Mexican Border Shutdown Avocado Shortage
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About
Mexican Border Shutdown Avocado Shortage refers to a series of jokes regarding United States President Donald Trump's proposed shutdown of the U.S.-Mexico border, which would affect shipments of avocados from Mexico.
Origin
On March 30th, 2019, President Trump tweeted, [1] "Mexico must use its very strong immigration laws to stop the many thousands of people trying to get into the USA. Our detention areas are maxed out & we will take no more illegals. Next step is to close the Border! This will also help us with stopping the Drug flow from Mexico!" The tweet received more than 32,000 retweets and 138,000 likes in one week (shown below).
On April 1st, 2019, The New York Times[2] published a report on how the border shutdown would affect avocado prices. They wrote, "While President Trump sees shutting the border with Mexico as punishment for its failure to stop the flow of undocumented immigrants, economists warn that the move would effectively paralyze the United States economy given the huge volume of bluejeans, cars, flat-screen TVs, avocados and other goods that cross the border every day."
Spread
That day, the late-night comedy show The Late Show With Stephen Colbert aired a parody trailer for the film The Road Warrior. When posted to YouTube, the video received more than 200,000 views in one week (shown below).
Other late-night comedy shows aired segments on the subject. Late Night with Seth Meyers also joked about the crisis (shown below).
From tonight’s #LNSM: Wait, WHAT might happen to avocados?! 🥑 pic.twitter.com/iBa03J3MlW
— Late Night with Seth Meyers (@LateNightSeth) April 2, 2019
The following day, Redditors on the /r/The_Donald subreddit. Redditor[3] Brandofj posted an Always Sunny Plate Toss about the shortage. The post received more than 4,600 points (98% upvoted) and 300 comments in two days (shown below, left). Redditor[4] npcdeeznuts posted a Luke Crywalker meme about the shortage, whcih received more than 5,000 points (98% upvoed) and 200 comments (shown below, center).
On April 3rd, Redditor[5] carpedonktum posted a You Have Died of Dysentery meme. The post received more than 11,000 points (94% upvoted) and 290 comments (shown below, right).
Several media outlets covered the shortage and reaction, including The Daily Dot, [6] The Washington Post[7] and more.
Various Examples
Search Interest
External References
[1] Twitter – @realDonaldTrump's Tweet
[2] The New York Times – Avocado Shortages and Price Spikes: How Trump’s Border Closing Would Hit U.S.
[3] Reddit – But my avocados
[4] Reddit – As a vegan Trump supporter I have no problem giving up Avocados for national security. In fact, I will eat a whole plate a bacon if it gets us a border wall.
[5] Reddit – GAME OVER AMERICA, GAME OVER
[6] The Daily Dot – Trump supporters declare war on avocados
[7] The Washington Post – How the U.S.-Mexico border dispute could make avocados … toast
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