The Republican big tent expands again! This time the outreach is aimed at one of their own.
On July 7th, Tyler Bowyer, Chief Operating Officer of Turning Point USA, got into a spat on X with Arizona state Representative Quang Nguyen, a Republican, over Turning Point's legislative scorecard. Nguyen didn't care for his grade. He called Bowyer a "clown" and, in the process of typing angry, wrote "fakes scorecard" instead of "fake scorecard."
A typo. One letter. Here's what Bowyer reached for:
"Can you speak English"
Tyler Bowyer, COO of Turning Point USA
And there it is.
Not "learn to type." Not "proofread." Of all the responses available to a man whose entire job is talking to people, the one that surfaced was the oldest one in the drawer. The one you pull out when the person annoying you has a name you've decided doesn't sound American enough.
Quang Nguyen fled Vietnam at the age of twelve during the fall of Saigon. He has served in the Arizona House as a Republican. He is, by any measure Turning Point claims to care about, on their team. And the COO of the largest young conservative organization in the country looked at him and went straight for the accent.
To his credit, Nguyen didn't blink:
"Better than you speaking any other languages."
Rep. Quang Nguyen
Now here comes the part where it was all a big misunderstanding. Bowyer's defense was that he was merely commenting on the typo. Just a grammar note! Nothing to see here. He then declined to comment further, which is what people do when the explanation isn't going well.
Come on, Tyler. Nobody types "can you speak English" at a guy over a stray letter unless that sentence was already loaded and waiting. You didn't ask the white legislators on your scorecard whether they could speak English, and they make typos too. Everyone does. That's what a typo is.
And here's why this one lands harder than the usual entry in this roll call. Nguyen isn't an opponent. He's a Republican, elected as a Republican, being told by a Republican power broker that he doesn't sound like he belongs. He did everything they say they want. Fled a communist country, became a citizen, won an election with an R next to his name. Still got asked if he speaks English.
No dogwhistle needed here. Just a question, asked in public, on the record, to a man who escaped a war to get here. The tent is only as big as the accent they'll tolerate inside it.
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