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Kamala Harris and Tim Walz released a YouTube video on Thursday talking about food, music, and their hopes for the future of America if they win the election against convicted felon Donald Trump in November. But one part of the Harris-Walz conversation has been singled out by the weirdest Trump supporters online as being racist against white people. Specifically, right-wingers are very upset Walz made jokes about how he can’t handle much spiciness in his food.
The full 10-minute YouTube video, which was made into a shorter clip about tacos on X, seems innocuous enough.
Walz: I have white guy tacos and…
Harris: What does that mean, like, mayonnaise and tuna? What do you do?
Walz: Pretty much ground beef and cheese and…
Harris: That’s okay. Do you put any flavor in it?
Walz: Uh, no.
Harris: Oh.
Walz: Here’s the deal. No, they said to be careful and let her know this, that black pepper is the top of the spice level in Minnesota.
Listen, I’m just not much of a spice guy. pic.twitter.com/u9yadJBMh2
— Tim Walz (@Tim_Walz) August 15, 2024
But if you’ve been following the complete meltdown from Trump supporters on Friday, it wasn’t just an innocuous moment showing a guy from Minnesota poking fun at his own intolerance to spicy foods. It was something far more sinister.
Far-right influencer Ben Shapiro quote-tweeted the clip with, “See, folks, it’s funny that white people hate spices! Not racist at all! Just funny!” Shapiro then followed it up with, “(FACT CHECK: Europeans liked spices so much that they literally got involved in several hundred years of war in order to determine control of the spice trade.)”
See, folks, it's funny that white people hate spices! Not racist at all! Just funny!
(FACT CHECK: Europeans liked spices so much that they literally got involved in several hundred years of war in order to determine control of the spice trade.) https://t.co/97FfVoiavx
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) August 16, 2024
Hateful anti-trans bigot Matt Walsh also got in on the action by hilariously insisting that this was a terrible racist moment for the Harris campaign.
“Crazy that a presidential candidate can just casually let out some blatant anti-white racism and nobody cares,” Walsh wrote Friday. “Imagine if Donald Trump said that a ‘black guy taco’ was made with fried chicken and watermelon. Nuclear meltdown.”
Crazy that a presidential candidate can just casually let out some blatant anti-white racism and nobody cares. Imagine if Donald Trump said that a “black guy taco” was made with fried chicken and watermelon. Nuclear meltdown. https://t.co/wIhu7xQ06A
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) August 16, 2024
Even when it’s just a white guy poking fun at himself and his food tolerances, guys like Walsh and Shapiro are ready to cry “racism” as though it proves some grand point. But it makes sense that Trump supporters will try to make everything about supposed anti-white racism. Remember when Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance, a guy who has never had sex with a couch, tried to say at a recent rally that his liking Diet Mountain Dew might get him accused of racism? It’s still not clear what he meant by that.
But the funniest twist in Friday’s cries of “racism” might be the Hotdish Truthers. Because Walz said he didn’t really use spices in his tacos, some of the dimmest online sleuths have been digging up his old recipes to prove that he does actually use seasonings.
Dustin Grage, who describes himself on X as a “Minnesota GOP Hype Man” took issue with Walz’s recipe for turkey taco hotdish. The term “hotdish,” which should be noted for people who’ve never lived in the Upper Midwest, refers to a baked casserole that typically contains some meat, a starch like rice or pasta, some canned vegetable mix, and something like cream of mushroom soup. Hotdish is not known for being spicy at all.
“Tim Walz’s Turkey Taco Hotdish recipe. Yes, he’s even lying about spices,” Grage wrote on Friday. The recipe screenshot includes things like “mild green chiles” and “chili powder,” apparently damning evidence that Walz can handle spice. In fact, those are not spicy, as anyone with two brain cells to rub together can tell you.
Tim Walz’s Turkey Taco Hotdish recipe.
Yes, he’s even lying about spices. https://t.co/tbnzZMtbsn pic.twitter.com/mU2545CE3K
— Dustin Grage (@GrageDustin) August 16, 2024
Far-right conspiracy theorist Mike Cernovich tried to make a similar point by digging up a recipe by Walz from 2016, insisting that, “Walz is lying about how people in Minnesota don’t season their food.” The top comment to Cernovich’s tweet makes the obvious point, “mild green chilies and onion powders is not really breaking the spirit of his skit.”
Geezus. On a hunch I thought. Hmmm I wonder if Tim Walz is lying about how people in Minnesota don’t season their food.
He won a recipe contest in 2016. pic.twitter.com/O4NtmcK9UP
— Cernovich (@Cernovich) August 16, 2024
The meltdown wasn’t just on social media. Folks on Fox News are also very upset, with the co-host of Fox & Friends, Will Cain, getting very angry that Harris would have any kind of claim over what makes a good taco.
“I mean, like, she’s dunking on him about tacos?” Cain said. “What is she?”
But plenty of normal people also chimed in to poke fun at the Trumpworld anger. Comedian Andy Richter joked about the freakout on Bluesky writing, “*I*, as a white guy, can make white guy taco jokes. If you do it, it is a painful reminder of almost four weeks of oppression.”
Part of the reason that Trump supporters are hyper-fixating on Walz and his tacos right now is that they don’t have any other message that resonates with voters. Trump’s agenda is built on anger and hate, focusing on doom and gloom in every single rally and his truly bizarre press conferences. Contrast that with Harris and Walz, who are focusing on optimism and a shared hope for the future. That’s probably why Harris has been surging ever since Joe Biden dropped out of the race as the Democratic nominee, with key polls showing Harris overtaking Trump in key battleground states.
In fact, FiveThirtyEight’s polling average currently has Harris up 2.6 points nationally, and that’s before the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next week. The conventions typically hand any given party a nice temporary bump up, something that didn’t happen for Trump after the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
With just 81 days until Election Day, nobody knows who’s going to win. But Harris and Walz have taken the lead in most national polling and the Trump camp is going to throw every nasty thing they can at the opposition in order to see that neo-fascist asshole take power again. And when they’re debating the “racism” of a white guy joking about his mild tacos, it becomes pretty clear they’ve got nothing else.
