By: Aldo Mena
Editor’s note: this editorial contains language that may be offensive to some readers.
I am concerned about Bobby Flores and not just because of his poor taste in music. There’s just something about Flores that, for lack of a better term, just “smells” kind of Republican.
My concern stemmed initially from an incident in which Flores proudly donned an Aaron Lewis T-shirt featuring the expression “Let’s Go Brandon” at a country music concert in North Texas. The anti-Biden expression which is code for an expletive directed at President Joe Biden has become a particular favorite among Trump supporters since it was first spawned at a NASCAR event in 2021.
Flores has dismissed this rather serious affront to the political sensibilities of El Paso’s Democratic voters as nothing more than a “poor wardrobe choice” claiming that “no disrespect” to Biden was ever intended. He would like us to believe that “politics weren’t even on [his] mind” as he wore a shirt featuring what is arguably one of the most notorious anti-Biden slights of the current political era. With all due respect to Mr. Flores, this highly implausible claim is an insult to our collective intelligence, to put it mildly, given the ubiquitous nature of the crude slogan. As Jim Innocenzi, a veteran Republican media consultant, once noted in reference to the expression, ‘Unless you are living in a cave, you know what it means.’
But, it’s not just the stupid shirt that’s the problem. Flores’ interest in Aaron Lewis’ music is itself troubling. After all, Lewis is not just another country music artist. He is stridently anti-Biden and a total, unabashed MAGA disciple. His pro-Trump sentiment isn’t incidental to his music. It appears to be the raison d’être or sole organizing principle behind his music. His songs feature lyrics with unambiguous, full-throated endorsements of Trumpism including “We can make America great again” and, perhaps not surprisingly, “Let’s Go Brandon.” During his concerts, Lewis has been known to go on lengthy anti-Biden diatribes and has urged his fans to chant “F*** Joe Biden.” He has, of course, frequently been photographed wearing a MAGA cap, and, speaking of caps, at one of his concerts, he wore a cap featuring the not-so-coded expletive “FUJOE.” At another concert, he wore a shirt that read “I could sh*t a better President.” And, in one particularly appalling act of brutality, he once posted a photo of 32 dead coyotes spelling out the phrase “Trump 24” to his social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Truth Social.
But wait, there’s more. Among other things, Lewis has refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election insisting that eventually “the truth will come out.” He has dismissed COVID-19 vaccines as “poison” and has claimed that he cured his own COVID-19 infection with ivermectin, an anti-parasitic medication commonly used on horses. In one of his songs entitled “Am I the Only One,” he openly laments the removal of Confederate statues across America. He has also questioned American support for Ukraine and thinks we should “listen” to what Vladimir Putin has to say about the invasion. He has even disseminated a pro-Kremlin video on social media claiming that “crisis actors” are helping create lies about the death toll in Ukraine.
And then there’s Lewis’ troubling insinuation that George Soros, a billionaire and major donor to Democratic causes, is somehow involved in orchestrating and profiteering from the war in Ukraine. We have, of course, heard many versions of this antisemitic conspiracy theory trafficked by the right before. Soros, who is a Jewish Holocaust survivor from Hungary, has been blamed by elements of the right for everything from funding migrant caravans to currency collapses.
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Not being a country music fan, I had no idea who the hell Lewis was prior to this incident with Flores coming to light, but the more I learned about his deluded political opinions and related provocations, the angrier I became. I certainly couldn’t ever imagine myself, or any Democrat, listening to this guy’s music much less cheering this guy on in a concert hall full of Trump supporters.
Even Lewis himself has acknowledged that his music’s political messaging has ‘already driven away anybody that might not feel the same way I do.’ Interestingly though, Flores appears completely undisturbed by all of the MAGA baked into Lewis’ music. Sure, Flores has expressed regret over the political faux pas he committed by wearing the shirt, and I am certain that he sincerely regrets that this incident has come to light, but at no point in the dubious explanation that he has offered did he specifically disavow the anti-Biden messaging in Lewis’ music or express any type of contempt for Trump.
We should also keep in mind that it’s not like Flores voluntarily divulged information relating to this incident. I don’t think he would have even bothered to offer an explanation for wearing the shirt in question if this situation hadn’t accidentally come to light.
I guess Flores never got the memo on this, so I feel compelled to take this opportunity to make it abundantly clear to him that the majority of Mexican Americans justifiably despise Trump and Trump supporters like Lewis. Flores’ affinity for the MAGA fever dream fueling Lewis’ music obviously puts him at variance with one of our seminal political positions and raises serious questions about whether he possesses the requisite hostility towards Trump and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to effectively represent the interests of a predominantly Mexican American community like El Paso.
At this point, I can only speculate about the reasons why Flores isn’t bothered in the least by Lewis’ pro-Trump, anti-Biden messaging. He, of course, claims that he does not share Lewis’ political beliefs, but he certainly doesn’t seem to mind these political beliefs much either. Maybe there are elements of Lewis’ messaging that resonate with Flores. Or, maybe, and, I am just speculating here, at some point in his nascent political career, Flores realized that his chances of getting elected as a Republican in a predominantly Mexican American city like El Paso were slim. Confronted by this inconvenient political reality, he may have accordingly made a decision to present himself as a Democrat to the voters of El Paso for political expediency despite his obvious Republican inclinations.
Texas is an open primary state. Maybe Flores relied upon Republican voters to get him into the runoff election in the first place. He may still be relying upon these same Republican voters to help him defeat Oscar Ugarte, a Democrat with an extensive Democratic voting record to prove it.
Once again, I am just speculating here, but it certainly isn’t beyond the realm of possibility that as Republicans find it increasingly difficult to gain any political traction in predominantly Mexican American cities like El Paso and San Antonio they will resort to various forms of duplicity in an attempt to win elections.
I recently reached out to Michael Apodaca, the Chair of the El Paso County Democratic Party, to discuss my concerns about Flores. While clarifying that it would be unethical of him, as an election administrator, “to endorse or support any of the candidates in our primary,” Apodaca directed me to some comments he had previously made in the El Paso Matters article referenced earlier in this article. As Apodaca explained, “Anyone can file in our primary […] regardless of past vote or partisan statements.”
For the record, no Republican has ever been elected sheriff of El Paso County. I certainly hope that we can keep it that way.
About the Author:
Aldo N. Mena is a local educator, podcaster, and freelance writer who enjoys exploring issues of relevance to the Mexican American community. He is also a founding member of the Committee for Mexican American Leadership. He is a graduate of the University of New Mexico where he received a B.A. in English and Political Science, and an M.A. in Latin American Studies with a research concentration in late colonial/early national period Mexican history. You can follow him on Twitter at @solidaritywmex.
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