Tracking the Donald Trump-Piñata Fallout at El Diablito Tortas

Last week, the El Diablito Tortas food cart, specialized in fusion tortas, reopened on SE Belmont, and as part of its celebration, it invited customers, mostly children, to smash a Donald Trump piñata. The whole event was videoed, and the video was quickly picked up by London's Daily Mail. In it, among other things, you can see children smashing the piñata and the owner, Erik Sandoval, holding the piñata's decapitated head.

As expected, conservative websites quickly criticized the event. Individuals also began posting one-star reviews on the food cart's Yelp page, even though the cart has been closed since mid 2015. El Diablito was previously unavailable for comment, but Sandoval broke his silence today and spoke with Willamette Week. He says he has disconnected his phone lines due to numerous threats and reiterates that the piñata was not meant to be a political statement. Sandoval actually makes piñatas, and he says he chose the Donald Trump piñata for the opening because Donald Trump is popular and the piñata was lying around.

According to Sandoval, a man posing as a KOIN reporter videoed the event. The video was posted to the Laughing at Liberals Youtube channel, where it quickly spread.

Sandoval also goes on to say that he originally made the piñata because he saw the other Donald Trump piñatas that were being made and thought they were ugly. Sandovla has a piñata business, and in the past months, Donald Trump piñatas have greatly grown in popularity, so much so that there were reports of widespread shortages in California in September.