Javier Palomarez, the President of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC), has accepted President-elect Donald Trump’s offer to join his transition team and diversity coalition. Palomarez has not been too friendly of Trump in the past. The USHCC endorsed fellow GOP Presidential candidate John Kasich during the primary and Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton for the general election. To add more intrigue to this odd relationship, ABC reported that Trump backed out of the USHCC’s Presidential Candidate Q&A after Trump was made aware of the questions for the session.
Palomarez spoke about the reason why Trump backed out of the Q&A session at the time of the incident. “Mr. Trump was unwilling to abide by the terms and conditions of the USHCC’s Presidential Candidate Q&A Series – the same rules that all participants have previously followed,” said Palomarez. “The USHCC refused to change the format of the forum, show any favoritism, exclude any issues or topics, or grant any immunity from objective scrutiny of his policies.”
Trump’s relationship with the USHCC has grown negative over the years but with Palomarez’s appointment maybe the relationship is slowly changing for the better. The question I am pondering is how will this impact the diversity initiative under the Trump administration? Or will it have anything to do with it? We shall see but I expect Palomarez and the USHCC to provide thoughtful and valuable insight to the Trump team of experts.
-Ray Hayes