Even though Donald Trump has transformed the USA in a gigantic, chaotic, at times tragic and at times laughable reality show, he has one undeniable, if sad, accomplishment under his belt: He has made hate, racism and mendacity the new normal in the USA.

Not surprisingly hopelessness, exhaustion and pessimism are growing by leaps and bounds among Latinos, and not only the undocumented, but also legal immigrants, and even U.S. citizens like Puerto Rican journalist Susanne Ramírez de Arellano. So much so, that more and more Latinos are either leaving the country or thinking about it.

“I am no longer welcome or made to feel particularly safe here. In Trump’s America, to be Hispanic is to be an alien and speaking Spanish is a thing to fear or hide,” Ramírez de Arellano wrote in NBC News Think on Nov. 2, expressing the feelings of a rapidly increasing number of Latinos.

 “The opprobrium against us Latinos coming from Trump’s mouth — bad hombres, rapists, lazy — have been the spark needed to ignite this latent powder keg of racism. 

 I no longer feel safe in Trump's America. So, I'm leaving it,” Ramírez de Arellano added.

Racism and gratuitous cruelty against them and their children have destroyed the faith of Latinos in achieving a better future in this country, not necessarily in financial terms, but in terms of respect for their dignity and worth as human beings. Thanks to the white supremacist in the White House, the USA is no longer the adopted nation they loved and once thought of as a welcoming land of opportunity. 

“I now don't believe that America is another name for opportunity, Ramírez de Arellano wrote. “If you speak Spanish or look like me, it has become another name for hate.”

The sad truth: Thanks to Trump, for Latinos the American Dream has become an empty phrase, a tired myth. Fear and hatred are the name of the game.