Advertisement

This Taco Bowl Is What Donald Trump Is Offering As Hispanic Outreach

CREDIT: AP PHOTO/CHARLES REX ARBOGAST
CREDIT: AP PHOTO/CHARLES REX ARBOGAST

If a taco bowl is presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s way of reaching out to the Hispanic community, he might want to rethink his strategy.

Trump, who has focused much of this election cycle on making inflammatory remarks about Latino immigrants, declared his love for Cinco de Mayo with a taco bowl at his namesake building in New York City on Thursday.

The taco bowl, which includes “ground sautéed beef with jalapeños, onions, tomatoes, and chili spices and is served in a taco shell topped with lettuce and cheddar cheese” is a lunch option at his Trump Cafe. But as a NY Eater review from January pointed out, the taco bowl is “so devoid of flavor, it rendered an insult to Mexicans every bit as profound as Trump’s previous pronouncements.”

Advertisement

Trump infamously began his presidential campaign by calling immigrants drug dealers and rapists, has called for the mass deportation of the country’s 11.3 million undocumented population, and has pushed for a 2,000-mile long border wall that he suggests would be paid for by Mexico. And his rhetoric in this area has inspired supporters to hit, grab, spit on, kick, and hurt immigrant supporters and Latinos across the country.

Still, Trump has consistently claimed that he’s popular among the Latino population. He previously touted that he is “number one with Hispanics” after his Nevada Republican caucus win in February, stating that “they’re incredible people” and “incredible workers.”

In fact, poll after poll show that Latino voters don’t like Trump, both because of the comments he has made about immigrants and people of color and because of his stance on policy issues. About two-thirds of Latino voters say that it’s extremely important or very important to change federal immigration policies and pass new immigration reform soon, according to the Pew Research Center. The same poll found that about one-third of Latino voters say that they would not vote for a candidate if they disagreed with the candidate on immigration policy.

Advertisement

Trump isn’t the only Republican to miss the mark on Hispanic outreach. For the past three years, the Republican National Committee has celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month by ignoring the topic of immigration reform. And in this year’s Cinco de Mayo message, the RNC omitted last year’s call for a “welcoming country.”