Twitter Tells Pence All About #thatmexicanthing
Hashtag swelled with immigrants' stories of the American Dream
Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence tried to dismiss an attack from Democrat Tim Kaine in their debate Tuesday as “that Mexican thing.” Twitter then erupted with a new hashtag, #thatmexicanthing.
After frequently interrupting Pence in their only debate, Kaine, a Virginia senator and Hillary Clinton’s running mate, tried to get in another shot at Donald Trump’s immigration policy.
Pence had criticized Kaine earlier for his canned lines and tried to dismiss the latest with, “Senator, you whipped out that Mexican thing again.”
The Twitterverse quickly called out Pence for the phrase and it soon grew into a thread of stories of immigrants living the American Dream.
#ThatMexicanThing was my neighbor who works 100 hrs a week to send his kids to a decent private school. #VPDebate
— Andie Marie (@AndieMarie888) October 5, 2016
#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 Ortíz (@TUSK81) October 5, 2016
#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 is my abuelita who moved to San Antonio without speaking English & slept in a barn while picking lettuce every summer.
— Matthew Duarte (@matthew_duarte) October 5, 2016
Then it became a voter registration drive.
#ThatMexicanThing will be voting on Nov 8th. pic.twitter.com/x2b7D1yjbZ
— Progressives4Hillary (@Hillary_45) October 5, 2016
— Michael Skolnik (@MichaelSkolnik) October 5, 2016
This tweet redirects to the VL Action Network, where people can register to vote in English or Spanish.
By the end of the night, the Clinton campaign owned the domain thatmexicanthing.com, which redirects to the campaign’s website.
Others used the hashtag to call out other comments from Trump, or to highlight Hispanic stereotypes.
Great job Donald, your latino outreach has moved from taco bowls to #thatmexicanthing #maga
— D Bagge (@SuperEagleBear) October 5, 2016
I now want a taco truck on every corner called #thatmexicanthing#VPDebate
— Kelli Farr (@KFarr49) October 5, 2016
Pence: #ThatMexicanThingpic.twitter.com/yNjlEC9YHj
— Kat (@HeyKat_) October 5, 2016
