Why Donald Trump's 'Bad Hombres' Comment Offended So Many Viewers

Donald Trump certainly has a way with words, but usually he sticks to English. On Thursday, though, after the final presidential debate, his use of Spanish was soon trending across Twitter: #Badhombres.

The phrase came in response to a question from moderator Chris Wallace about immigration. The Republican presidential candidate offered his now standard arguments that a giant wall needs to separate the United States from Mexico or our republic will be lost and how everything wrong with immigration policy can be blamed on President Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Standard enough. But then he said this: "We have some bad hombres here and we're going to get them out." (Hombres is Spanish for "men.")

Trump has used the phrase "bad hombres" in the context of his immigration plans before.

The L.A. Times reported that a Mexican restaurant full of debate viewers erupted in laughter over the line, particularly at Trump's pronunciation of the Spanish word. Instead of pronouncing the "o" sound, he pronounced the word more like "hambre," which means "hungry." Maybe he just wanted a sandwich.

But some took the comment and Trump's overall message very seriously. Juana Inez Abreu, an American living in Mexico, told the Times, "Trump has woken up the ugly American. We are terrified because we didn't know there were so many."

Alex Nogales, president and CEO of the National Hispanic Media Coalition, noted how out-of-date Trump's turn of phrase was. He said it's the kind of thing you used to hear a lot in movies from the '50s and '60s, but not anymore, and the comment was especially egregious in context.

"On the one hand he offends us even further," Nogales said. "And then he tries to be cool and use the word 'hombres.' Nobody uses that term any more."

Trump could have, of course, said "bad men" or "bad people" and made the same point. But by saying "hombres," he made it clear that he was worried about Spanish-speaking people.

Trump's frequent comments about Mexicans and other minority groups make this choice particularly troubling.

"In using that word in that context, he just takes his racism further," Nogales continued. "It is in keeping with his racism and demagoguery that he wants to paint Latinos, as he did from the very beginning, as criminals, drug pushers, as the people bringing this country down."

In the speech announcing his campaign, Trump declared about Mexican immigrants, "They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."

"Am I offended? Of course. But what else can he say that's worse than what he's already said?" Nogales asked.

Nogales also said he used to hear this kind of talk as a young kid and that rhetoric can have a serious impact. By specifically targeting Latinos as criminals with the phrase "bad hombres," Trump signals that he thinks this group warrants little respect or restraint.

Geraldo Rivera, a conservative Fox News correspondent, also took Trump to task for his word choice on a panel after the debate. "I love Trump, but what a dumb remark," he said. "How would you like 'drunken Irish'? Or 'greedy Jew'? I mean, seriously: 'bad hombre'?"

Rivera's point is that even if there are immigrants who commit criminal acts, referring to them as "hombres" implies that they are criminals because of their ethnicity. And that's exactly the kind of stereotyping most people denounce when it comes to other groups.

"Those are serious, serious words, and they have consequences," Nogales said. "The consequences are acts of violence, acts of hate crime."

He continued: "He parades people out who have been killed by Mexican criminals, as if this were the norm. But I would say you have more crimes committed against Mexicans crossing the border by those of the same ilk [as Trump]."

Patch reached out to the Trump campaign about this story but did not receive a response.

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr