Donald Trump could face the ire of Puerto Ricans in the swing state of Pennsylvania when the former president heads to the state for a Tuesday night rally.
On Sunday, Tony Hinchcliffe, an insult comic, called Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage” during a set at Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden that also included racist and offensive comments about Latinos, Jews and Black people.
The comment quickly brought a backlash, including condemnation from Trump’s Republican allies from states with large Puerto Rican populations. The chairman of the Republican Party of Puerto Rico has called on the GOP nominee to publicly apologize for the comment and has said he will withhold his support for Trump until then.
Trump did not directly mention the backlash during events on Monday but reportedly denied any knowledge of Hinchcliffe during an appearance in New York on Tuesday.
He may be forced to reckon with the fallout when he arrives for a rally at the PPL Center in Allentown, a city with one of the largest Puerto Rican populations in Pennsylvania, on Tuesday night.
Donald Trump looks on during a roundtable with faith leaders on October 23 in Zebulon, Georgia. Puerto Ricans in Pennsylvania are outraged after a comedian at a Sunday Trump rally called Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage.”
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Politico reported on Monday that many Puerto Ricans in the state are outraged by the comment and that some are planning to protest at the Allentown rally.
The outrage is “spreading like wildfire through the community,” Norberto Dominguez, a precinct captain with the local Democratic Party in Allentown, told Politico. “It’s not the smartest thing to do, to insult people—a large group of voters here in a swing state—and then go to their home asking for votes.”
On Monday, the Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Puerto Rican Agenda, a nonpartisan group, issued a press release condemning the comments and urging Puerto Rican and Latino voters in the state to make their voices heard at the ballot box.
“We Puerto Ricans and Latinos are an integral part of the cultural fabric of the United States of America,” the group said. “We urge our Puerto Rican and Latino voters of Pennsylvania to reject this blatant disrespectful expression about our people by casting their vote on November 5.”
The move highlights how consequential the fallout could be in a must-win state with 19 electoral votes where polls show Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris locked in a tight race.
Both candidates have been courting Latino voters in Pennsylvania—including the almost half a million who are of Puerto Rican descent—as small shifts in support could decide the state’s winner. The Trump and Harris campaigns have made more visits to Pennsylvania than to Georgia, Arizona and Nevada combined from Labor Day to this past weekend, according to the Associated Press.
Dominguez and other local Democrats say Hinchcliffe’s comment serves as a reminder of Trump’s history with Puerto Rico—he reportedly called it “dirty” and tossed paper towels into a crowd during a visit to the island in 2017 after it was devastated by Hurricane Maria.
Trump’s campaign has sought to distance itself from Hinchcliffe’s remark amid the backlash. The “joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” Danielle Alvarez, a senior adviser to his campaign, previously told Newsweek.
The Trump and Harris campaigns have been contacted via email for comment.
Harris said Monday that Trump’s event on Sunday “is fanning the fuel of trying to divide our country.” She added that she was proud to have the support of Puerto Ricans like rapper Bad Bunny and Jennifer Lopez.
“They understand that they want a president of the United States who is about uplifting people and not berating, not calling America a ‘garbage can,’ which is what Donald Trump—those are the words he has used,” she said.
However, Trump’s running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, downplayed Hinchcliffe’s comment about Puerto Rico during a Monday rally in Wisconsin.
“Maybe it’s a stupid racist joke” and “maybe it’s not,” he said, noting that he had not heard it himself. But he added: “I think we have to stop getting offended by every little thing in the United States of America, I’m just, I’m so over it.”
