The Trump family appears to believe that rules don’t apply to them, so they have turned the White House into a self-promoting, and product advertising channel. They know it’s illegal, but that didn’t stop Ivanka Trump from endorsing a can of Goya Foods black beans on Tuesday night.
The move came after consumers of the country’s largest Hispanic-owned food company said they would boycott the brand’s pantry staples after Goya Foods CEO Robert Unanue appeared at the White House last week and said that the country was “blessed to have a leader” like President Trump.
Gustavo Arellano, a Los Angeles Times reporter and the author of “Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America,” told the New York Times that the comments were a betrayal for many Latinx consumers. “To see something that represents nurture and community and family and most importantly the kitchen? That’s where it’s a stab in the heart. Or the stomach.”
In her effort to make a can of beans the latest totem of the culture war, the tweet from the senior adviser to the president also appears to violate the ethical standards for executive-branch employees, who may not use public office for private gain or “for the endorsement of any product.”
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If it’s Goya, it has to be good.
Si es Goya, tiene que ser bueno. pic.twitter.com/9tjVrfmo9z
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) July 15, 2020
Past examples of White House officials endorsing products — specifically, Trump-family products — include Kellyanne Conway telling a Fox News audience to “go buy Ivanka’s stuff” and the president’s advertising of his Doral resort as the potential site of the G-7.
