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Cinco de Mayo: The True Story Is Hilariously Awkward for the MAGA Crowd

Last Updated September 30, 2020 1:30 PM
Bernadette Giacomazzo
Last Updated September 30, 2020 1:30 PM
  • Cinco de Mayo celebrates the Mexican victory over the French in the First Battle of Puebla in 1862.
  • The modern-day American celebration of Cinco de Mayo has its roots in a 1980s marketing campaign.
  • The MAGA crowd is hilariously, and awkwardly, unaware of both.

On May 5, 1862, more than 6,000 French soldiers faced off against 2,000 Mexican soldiers at the First Battle of Puebla . Against all odds, Mexico won. And though Mexican independence would not be secured until five years later, “Cinco de Mayo” became a rallying cry for those on the frontlines.

Unfortunately, all vestiges of that bit of Mexican history seem to be removed from modern-day celebrations.

Only 22% of Americans  know what the holiday is actually about. The other 78% content themselves with all-you-can-eat burritos and 2-for-1 margaritas while calling it a “celebration.”

Never mind, of course, that neither burritos  nor margaritas are a part of authentic Mexican cuisine . The 5th of May isn’t even celebrated as a legal holiday in Mexico, though it is commemorated in a few small regions  of the country.

In the United States, though, we celebrate Cinco de Mayo for another reason: a wildly-successful marketing campaign that began in the 1980s.

Blame it on the Corona

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahx4Qr3ttps

In the 1930s, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt enacted the Good Neighbor Policy. This cultural outreach program aimed for better relations between the USA and Latin American countries. Cinco de Mayo celebrations were seen as a “bridge-builder” back then. What’s more, up until the 1960s, the 5th of May involved culturally accurate depictions of the battle.

That all changed in the 1980s thanks to American capitalism. Beer companies — especially Corona beer —  wanted to reach the growing Latinx population.

They made a series of well-placed advertisements that equated Mexican culture with Mexican beer . This turned Cinco de Mayo from a cultural celebration to a capitalist one, much like Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas have become today.

But that’s nothing compared to how the MAGA crowd seems hilariously out of touch with both its cultural roots and capitalist exploitation.

Cinco de Mayo: A MAGA Nightmare

By now, it’s pretty clear that the so-called “MAGA crowd” — those devoted to incumbent President Donald Trump, who seem to embrace the worst of his qualities — doesn’t like Mexicans.

But that doesn’t stop them from claiming that they have the right to eat tacos on the 5th of May to “own the libs.”

Cinco De Mayo MAGA
Source: Twitter 

They seem to subscribe to the theory that their ignorance is just as important as others’ intelligence, and any attempts to correct their ignorance is inherently “racist.”

Cinco De Mayo MAGA
Source: Twitter 

And when they’re not trying to co-opt Cinco de Mayo into a MAGA rallying cry , they seem to only succeed in proving that Corona’s marketing campaign from the 1980s was their most successful to date.

maga, cinco de mayo
Source: Twitter 

Donald Trump is a man that supports building a wall  to keep Mexicans out of the United States. He supports a migrant separation policy  that separates children from their parents and puts them in cages. He has dehumanized Mexicans by calling them “animals. ” He has implied that Mexicans are nothing more than “drug dealers, criminals, [and] rapists. 

He was, and remains, unapologetic about it all. And his supporters — his so-called MAGA cult — are okay with this.

And, in their tweets about Cinco de Mayo, they have demonstrated that they are just as ignorant as he is.


Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of CCN.com.