EL CENTRO, CA - JUNE 02: Democratic presidential candidate, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton greets supporters during a campaign rally at the Barcelona Event Center on June 2, 2016 in El Centro, California. With less than a week to go before the California presidential primary, Clinton is campaigning in southern California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) (2016 Getty Images)
No, she can't. Speak Spanish, that is.
During a stump speech in California, Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton focused on an issue close to the hearts of Latinos, immigration, but then she proceeded to mangle a well-known Spanish-language chant.
“I love this country, and I know we are a nation of immigrants from New York to California,” Clinton said, and the crowd responded by clapping enthusiastically.
Some people took up the chant first used by the United Farm Workers during its 1970s protests, “Sí, se puede!” ("Yes, we can")
Clinton smiled, pointed to the crowd and attempted to join in. But instead of saying, "Yes, we can" in Spanish, she said something closer to "If one could."
“Sí, se pueda!” Clinton chanted, incorrectly conjugating the Spanish verb “poder.”
What makes the mistake worse is that Dolores Huerta, the UFW co-founder who coined the Sí, se puede!” chant with Cesar Chavez, is a staunch Clinton supporter.
This is not the first time that Clinton has taken heat for her use of Spanish.
In December, the former Secretary of State received backlash from Twitter users after her campaign put out a video called “7 Way Hillary Clinton is just like your abuela,” on the same day that Clinton's daughter, Chelsea, announced she is pregnant with what will be Clinton's second grandchild.
The ad was quickly derided by online users as employing stereotypes, basic Spanish vocabulary and a photo of the candidate with singer Marc Anthony to show she is in touch with a younger generation.
Clinton has also been known to pepper her tweets with Spanish words and has used “Basta!” (“Enough”) when speaking about Republican rival Donald Trump.
Despite these very public gaffes, Clinton is still heavily favored among Latinos if she were to go up against Trump in the general election.
A recent Fox News Latino poll found that 62 percent of registered Latino voters would head to the ballot box for Clinton in November, while only 23 percent would support Trump on Election Day.
Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content.
More from Politics
