ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Former President Donald Trump tried to tamp down his anger over the comedian’s offensive jokes about Latinos and Puerto Rico at a rally at Madison Square Garden, campaigning in a predominantly Latino city, because the uproar was cutting into his earnings. With Latino voters.
Trump didn’t touch on the comedian’s remarks in his 75-minute address, citing polls that show he’s doing well among Latino voters and showing solidarity with Puerto Rico.
“I will deliver the best possible future for Puerto Ricans and Hispanic Americans,” Trump said.
Late in his appearance, Trump called Puerto Rico’s Republican shadow senator to the podium, who praised him and pledged his commitment to the U.S. territory, days after comedian Tony Hinchcliffe likened Puerto Rico to a “floating garbage island.” jokes at Trump’s latest event in New York.
“The Puerto Rican people trust you and we have high hopes,” said Zoraida Buxo. “We need this man back in the White House. We need this man to be our commander in chief. He will make us feel safe. And he will protect us.”
Before Trump took the stage, some speakers also took pains to mention Puerto Rico.
Former Allentown mayoral candidate Tim Ramos introduced himself to the crowd as a “Puerto Rican” who wanted to express his “love for the island and the people of Puerto Rico.”
“We have a proud heritage, a heritage that has seen our men fight in every war this nation has ever fought,” he said. “We are beautiful people from a beautiful island.”
Speaking before Trump’s arrival, Buxo described Puerto Rico as a “beautiful island” with a “deep, deep, love of country.”
“God’s blessing is that this is home,” he said, “This is Puerto Rico.”
The other speaker, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., spoke in both Spanish and English. Rubio has previously criticized Hinchcliffe’s comments social media site X, He didn’t mention Tuesday’s episode, though.
The pro-Puerto Rican message comes two days after growing outrage over the comedian’s appearance at a Trump rally at the iconic Manhattan arena on Sunday.
The comment, amid a tight race between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, disparaged a segment of voters that could lead to a close election. In Pennsylvania, an important battleground, census estimates put the Puerto Rican population at about 500,000. It is made up of people of Puerto Rican origin the the largest share Latino eligible voters in Pennsylvania.
Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk, a Democrat, said in an interview that his constituents were “angry.”
“People will turn this anger into voting. This is how people will react. We are not angry, we are.”
Even before the Madison Square Garden rally was over, condemnations poured in. Elected officials, pop culture figures, entertainers and ordinary voters from both parties recoiled at the word. Puerto Rican rapper and singer Bad Bunny Harris approved and released a video in tribute to the island, giving it a mocking title: “Garbage.”
Hinchcliffe’s comments were particularly inconvenient for the Trump campaign. Recent surveys Reuters/Ipsos, NBC News/CNBC/Telemundo and more show that Trump has eroded the lead among Hispanic men that President Joe Biden and other Democratic candidates held in 2020 and other recent elections.
Rep. Susan Wild, a Democrat who represents Allentown, told reporters Tuesday that her district has “70,000 Puerto Ricans and a lot of non-Puerto Ricans, Hispanics and Latinos, and the anger was palpable.”
“I’m hearing more about this than almost any other issue this campaign season.”
With the outcome in mind, the Trump campaign held a rally at the hockey rink in Allentown that sent an affirming message about the island.
However, Trump has not yet condemned the to insult personally. His campaign released a statement: “This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign.”
Trump said this before his speech in Allentown ABC News He said the event at Madison Square Garden was a “love fest.” He said he did not know Hinchcliffe and had not seen the comment.
Trump rarely suffers long-term political damage when he or one of his allies says something offensive or inflammatory. There is usually an intense but brief attention to what is being said before attention moves on to the next distraction.
Democrats argue that the insult in Puerto Rico may be different, even if Trump doesn’t say it himself. The comment came from an invited speaker standing in front of a podium bearing the Trump-Vance campaign logo.
“It was a terrible and despicable comment to make at a campaign-sponsored rally, and he should be held accountable,” Democratic Sen. Bob Casey, who is running for re-election, told reporters at a campaign stop on Tuesday. in Allentown.
A few hours before Trump’s speech, protesters gathered outside the arena. One protester, Enid Santiago, 46, told NBC News that the comment emboldened apathetic voters who might have been inclined to sit out the race.
Santiago, who was born in Puerto Rico and now lives in Allentown, said “people who are kind of tired of politics and just sitting there are pissed off now.”
Tairy Pagan, 41, who was born in Puerto Rico and lives in Allentown, stood outside the arena with a Harris campaign sign. For him, the comedian’s disparagement of Puerto Rico reminded him of Trump’s handling of Hurricane Maria, which devastated the island in the first year of his presidency. During his visit to Puerto Rico after the storm, Trump threw paper towel rolls to the residents of the affected island.
“We suffered a lot from Hurricane Maria,” Pagan said. “He was our president and he was just throwing paper towels at us. We are decent people.”
“He should meet us in person,” he said.