By Sabrina Rodriguez, Hannah Knowles (c) 2024 , The Washington Post
PHILADELPHIA – Democrats moved quickly Monday to cast a spotlight on the fallout from Donald Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden, where sexist, racist and other demeaning insults were used by opening speakers, including a stand-up comedian who called Puerto Rico an “island of garbage” and broadly disparaged Latinos.
Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign held a news conference in Philadelphia, where Puerto Rican leaders expressed outrage at the Sunday remarks from podcast host and comedian Tony Hinchcliffe. A Democratic super PAC was texting hundreds of thousands of Puerto Rican voters in Pennsylvania to make sure they saw a clip from the rally. And the Harris campaign was also preparing to launch a new ad related to the remarks, according to a person familiar with the plans who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private deliberations.
Trump’s team scrambled to contain the backlash and direct attention to other topics. Campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in an interview on Fox News that Hinchcliffe made a “joke in poor taste,” but she said the crowd “didn’t mind” and suggested the episode was overblown.
“I think it is sad that the media will pick up on one joke that was made by a comedian rather than the truths that were shared by the phenomenal list of speakers that we had,” Leavitt said.
The dueling strategies, coming eight days before Election Day, put a renewed focus on how both candidates are competing for voters of color, including Latino voters whose decisions at the ballot box weigh heavily in several key battleground states where polls show a close race. Here in Pennsylvania, which strategists in both parties regard as perhaps the biggest prize of all, Latinos account for about 6 percent of eligible voters, about half of them Puerto Rican.
Some Democrats have worried throughout this election season about losing the support of some Latino voters, even as polls show that a majority of them support Harris. In a close race, any erosion in support from a longtime stalwart of the Democratic coalition could be pivotal. The controversy that erupted over the Sunday Trump rally introduced a new element into the race, with voters already casting ballots in key states.
“Donald Trump may have just done what the Harris campaign hasn’t been able to do for the past couple of years, which is move Latino voters against him,” Mike Madrid, a longtime Republican strategist and co-founder of anti-Trump Lincoln Project, said in an interview.
Harris allies hope to capitalize on negative reactions to the Trump rally to boost her appeal to Puerto Rican and other Latino voters in Pennsylvania and beyond. A battleground state, Pennsylvania is home to the third-largest population of Puerto Ricans outside the island. Harris and her campaign have made efforts to court Latinos, who have historically leaned toward Democrats, but she has faced some challenges in shoring up their support as Trump has made inroads with the minority.
Nuestro PAC, a Democratic super PAC focused on Latinos, began sending texts Monday to Puerto Rican voters to draw attention to Hinchcliffe’s comments at the Trump rally. Chuck Rocha, senior adviser to the organization, said he calculated Sunday after the comments that it would cost about $30,000 to text all Puerto Rican voter in Pennsylvania, so he issued a request on X for people to donate. Within six hours, he had raised the money from over 450 individual donors, he said.
Now, the super PAC is looking to raise more to begin sending texts to Puerto Ricans in other battleground states, such as Georgia and Michigan. He said he believes that the comments could help in drawing support from Puerto Ricans who have been flirting with the Republican Party under Trump.
“You just don’t mess with a Puerto Rican’s island,” Rocha said. “That’s why I thought it was an opportunity to go tell these people, ‘This is what this guy really thinks about you and your island. Come back home.’”
Rafael Collazo, executive director of UnidosUS Action Fund, the political arm of the largest Latino civil rights organization, summarized Hinchcliffe’s comments as: “Una falta de respeto.” A lack of respect, he said in Spanish.
The group has been out canvassing in Philadelphia and Reading, Pennsylvania, as well as making phone calls. On Tuesday, UnidosUS Action Fund will announce a major mobilization effort in Philadelphia for this weekend, he said, to further build on the momentum from the outrage Latinos are feeling.
Madrid, the Lincoln Project co-founder, said it was remarkable to see how Trump’s campaign was distancing itself from the comment, a rarity for the former president, who often leans into controversy and is known to double down on offensive remarks. Danielle Alvarez, a senior adviser to the campaign, said in a statement that “this joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign.”
Madrid said he does not expect the episode to move the needle significantly but feels that it could make a difference in moving some Latino votes in key battlegrounds. He pointed to Trump’s 2016 win, coming after a recording of him surfaced just before the election in which he bragged about groping women. Many predicted at the time that the comment would doom Trump’s bid.
The rally comments also drew renewed attention to Trump’s heavily criticized record on Puerto Rico when he was president. Trump’s administration withheld billions of dollars in hurricane relief from the island. He threw paper towel rolls at people when he visited to deliver aid supplies on the island after it was ravaged by Hurricane Maria in 2017, a gesture that critics denounced as offensive. Trump also reportedly joked about trading Puerto Rico for Greenland to get rid of the U.S. territory.
The “garbage” comment was just one of many offensive remarks in Trump’s opening acts. Hinchcliffe also made a lewd joke about how Latinos “love making babies,” referenced a racist stereotype while talking about a Black audience member – saying they “carved watermelons” together – and insulted both Jewish and Palestinian people. He joked that Palestinians would always choose “rock” in “rock paper scissors,” while Jewish people would have “a hard time throwing that paper” – an allusion to an antisemitic trope.
Some in the audience laughed at the comments. But others appeared uncomfortable at times.
“Republicans are the party with a good sense of humor,” Hinchcliffe said at one point as the laughter was less than overwhelming. He later defended his comments in response to criticism from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’s running mate, saying the joke was “taken out of context to make it seem racist.”
Nevertheless, some Trump allies were outraged.
Several Republicans in Congress, who represent areas with large populations of Puerto Ricans and other Latinos, denounced his comments. “This joke bombed for a reason. It’s not funny, and it’s not true,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida), who is up for reelection this year, wrote in a post on X.
Peter Navarro, a former Trump administration official who remains a prominent supporter, on Monday declared Hinchcliffe “the biggest, stupidest” jerk – he used a more colorful term – “that ever came down the comedy pike.”
Former Fox host Tucker Carlson also mocked attention to Harris’s identity: “She’s just so impressive as the first Samoan, Malaysian, low-IQ former California prosecutor ever to be elected president,” Carlson said, misrepresenting her Jamaican-Indian heritage. And another speaker said Harris and “her pimp handlers will destroy our country.”
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Knowles reported from New York.