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Beto O'Rourke Speaking Spanish

Beto O'Rourke Speaking Spanish

Part of a series on 2020 Democratic Presidential Primary. [View Related Entries]

Updated Jun 27, 2019 at 12:12PM EDT by Matt.

Added Jun 27, 2019 at 11:33AM EDT by Matt.

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About

Beto O'Rourke Speaking Spanish refers to a series of jokes and memes about Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke speaking Spanish at the first presidential debate. In addition to jokes about his Spanish-language comments, some mocked the facial expression of opposing candidate Cory Booker watching O'Rourke speak.

Origin

On June 26th, 2019, MSNBC[1] aired the First Democratic Debate, which featured the first 10 of 20 Democratic candidates hoping to win the Democratic Party's nomination for the presidential candidate in the 2020 election. At the onset of the debate, moderator Savannah Guthrie asked O'Rourke about the economy. The candidate answered in both English and Spanish.

That evening, MSNBC tweeted the response, received more than 10,000 likes, 2,000 retweets and 1,000 comments in 24 hours (shown below).


Spread

Following O'Rourke's comments, people on Twitter began mocking his answer. Twitter[2] user @TomNamako tweeted,[2] "Beto just spoke 2 languages to avoid directly answering a question." Within 24 hours, the tweet received more than 21,000 likes and 3,000 retweets (shown below).


Beto just spoke 2 languages to avoid directly answering a question 9:09 PM 26 Jun 2019

Throughout the evening, people continued to mock O'Rourke's use of Spanish. These jokes mostly invoked the criticism that the candidate did not properly answer the question he was asked, choosing instead to deflect by speaking Spanish (examples below).


absolutely no one at the democratic debates: beto: (gasps in Spanish) GIF 9:09 PM - 26 Jun 2019 #DemocraticDebate No one: Beto: GIF 9:10 PM 26 Jun 2019 Beto avoiding answering the question like #DemocraticDebate DIVE DODGE OUCK DIP DODGE 9:10 PM 26 Jun 2019

Others mocked Cory Booker's facial reaction to O'Rourke's responding. Standing wide-eyed and mouth agape, Booker, as many noted had the expression of someone who was both shocked and angry by the response. Twitter[3] user @andizeisler tweeted, "omg Booker’s face when Beto busted out the Spanish." The post received more than 22,000 likes and 3,400 retweets in 24 hours (shown below, left).

Booker's response soon shaped into a reaction image that expressed being shocked by someone's comments (examples below, center and right).


omg Booker's face when Beto busted out the Spanish IT DOES. 9:08 PM 26 Jun 2019 When you made a school project yourself out of popsicle sticks, but your classmate had his parents build him a state-of-the-art diorama. #DemDebate LAE BCNEWS NRCIEW.RIBE 9:18 PM 26 Jun 2019 Full Frontal @FullFrontalSamB When your friend comes back from study abroad #DemDebate LIVE NBC NEWS DEMOCRATIC DEBATE 9:08 PM - 26 Jun 2019

Some commented that Booker looked surprised because he would later speak Spanish at the debate, leaving some to theorize that O'Rourke had beaten him to it (shown below).


Twitter[10] user @jason_howerton mocked the candidates' responses. They wrote, BETO: I speak Spanish. BOOKER: I can't believe you did my thing before me. DE BLASIO: I have a black son. BOOKER: I'm actually black tho, Bill. KLOBUCHAR: …Um, I have an uncle with a deer stand? WARREN: *don't say it, don't say it*." The post received more than 97,000 likes and 21,000 retweets in 24 hours (shown below).
They later tweeted a video comparison to his tweet (shown below).


That evening, Twitter[4] published a Moments page on the reaction to O'Rourke's response.

Several media outlets commented the memes, as well, including Uproxx,[5] The Hill,[6] People,[7] Yahoo,[8] New York[9] and more

Various Examples


[spanish] ** DEMOCRATIC DE 9:07 PM - 26 Jun 2019 Cory Booker trying to translate Beto's Spanish #DemocraticDebate NB DEMOCRATIC DEBATE=. 9:08 PM 26 Jun 2019 The Daily Show @TheDailyShow When Dad says "Hola, como estas?" to the waiter at the Mexican restaurant #DemDebate ** LIVE NBCNEWS DEMOCRATIC DEBATE 9:16 PM - 26 Jun 2019
When you're out at brunch with your friends and someone says "Damn, who ordered gratuity?" #Dem Debate #DebateNight 9:17 PM 26 Jun 2019 when you realize you studied for the wrong test #DemocraticDebate 9:17 PM -26 Jun 2019 what the f--- did you just bring upon this cursed and

Search Interest

External References

[1] MSNBC – The First Democratic Debate

[2] Twitter – @TomNamako's Tweet

[3] Twitter – @andizeisler's Tweet

[4] Twitter – Debate memes start early thanks to Beto en español

[5] Uproxx – Cory Booker’s Face When Beto O’Rourke Spoke Spanish At The Democratic Debate Is Slaying People

[6] The Hill – Cory Booker's face when Beto O'Rourke speaks Spanish at debate goes viral

[7] People – This Shot of Cory Booker and Beto O'Rourke Is Your New Election Meme

[8] Yahoo – Booker’s Reaction to O’Rourke’s Spanish Is the Best Meme of the Debate

[9] New York – Don’t You Just Hate It When Someone Beats You to Speaking Poor Spanish in a Debate?

[10] Twitter – @jason_howerton's Tweet

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Top Comments

poochyena
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poochyena

Beto knows what he's doing. He did it because he knew it would grab everyone's attention, and looking at the article, it seemed to have worked. The beginning of the primary season is entirely about getting media coverage so people learn your name and face.
It worked for Trump.

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