Watch Cory Booker's Furious-Looking Stare as Beto Steals His Spanish-Speaking Gimmick
Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, one of the roughly two dozen (give or take a few) Democratic candidates running for the 2020 presidential nomination, did not seem happy Wednesday night in the opening minutes of the first Democratic debate.
And it was all former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s fault.
Confused?
Let me back up for a minute.
O’Rourke was asked early on if he would support a 70 percent marginal tax rate on individuals earning more than $10 million a year if elected president.
After giving a non-answer in English, O’Rourke provided a similar response in Spanish as well.
Watch below:
WATCH: Beto O’Rourke delivers his first #DemDebate response in English and Spanish. pic.twitter.com/xxZSvvYTyq
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) June 27, 2019
As O’Rourke was speaking, the camera panned to Booker, who had quite an interesting expression on his face.
Cory Booker’s face while Beto O’Rourke speaks in Spanish LMAO pic.twitter.com/9aaPALihfC
— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) June 27, 2019
And one more time, this time in GIF form, for good measure.
Sen. Booker and Sen. Warren watch as O’Rourke speaks. #demdebate pic.twitter.com/L3XABZsVUG
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) June 27, 2019
So what was the deal with Booker?
Well, a little bit later on, Booker answered a question in Spanish as well.
Beto: No one will top my instant English to Spanish skills tonight!
Cory Booker: Hold my Rosetta Stone ? #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/RT471QKbdj
— Andrew Jerell Jones (@sluggahjells) June 27, 2019
Let’s just say it didn’t go over very well.
I SPEAK SPANISH TOO, HOE (c) cory booker
— tracy the emotional support penguin (@brokeymcpoverty) June 27, 2019
.@CoryBooker trying to one-up Beto’s earlier move by answering in Spanish..
— Katie Couric (@katiecouric) June 27, 2019
O’Rourke, you see, had stolen Booker’s gimmick.
If I were to venture a guess, I’d say that both candidates planned to answer a question in Spanish as part of an effort to pander to Hispanic voters.
Being the first candidate to do so is one thing, but being the second to randomly break out into Spanish looks far more foolish.
Of course, there’s nothing specifically wrong with speaking Spanish.
Rather, it’s the attitude that speaking Spanish will somehow endear these candidates to Hispanic voters that is troubling.
Hopefully, voters won’t be fooled by the pandering.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
