Republicans moved quickly to distance themselves from remarks disparaging Puerto Rico made Sunday by a comedian at the Madison Square Garden rally for Donald Trump, a reflection of growing party concern that fallout from the event could hurt Trump with a crucial voting constituency in the final days of this campaign.
“This is not a joke,” Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., wrote on the social platform X of the remarks about Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory. “It’s completely classless & in poor taste. Puerto Rico is the crown jewel of the Caribbean & home to many of the most patriotic Americans I know.”
Trump made no mention of the comedian who called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” when he took the stage Sunday, following a long procession of warm-up speakers. After the event, Trump’s campaign issued a statement saying that Trump did not approve of those remarks made at his rally. “This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” said Danielle Alvarez, a senior campaign adviser.
Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s Democratic opponent, told reporters Monday that the rally “fans the fuel of hate and division.”
“What he did last night is not a discovery. It is just more of the same and maybe more vivid than usual,” she said.
In East Harlem, a longtime nexus of Puerto Rican political power in New York City, a group of Democrats, including Reps. Adriano Espaillat and Nydia Velázquez, gathered to denounce the comments.
“We don’t want an apology,” Espaillat said. “We will cast our opinion at the polls on Nov. 5.”
The quick maneuverings came in the midst of an outpouring of criticism — from members of both parties — for the litany of vulgar, misogynistic and racist remarks spewed by speakers at a packed Madison Square Garden rally before Trump took the stage. The speeches included racist and sexist attacks on Harris.
While Democrats expressed concern about the overall tenor of the rally, Republicans focused on the remarks about Puerto Rico made by comedian Tony Hinchliffe.
“The only thing that’s ‘garbage’ was a bad comedy set,” Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, R-N.Y., who noted that his mother was born and raised in Puerto Rico, posted on X. “Stay on message.”
Rep. Ritchie Torres, a Democrat from the Bronx, said Monday morning that the rally was evidence that “hatred is not a bug but a feature of Donald Trump’s campaign.”
“He creates an atmosphere that not only enables the kind of hatred that we saw at Madison Square Garden, but he emboldens hatred for immigrants,” he said on CNN. “He emboldens hatred for Puerto Rico.”
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The attempts by Republicans to distance themselves from the rally reflected what many saw as the political danger posed by the high-profile event to Trump. It unfolded less than 10 days before an election where polls show Trump and Harris are effectively tied, and where Latinos are likely to play a major role in determining the outcome. As such, Republicans were nearly as quick to denounce the rally as Democrats, and often with similar phrases reflecting their indignation.
Peter Navarro, a longtime Trump ally, used a vulgarity to denounce Hinchcliffe, and claimed: “No one worked harder for Puerto Rico after the hurricanes hit than” Trump in 2017. (That visit by Trump to Puerto Rico after the hurricane was marked by images of the then-president hurling paper towels into the crowd. He later opposed disaster aid for Puerto Rico when it was struggling to rebuild.)
Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, a state with a substantial Puerto Rican population, said the joke “was not funny and it’s not true.” Rep. María Elvira Salazar, R-Fla., wrote on X that she was “disgusted" by Hinchcliffe’s comments.
“This does not reflect GOP values,” she posted Sunday evening.
Still other Republicans blamed the press coverage, suggesting that more attention should be paid to Trump’s own speech and the size of the crowd, rather than the remarks of his allies.
“They’re too busy trying to fearmonger everything instead of actually talking about the facts and the substance,” Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., said on CNBC of the media, even as he said he did not approve of what the comedian had said.
In the hours after the rally, Puerto Rican celebrities came out to voice — or reiterate — their support for Harris. Among them were Bad Bunny and Ricky Martin on Sunday night. In a post Monday on Instagram, Lin-Manuel Miranda denounced the Trump campaign for giving a comedian a “national platform to sling racist jokes,” and urged his followers to vote for Harris.
“I’m old enough to remember the days after Hurricane Maria, when former president Trump TREATED us like garbage,” he wrote. “And when criticized for his inaction, called our people lazy.”
Democrats — including Harris’ campaign — denounced the tenor and remarks of the event, which Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., called “a hate rally.”
“These are mini Jan. 6 rallies, these are mini Stop the Steal rallies,” she said on the television show “Morning Joe.”
Randi Weingarten, the longtime president of the American Federation of Teachers, said in a statement that the Trump campaign’s “racist hate was on full, disgraceful display last night at Madison Square Garden.”
“Dark, narcissistic smears and rank fearmongering have no place in America — and should be disqualifying for any candidate for office,” she said.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times. © 2024 The New York Times
