Donald Trump’s TacoGate Is All Anyone Wants To Talk About Today
"I love Hispanics!" says Donald Trump. "Ah, no you don't," says the rest of the internet.
Remember all those terrible, terrible things that Donald Trump has said about Hispanic and Latino people? Like that they’re “criminals” and “rapists”? That they are “killers”? That the Mexican government deliberately sends all their dangerous criminals to the United States to “take care of them”? That he wants to build a wall on the border of Mexico?
Well hey, all that racist bile he has been spewing can all be forgiven now. Because Donald Trump ate a taco bowl on Cinco de Mayo!
Happy #CincoDeMayo! The best taco bowls are made in Trump Tower Grill. I love Hispanics! https://t.co/ufoTeQd8yA pic.twitter.com/k01Mc6CuDI
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 5, 2016
By the by, Cinco de Mayo is celebration that originates from Mexico, so citing it as a Hispanic holiday (which according to the U.S. Census Bureau denotes “a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American” descent) is technically incorrect.
Also, taco bowls are not really a traditional Mexican food (by the look of the picture it’s just ground beef and a fried tortilla). When reviewing the actual tacos at the Trump Cafe (not Grill) Eater‘s Robert Sietsema said they: “turned out to be a fried tortilla bowl heaped with romaine lettuce, grated yellow cheese, and plain ground beef that was so devoid of flavour, it rendered an insult to Mexicans every bit as profound as Trump’s previous pronouncements”.
Safe to say, the tweet was not well received.
@realDonaldTrump C’mon man, even your Mexican food has a wall.
— Danny O’Dwyer (@dannyodwyer) May 5, 2016
.@realDonaldTrump Any day is a great day for pho soup. I love Asians! pic.twitter.com/bB1S93E7BA
— nathan fielder (@nathanfielder) May 5, 2016
Apart from Trump’s condescending and inauthentic pandering to the Hispanic vote, there’s a lot more to this tweet than first meets the eye. First of all, a savvy Twitter-user found that underneath his congealing taco bowl, he casually had a a picture of his ex-wife Marla Maples (who he divorced 16 years ago) in a bikini on his desk.
Donald Trump is eating a taco salad on top of a bikini-clad photo of his ex-wife, Marla Maples. pic.twitter.com/sW2itGBAOK
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) May 5, 2016
After doing some top-notch investigative reporting, Deadspin figured out that the image of Marla Maples was from a spread in a recent People magazine feature on Trump’s romantic relationships. The fact that a presidential candidate was reading a People tabloid article about himself, that he was so invested in it he kept it safe on his desk, makes the whole thing a lot funnier.
To follow up @bennyjohnson Trump is specifically eating lunch while reading a People magazine article about himself pic.twitter.com/Nb0DlEjUnN
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) May 5, 2016
But wait, it gets better! A political reporter from Buzzfeed called Andrew Kaczynksi, actually called Trump Grill to ask about their taco bowls… and he was told that they don’t even serve taco bowls there. Basically, everything about Trump’s ‘Look how much I love Hispanics — my restaurant even serves ETHNIC FOOD’ is artificial on every level.
Oh my fucking God pic.twitter.com/ZqSuOl1s94
— Alexis Isabel (@lexi4prez) May 5, 2016
However, there was something else in this image that no-one else seems to have picked up. In the corner of Donald Trump’s office, next to his trophies and framed photos with other rich white men, Trump has some bobble heads. Of himself.
The person who may be the next president of the United States keeps a hybrid trophy/bobble head shelf in his office.
Nah, sorry Donald Trump. You can’t just erase years of comfortable racism by eating a taco. Thanks for the good funnies, though!