OPINION | This article contains political commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
On Wednesday, First Lady Jill Biden attempted an epic pandering maneuver, which failed miserably on multiple levels.
At an event where she was addressing farmworkers on the birthday of Cezar Chavez, himself a controversial leftist labor activist with a history of bigoted anti-immigrant statements, Jill Biden thought she’d just do a little pandering for the Hispanic vote.
Someone, somewhere, actually thought it would be a good idea for her to attempt to speak a little Spanish, presumably to pander to the millions of illegal immigrants her husband is allowing into the country and who their party of identity politics hope will be future Democrat voters.
Almost! pic.twitter.com/ZW8PYVlqYn
— Alexei Koseff (@akoseff) March 31, 2021
It’s “Si se puede” (Yes you/we can) not “Si se pwadueh” 🤦🏻♀️
I can’t even imagine what word she was trying to say. Seriously why even try pandering if you’re going to butcher it and not practice before?! https://t.co/yKluZVSP6w
— Joanna Rodriguez (@joannamrod) April 1, 2021
She actually tried to hype the crowd by telling them to “Say it with me!” Honey, no one has any idea what you’re saying, so we can’t very well say it with you.
Instead of saying “Si se puede,” for “Yes you/we can,” Jill Biden instead pulls a Joe Biden and says something that’s completely unintelligible and definitely not a real word. It kind of sounds like, “Si se pwod-way” or “Si se prod-way.”
And I understand her mistake. She doesn’t know how to say it because she doesn’t speak Spanish.
Melania is fluent in Slovenian, French, German, Italian and English.
Jill Biden can’t even say one scripted line of Spanish without butchering it…pic.twitter.com/bt3gsRWpNM
— AllegianceToLiberty (@AllegianceTL) April 1, 2021
I don’t know if there are words to fully convey how hilarious it is that “Dr” Jill Biden butchered the Spanish language while giving a speech in front of a Nazi flag
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) April 1, 2021
Jill Biden tried #Hispandering and ended up saying “Yes, we father!” (Si se padre) instead of “Yes, we can!” (Si se puede).
Not a big deal, but I’m old enough to remember when President Trump’s mispronunciations would consume news cycles.pic.twitter.com/SPqYKgWCWl
— Giancarlo Sopo (@GiancarloSopo) April 1, 2021
Her husband dealt up a border crisis so Jill Biden went pandering to Hispanics and made a fool of herself. She ridiculously said “Yes, we father!” (Si se padre) instead of “Yes, we can!” (Si se puede).
Melania is fluent in 5 languages. Jill can’t fake a single line of Spanish.
— First Words (@unscriptedmike) April 1, 2021
She was coached on how to say this particular phrase and it was difficult for her to remember exactly how to say a phrase in an unfamiliar language.
But that’s the problem with pandering, isn’t it? It’s a lie. It’s a false representation of oneself. It’s a disingenuous attempt to form a fake bond over something that you assume will be meaningful to them.
Like Joe Biden awkwardly playing and dancing to “Despacito” during Hispanic Heritage Month in front of a crowd of potential Hispanic Joe Biden voters, in a desperate attempt to make his audience believe that he likes the same things that he assumes they like.
And remember when Hilary Clinton pandered to certain racial and cultural demographics by awkwardly telling a radio show that she always carries a bottle of hot sauce in her purse, which was a not-so-subtle reference to a famous Beyonce song? She figured that since carrying hot sauce in your purse was super popular with a particular demographic that she hoped would vote for her, she told them what she thought they wanted to hear in an effort to connect with them, regardless of whether or not it was true.
But not only did Jill’s staffers think that this ridiculous pandering was a good idea, they also decided to put her directly in front of a flag that looks shockingly like a Nazi symbol.
Jill Biden spoke in front of a Nazi-inspired flag yesterday pic.twitter.com/cJEyuZFxJp
— Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) April 1, 2021
Hey libs, was Jill Biden blowing a Nazi dogwhistle? pic.twitter.com/IC3PLSFZAI
— Jewish Deplorable (@TrumpJew2) March 31, 2021
Now, there have been several issues over the last few years with accusations of Nazi symbology use by politicians, and it’s kind of a frustrating accusation to make because while the Nazis and their symbols and actions are almost universally denounced, some symbols evolve over time and mean different things to different causes and aren’t specific to the Nazis.
And I’m old enough to remember when people freaked out over an eagle on a Trump campaign T-shirt and the shape of the stage at CPAC.
Fact checkers assemble pic.twitter.com/qlKfVD6DXe
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) April 1, 2021
In today’s super polarized political climate where racism seems to be the tantamount issue in society and optics are everything, why would someone even risk it? Why would someone risk putting the First Lady in front of a flag that could very easily and quickly be identified as resembling a popular Nazi symbol? Sure, you could argue that it means something else, which is exactly what they did. Officially, the flag is considered to be the United Farm Workers of America flag, which was designed by Cesar Chavez’s brother and used in his movement.
But why even risk it? Why not choose another background that couldn’t be so closely connected to a Nazi symbol, especially after several similar accusations against Republicans and Democrats alike over the last few years?
It just seems to me that whoever is running the show doesn’t seem to really be thinking things through. I guess it’s lucky for the Harris-Biden Administration that the mainstream media is happy to cover for them most of the time.