Bodegas were trending after former President Donald Trump visited the bodega in Harlem where a clerk was attacked by a violent criminal and then arrested for defending himself, with the crowd that gathered to see Trump’s visit cheering him as he visited. With that topic trending, the Citizen Free Press account dredged up a hilarious moment from 2022 when Dr. Jill tried to pronounce “bodega” and looked utterly ridiculous.
As background, the Trump visit that got the topic trending took place on Tuesday, April 16. The bodega is where 61-year-old Jose Alba defended himself after a violent criminal assaulted him behind the counter. DA Bragg attempted to charge Alba, but after a public outcry, with even Mayor Adams of NYC joining in, dropped those charges.
Trump, for his part, used the opportunity to not just bask in the applause from the crowd, but to speak about law and order, a particularly pertinent message for New Yorkers given the state of the city as criminals take advantage of its soft on crime policies, such as no cash bail. The situation is so bad, for example, that the National Guard was deployed to the subways.
Speaking about crime and law and order during the bodega visit, former President Trump said, “This is a very exciting time for me because the bodegas association invited me. And I respect them, and they respect me. They want law and order, they have tremendous crime, tremendous crime over there, stores are being robbed.”
Continuing, he said that New York is “different” and needs to be straightened out, particularly as regards the plague of crime that has made it far worse in recent years. He said, “New York’s a lot different. And we’ll work with the mayor. We will work with the governor. And we’ll bring a lot of federal money, but we have to straight out New York. And that includes crime.”
In any case, that got bodegas trending, so Citizen Free Press, a conservative account on X, hunted down the video of Dr. Jill Biden pronouncing “bodega” in a ridiculous, for her, way. Posting the video, Citizen Free Press said, “Since bodegas are trending, who remembers Jill Biden’s bodega moment.” In the clip, Dr. Jill said, “Raul helped build this organization with the understanding that the diversity of this community – as distinct as the bodegas of the Bronx, as beautiful as the blossoms of Miami, and as unique as the breakfast tacos here in San Antonio – is your strength.”
The incident occurred in 2022, when Dr. Jill was speaking to a primarily Hispanic audience and, pandering to the crowd, spoke about bodegas and breakfast tacos. Posting about the incident at the time, another conservative X account, Real Mac Report, said, “In a failed pandering attempt, Jill Biden bungles the pronunciation of Bodega while speaking to Hispanic audience.”
Watch the incident here:
Dr. Jill apologized after her comment in the clip led to backlash, with her spokesperson saying, on her behalf, “The first lady apologizes that her words conveyed anything but pure admiration and love for the Latin community.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video
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