President Donald Trump made headlines recently when he appeared with Robert Unanue, the CEO of Goya Foods. Unanue heaped praise upon Trump.
Goya is the largest Hispanic-owned food company in the United States and specializes in canned foods and spices across a vast array of Hispanic cuisines.
Hispanic Americans across the country voiced a feeling of betrayal in seeing Unanue endorse Trump. Many—including Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Broadway legend Lin-Manuel Miranda—said they would stop patronizing Goya and turn to other companies instead.
Meanwhile, the President, whose poll numbers are abysmal among American voters of color, is using Goya's endorsement to brand himself as a friend to Hispanic Americans.
The President posted a bizarre photo of Goya products on the Resolute Desk with a thumbs up, endorsing the product.
Days earlier, the President posted a graphic that read "I Love Goya" on his Instagram, but many viewers thought that the President posing with Goya products on the Resolute Desk was an insult to the office and an improper use of its stature.
Chris Cuomo is among them.
The CNN anchor railed against Trump's endorsement in a recent segment.
Watch below.
Chris Cuomo has the only correct reaction to that Trump Goya photo: pic.twitter.com/pfVLllCLI5
— Andrew Peng (@TheAPJournalist) July 16, 2020
Cuomo said:
"You tell me how a President, in the middle of a pandemic, has got time for this bulls**t. Are you kidding me? Hawking products. Goya, I don't care who it is. Resolute Desk. This is what he's resolute about...Are you kidding me? Marketing for a brand following calls for boycotts after Goya's CEO heaped praise on Trump last week, on your dime. In the middle of a pandemic, They're selling beans? Are you kidding me? Seriously. Seriously...the guy's sitting on the Resolute Desk with a bunch of Goya products."
As Cuomo pointed out, Trump's treasured daughter and White House advisor—Ivanka Trump—posed with a Goya can as well.
Experts like former director of the Office of Government Ethics, Walter Shaub, said these endorsements presented clear ethical violations.
People related to Cuomo's exasperation.
It symboled to some a new embarrassment from the Trump presidency.
The day the President posted the picture, virus deaths in the United States surpassed 140 thousand.
