter.
The group added that a 15 per cent drop in customer basket size offset an 11.6. per cent rise in the number of customer transactions.
Company Fact Box
Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Polarised public
31% in UK say BBC is biased to left-wing views
19% in UK say BBC is biased to right-wing views
19% in UK say BBC is not biased at all
Source: YouGov
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
