Turning Point official’s ‘speak English’ remark to Vietnamese American GOP lawmaker sparks backlash

A top Turning Point Action official asked a Vietnamese American state lawmaker whether he could speak English during a social media dispute last week, drawing condemnation and exposing tension within Arizona’s Republican Party.

Turning Point Action Chief Operating Officer Tyler Bowyer took aim at Republican state Rep. Quang Nguyen’s legislative record in a July 6 post on X, sharing Nguyen’s Turning Point Action scorecard and calling his voting record among the “worst” in the Legislature. In response, Nguyen called Bowyer a “clown” and disputed the scorecard’s accuracy. Bowyer then asked Nguyen, “Can you speak English?” To this, Nguyen replied, “Better than you speaking any other languages.”

Nguyen was 12 when his family left Vietnam as Saigon fell in 1975. He has represented Yavapai County in the Legislature since 2021. Bowyer, on the other hand, was among 11 Arizona Republicans indicted in April 2024 on nine felony counts, including fraud, forgery and conspiracy, for signing a document that falsely certified President Donald Trump as the winner of Arizona’s 2020 election. Trump pardoned Bowyer on the related federal charges last November, but the pardon does not affect Arizona’s state prosecution, which remains pending.

Bowyer later said his comment referred to a typo in Nguyen’s post, which misspelled “fake scorecard” as “fakes scorecard.” However, many were unconvinced. For one, in a show of solidarity, CAIR-AZ Executive Director Azza Abuseif condemned the remark, saying, “Racist attacks targeting public officials because of their ethnicity or perceived background have no place in our society, regardless of the political party of the victim or the perpetrator.”

Nguyen, according to the Arizona Republic, acknowledged that Bowyer’s comment did not reflect Turning Point as a whole, but that the latter had effectively identified himself as a racist. Meanwhile, Bowyer rejected its characterization as racist in a text message to the paper. He also dismissed the outlet’s coverage of the exchange as a “dumb story.”

Asian American public figures, especially government officials, often face scrutiny over their English fluency regardless of citizenship or political alignment. As it turns out, Nguyen had already encountered similar treatment last year when a website tied to a former Republican lawmaker circulated a cartoon that portrayed him eating dogs. CAIR-AZ said remarks like Bowyer’s make racist attacks on public officials seem more acceptable and give extremists a bigger platform.

Needless to say, the incident is a reminder that conservative credentials and elected office have not insulated Asian American officials from being reduced to stereotypes about their origin and speech. Whether Bowyer will face discipline or appear alongside CEO Erika Kirk at Turning Point USA’s July 12 Chapter Leadership Summit in Washington remains unclear.