Pence's "That Mexican Thing" Gets Its Own Website

In a heated exchange on abortion between Tim Kaine and Mike Pence during Tuesday's vice presidential debate, the Democratic VP nominee reminded the audience of Donald Trump's many attacks on entire groups of people. That barrage of attacks has largely centered on Mexican people, a trope that began when Trump announced his candidacy for president and claimed Mexico was sending their "criminals" and "rapists" across the border. When Kaine brought this up, Pence accused him of having "whipped out that Mexican thing again." Not long after, Hillary Clinton's campaign turned "That Mexican Thing" into a website.

In a brilliant social media move, Hillary Clinton has capitalized on Pence's faux paus by purchasing the domain name to ThatMexicanThing.com and redirecting it back to a donation page on her website. "Chip in $10 or more and we'll send you a Tim Kaine button pack!" Clinton's site reads. The pack is pretty cute, too — it includes two buttons with a winking and smiley face, and another that says "Hillary & Tim."

The "Mexican thing" comment occurred during a back-and-forth between the two candidate, when Kaine claimed that Trump's rhetoric was not merely the result of a lack of political polish. More specifically, Kaine said: "When Donald Trump says women should be punished or Mexicans are rapists and criminals — and John McCain's not a hero — he’s showing you who he is."

Pence replied, clearly exasperated: “Senator, you whipped out that Mexican thing again.”

“You can defend it?” Kaine asked.

Pence then did his best to both defend and tip-toe around giving a real answer: "There are criminal aliens, and perpetrating crimes against Americans. And he said many of them are good people. You keep leaving that out of your quote. If you want to go there, I'll go there." As it so happens, those weren't Trump's words. Rather, he had initially said, "some, I assume, are good people." And that's a far cry from Pence's assertion that the GOP candidate confidently said "many."

For what it's worth, Kaine had referenced Trump's claims about Mexican people six times throughout the debate before Pence attempted to call him out for "the Mexican thing." But for a candidate who has made hatred against Latinos a cornerstone of his campaign, Kaine is well within his right — and long overdue — in calling Trump out for his blatant racism.