Fashion

As a Cuban American, I See a Story the Numbers Miss

“Sometimes the best stories emerge when we’re at a loss for words—when there are no winning numbers or statistics to drive clear narratives.”…

Do you want to know how Trump achieved his success among Cuban Americans in Florida? I know exactly how he did it: Not by winning them over, but rather by exploiting their deepest fears. I come from a family of Cuban exiles and grew up around dinner tables that discussed the crumbling of Fidel Castro’s regime—among family discussion that plotted the awaited return to an island that was overtaken by communism in the early ‘60s. Like many young Cuban Americans in Florida, we knew the meaning of “Castro,” “socialismo” and “comunismo,” before we even learned how to add or subtract.

Looking back, it seems like we all spent more time seeped in painful nostalgia than the reality among us. Even while living in Florida, my family had dreams of establishing a newspaper company back in Havana, and my grandfather, Carlos Alberto Montaner, who was once a political prisoner under Castro and has built a decades-long career as a journalist and writer, had aspirations of running for office in a democratic Cuba. For years, Cubans in Florida were always one foot in, one foot out, neither fully here nor there, ending every other sentence with an “algun dia.” One day. Always living in anticipation. Yet slowly through the years, that hope started dwindling. My grandfather, who left Havana at 17 years old, is now 79. Like millions of other Cubans, he never returned. He never will.

There are plenty of explanations surrounding Donald Trump’s success with Cuban Americans. Plenty of historical context, data, and trends point to the exact scenario that unfolded in Miami Dade County, including the fact that Cubans have leaned Republicans for decades. Yet the main reason is perhaps the one that is hardest to see: Trump reopened people’s wounds. He tapped into that feeling of betrayal by falsely but very masterfully casting Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as the return of communism; there is nothing more terrifying than the idea of losing your land—not once, but twice. The votes that were cast for Trump, were ones driven by manipulated emotions rather than by rationale. I see those votes as the product of indoctrination by the type of propaganda those voters have always claimed to reject. But as much as I question these voters’ choices, I understand the pain that drove them to that point.

All eyes are fixed on the fact that Trump won 55 percent of Florida’s Cuban American vote, but I think that misses the larger story in front of us: What about the people who were able to transcend the misinformation and emerge clear-sighted on the other side? The ones who, against all odds, didn’t succumb to Trump’s fear-mongering campaign?

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Entertainment

A$AP Rocky Turned An Entire Manchester City Kit Into His Album Rollout

Photo: DannyB Photos / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

A$AP Rocky doesn’t do album rollouts quietly, and this one recruited an entire Premier League club to help. Manchester City, PUMA, and Rocky teamed up on a limited apparel run tied to “Don’t Be Dumb,” his 2026 album, timed around his September 5th show at Co-op Live.

The centerpiece is a long-sleeve PUMA King jersey in black and archive gold, with “DON’T BE DUMB” running down the sleeve and AWGE branding worked in throughout. A bold “MANCHESTER” graphic covers the back. Fans could also add limited “A$AP 11” name-and-number printing onto the club’s actual Home, Away, or Third kits, while supplies lasted at retail.

There’s a players-only version too, and it never went up for sale. That one sticks closer to City’s usual sky-blue identity, with its own sleeve detailing and back graphic — the kind of piece that exists purely because a handful of people got lucky.

The whole rollout kicked off with a one-night pop-up on September 4th, when PUMA turned a spot in Manchester’s Northern Quarter into a pop-up cafe for the night, mixing football, music, and street style into one room before the wider release hit the stadium store the next morning. Some of those jerseys even came with golden tickets to the concert or that Saturday’s match.

Rocky has called the project true to his own design language, and it’s not even his only club collaboration this cycle — a similar drop with AC Milan landed around the same time. At this point, the line between fashion week and matchday has basically disappeared.

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Entertainment

Quavo And Lids Are Going All In On Atlanta With Their New Cap Pack

Photo: Finish Line / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)

Quavo has never been shy about his hat obsession, and Lids just gave him another outlet for it. Their new “Atlanta” pack drops September 12th, marking another round in a partnership that’s been running strong since 2019.

The collection is a love letter to the city, spread across three very different caps. One mashes up pinstripes, script lettering, and Braves branding into a single design, working navy, red, white, and light blue into the mix. Another goes the opposite direction entirely — fully iced out in crystal detailing, done up in black and red, with both the Falcons and the Braves showing up in the design. The third strips things back to an old-school “ATL” trucker cap in red, white, and gold, the kind of understated piece that lets the city’s name do the talking.

None of this is new territory for Quavo. He’s talked before about waiting on hat releases as a kid, and that same excitement seems to be what’s kept this partnership going years past most celebrity collabs. His earlier Lids run leaned on one moment — the Braves’ 1995 World Series win — but this pack pulls from the city’s whole sports history instead of just one highlight.

Lids has called Quavo one of the rare voices who can blend music, fashion, and sports without it feeling forced, and this drop backs that up. Given how fast his past releases have moved, Atlanta might want to set an alarm for September 12th.

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