Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence was doing well at Tuesday night's debate, until he fell into the same xenophobic, anti-Hispanic rhetoric that has haunted the Donald Trump campaign since the beginning.
Pence's 'That Mexican thing' goes viral after VP debate
The Republican vice presidential candidate's off-the-cuff comment during Tuesday's debate overshadowed his successful performance, inspiring anger among Latinos.
Mike Pence and TIm Kaine at the Oct. 4 vice presidential debate.
Imagen Getty Images
When Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine brought up controversial remarks Trump made about Mexicans when he kicked off his presidential bid last year, Pence tried to brush the comments off.
"Senator, you whipped out that Mexican thing again," Pence retorted.
.@mike_pence to @timkaine: “You whipped out that Mexican thing again” https://t.co/x6vEzCfzh0
— POLITICO (@politico) October 5, 2016
In that instant, the catchy, oft-repeated complaints Pence was making about Hillary Clinton's "insult-driven campaign" throughout the debate fell by the wayside. Twitter went crazy.
Polls show viewers had preferred Pence's more polished performance to that of an overzealous Kaine. The Virginia senator's forced interruptions came off badly, making him sound irritable. But Pence's "That Mexican thing" comment toward the end of the debate made his performance go up in smoke.
The reaction was swift.
First, an Oregon man registered the website thatMexicanthing.com and redirected it to Hillary Clinton's website. Another domain, thatMexicanthing.org, was created, redirecting to a voter registration site.
On Twitter, people used the hashtag #ThatMexicanThing to share personal immigration stories.
#ThatMexicanThing where my mom has worked as a housekeeper for 25 yrs because her dream is to see her family's dreams come true. #VPDebate
— Gabe #DreamActNow Ortíz (@TUSK81) October 5, 2016
#ThatMexicanThing where undocumented immigrants pay more taxes than @realDonaldTrump does. #VPDebate
— Pili Tobar (@pilitobar87) October 5, 2016
#ThatMexicanThing was my mother risking her life not once, not twice, not 3, but 4 times to give her kids the opportunities she didn't have.
— Chris from H&M (@kidlamy) October 5, 2016
#ThatMexicanThing is my taxpaying grandfather and his four brothers collectively serving in three wars. Your boss dodged them all.
— Inteligent Idiot (@IntlligentIdiot) October 5, 2016
High-profile Twitter users weighed in, including a Latino congressman and a former Mexican ambassador to the U.S.
#ThatMexicanThing when you're the proud son of immigrants & support pro-Latino and pro-American policies to promote working families.
— Ruben Gallego (@RepRubenGallego) October 5, 2016
#ThatMexicanThing: undocumented #immigrants pay more taxes ($11.8 billion) than Donald Trump ($0)
— Arturo Sarukhan (@Arturo_Sarukhan) October 5, 2016
Others used the hashtag to comment on the state of the election.
First Trump calls Mexicans "rapists". Now Pence says #ThatMexicanThing
— JORGE RAMOS (@jorgeramosnews) October 5, 2016
Question: Is that a creative strategy to win the Latino vote?
Latino Twitter not happy w/ Pence. Pissed as hell w/ "You whipped out that Mexican thing" comment. Metio la pata. (Stuck his foot in mouth).
— Ana Navarro (@ananavarro) October 5, 2016
Pollster Latino Decisions used the opportunity to discuss Pence's immigration track record, which aligns with some of Trump's most controversial proposals.
When Pence was in Congress, he voted for a bill blocking immigrants from getting hospital care or riding in an ambulance #ThatMexicanThing
— Latino Decisions (@LatinoDecisions) October 5, 2016
Mike Pence co-sponsored a bill that would deny citizenship to children born in the U.S. if their parents are not citizens #ThatMexicanThing
— Latino Decisions (@LatinoDecisions) October 5, 2016
"'That Mexican thing' that Pence shrugged off last night will very likely be the end of a Trump-Pence 2016 ticket just like 'self-deportation' was for Mitt Romney in 2012," wrote Hispanic news site Latino Rebels Wednesday. "The Republican Party just doesn’t get it and it looks like it never will."
David Adams contributed to this report.
Relacionados: