DNC Email Refers to Latino Voters as ‘Taco Bowl Outreach’
A staff member at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) referred to Latino voters with the term “taco bowl outreach” in a May 6 email released by Wikileaks.
The email, from DNC digital official and Obama campaign veteran Rebecca Christopher, reads:
Hi everyone,
Attached is a script for a new video we’d like to use to mop up some more taco bowl engagement, and demonstrate the Trump actually isn’t trying.
Let me know if you have any flags and thank you!
The day before, Republican frontrunner (and eventual nominee) Donald Trump had tweeted a message for Cinco De Mayo, in which he posed at his desk in the Trump Tower eating a taco bowl:
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
The ensuing media frenzy saw Democrats and journalists attempt to paint Trump as a bigot, or as a fool. The left-wing blog ThinkProgress wrote: “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.”
The Washington Post‘s Philip Bump wrote: “Trump isn’t trying to appeal to Hispanics here. He’s trying to appeal to the other tourists, which is to say non-Hispanic white people.” He added: “Trump is mostly doing this to troll us, and we took the bait, and we can’t help it, and oh, man, Election Day is still so far away.”
It is unclear whether Christopher was referring to ordinary Latino outreach itself as “taco bowl outreach,” or whether she was referring to campaign of outreach based on presumed offense within the Latino community at Trump’s tweet.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. His new book, See No Evil: 19 Hard Truths the Left Can’t Handle, will be published by Regnery on July 25 and is available for pre-order through Amazon. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak