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Meet South Florida's Top Cereal Producers Of The 2016 Presidential Election

Katie Lepri
/
WLRN
Santiago Cueto shows off a box of Trumpies outside a Donald Trump rally at Bayfront Park on November 2, 2016.

 

Santiago Cueto’s a lawyer from Coral Gables. But this election season he’s moved into a new business: cereal.

It started with questions from his 8-year-old daughter, Hannah. Questions like: Does Trump really hate Mexicans? Does Hillary Clinton really lie all the time? So Cueto, Hannah and Cueto's wife, Giselle, started looking on the internet to answer some of those questions.

 

"We came across some products, I think some hats or whatnot," Cueto said, "and she [Hannah] had the idea to make some cereal."

 

But not an ordinary, run-of-the-(grain)-mill variety. Political cereal. Trumpies, like Wheaties. And Clinton Crunch, like... well, you know.

 

"I'm a fair and balanced cereal producer."

 

Cueto was selling Trumpies at Donald Trump’s rally in Miami’s Bayfront Park last week. They come in a shiny red box. The front’s got a cartoon Donald Trump in a Superman pose and the slogan, “Make Breakfast Great Again.” The back offers the “Top 12 Donald Trump quotes for winning big in life.” They sell for $29.99, which makes sense because they’re fortified with "the Trumpavin vitamin, Vitamin T, to make sure you have an extra winning day," Cueto said.

 

For obvious reasons, Cueto wasn't attempting to sell Clinton Crunch at the Trump rally. But he showed off pictures from his phone. It features a blue box with a cartoon Hillary Clinton digging into a bowl of cereal, and the slogan, “The cereal to Trump all others.”

 

"I’m a fair and balanced cereal producer," Cueto said.

 

Hannah skipped the Trump rally to go to school. Her dad says cereal-wise she prefers Clinton Crunch to Trumpies. They’re both from a wholesaler, but the Trumpies are like unsweetened cornflakes while Clinton Crunch -- shockingly -- has some sugar.

 

"That’s all she [Hannah] eats now," Cueto said.

 

Politics-wise, Cueto says he’s a Republican who’s decided to support Trump. That’s kind of reflected in his Twitter marketing… on Monday, @TrumpiesCereal had 118 tweets to @ClintonCrunch’s 14.

 

"I can only think that I would have his [Donald Trump's] full endorsement"

But Cueto tries to keep his political beliefs separate from the family’s foray into the political breakfast food market. The goal, he says, is to help Hannah learn about the election process. And small business ownership.

 

"Even if I don’t sell a cereal box today, the important thing is to teach her [Hannah] that I showed up," he said.

Not selling has not been a problem, however. Cueto and his family had printed 5,000 boxes of Trumpies and 5,000 of Clinton Crunch. As of Monday morning they’d sold most of them. Cueto says their “cereal index” shows Clinton with a slight lead -- about 4,700 boxes to 4,600 for Trump.

 

And he says it would be a publicity "dream come true" if Trump sued him for using his name on the boxes. Not that Trump should have any reason to.

 

"I think he’d be flattered by the box. He looked really, really nice. And he’s a winner. He likes being a winner, and I can only think that I would have his full endorsement," Cueto said.

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