Rosario Marin served for 22 years in Republican politics at the state and national level, and on Wednesday night MSNBC host Chris Matthews laughed at her for saying she felt at home in her party.
"Let me start with this," Matthews said. "You're a Republican and you vote Republican in every instance. Do you feel at home in the Republican Party as a latina?"
"Faithfully," Marin said. "Absolutely, yes."
"Ha!" Matthews said. "I need more, tell me why."
Marin, an immigrant who was naturalized as a citizen and went on to serve as treasurer under President George W. Bush, came to the defense of her party by saying that frontrunner Donald Trump is not representative of the party's values.
"He does not represent—he's not even a conservative," Marin said. "He's always been a liberal. He has supported more liberals than he ever supported Republicans."
"He's not getting my vote. but he doesn't represent the Republican Party that I love," Marin said.
Matthews, an MSNBC veteran known for his curmudgeonly outbursts, likes to accuse the Republican Party of being a haven of racism and xenophobia.
In August, Matthews impugned the motives of 40 percent of the country by asking if the only way for Republican candidates to stand out in primary debates was to go after "the obvious target, minorities."
Earlier this year, Matthews admitted that the Democratic Party that employed him for over a decade is mostly interested in illegal immigrants for their votes.
Transcript below:
CHRIS MATTHEWS: I'm here with Rosario Marin, treasurer of the United States under George W. Bush. You're a Republican and you vote Republican in every instance.
ROSARIO MARIN: Faithfully.
MATTHEWS: Do you feel at home in the Republican Party as a latino?
MARIN: Absolutely. yes.
MATTHEWS: Ha! I need more. Tell me why. Because I look at Trump. Maybe I was too crass about it, mentioning he said Mexicans who come here are rapists, and I thought, no, hispanics who came here tonight were pretty good debaters if you want to get crazy about the discussion.
MARIN: First of all, I will not mention him by name, but he does not represent—he's not even a conservative. He's always been a liberal. He has supported more liberals than he ever supported Republicans. He has served a position in the party that he doesn't belong to, but I am very much at home in the Republican Party. I have been since I became a U.S. citizen, I always felt that home. And I have worked and been a surrogate and have had the pleasure of serving a Republican president, and this is my home. The fact that this particular gentleman has a rhetoric that is insulting, not just to me as a woman, but as a latina, as a Mexican, as an immigrant, he's not getting my vote. But he doesn't represent the Republican Party that I love.