Former President Donald Trump returned to a predominantly Hispanic town in eastern Pennsylvania on Tuesday afternoon after a comedian sparked controversy during Trump’s appearance at Madison Square Garden over the weekend by making racist jokes about Latinos, including calling out. Puerto Rico “floating garbage island”.
Trump did not address the comedian’s controversial remarks, but took advantage of President Joe Biden’s comments on Tuesday, criticizing Biden’s remarks about Puerto Rico. he used words that seemed to refer To Trump supporters as “garbage”.
Toward the end of the rally, Trump invited Senator Marco Rubio on stage, and Biden briefed Trump and the crowd on his comments.
Trump recalled Hillary Clinton’s controversial “basket of deplorables” line in 2016.
“He said ‘deplorable.’ That didn’t work,” Trump said. “‘Trash’, I think is worse.”
Trump’s appearance was in Allentown, Pennsylvania, a city of more than 125,000 people where Hispanics make up 55% of the population, according to US Census data, with a large portion of that number being Puerto Rican.
His second campaign stop of the day in Pennsylvania — after a panel discussion at Drexel Hill, where the population is overwhelmingly white — Allentown’s visit was an opportunity for the former president to court Hispanics, specifically Puerto Ricans, after Hispanic groups. both sides of the aisle called the racist jokes at the New York rally “disparaging,” “offensive” and “disrespectful.”
Former President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the PPL Center on October 29, 2024 in Allentown, Pa.
Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images
In his remarks, Trump made no mention of the debate, but referred to the rally at Madison Square Garden, calling it “the greatest evening politically anyone has ever seen,” adding that “the love was unbelievable.”
At the event in Pennsylvania, Trump drew on the support of Latinos, including the endorsement of Puerto Rico’s “Shadow Senator” Zoraida Buxo, who is in charge of defending the territory’s statehood.
“No one loves our Latino community and the Puerto Rican community more than I do,” Trump said.
Former Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Allentown, Pa. on Oct. 29, 2024.
Matt Rourke/AP
Congratulations on the mass deportation plan
Trump’s rally in Allentown coincided with Vice President Kamala Harris Speaking from the Ellipse in Washington, DCwhat he has called his campaign’s “closing argument” in the race.
Trump received the biggest applause of the evening when he said that if elected, he would begin mass deportations of people in the US illegally starting on the first day of his administration.
“On day one, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history,” he said. “We will take them out. I will rescue all the cities and towns that have been invaded and conquered, and we will put these vicious, bloodthirsty criminals in jail or throw them the hell out of our country.”
As the crowd gave a standing ovation, Trump said, “I call for the death penalty for any migrant who kills an American citizen or law enforcement officer.”
Then the crowd chanted “USA!”
Controversial “junk” notes
The comments at Sunday’s Madison Square Garden rally were made by controversial comedian Tony Hinchcliffe earlier on Sunday evening, including explicit comments about how Latinos “love to make babies.”
“I don’t know if you guys know this, but there’s literally an island of garbage floating in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico,” Hinchcliffe told a crowd of nearly 20,000 on stage Sunday night, after the former president himself had called the day before. United States “garbage bin for the world”.
Hinchcliffe, instead of apologizing for his comments, attacked critics for having no sense of humor and accused them of taking the joke out of context to make it “seem racist”.
The former president denied knowing the comedian on Tuesday, telling ABC News chief congressional correspondent Rachel Scott, “I don’t know him, somebody put him there. I don’t know who it is.”
Trump also insisted he had not heard the comments, even though they were heard on television and widely written about. When asked what he does with them, he did not take the opportunity to complain, repeating that he had not heard the comments.
The Trump campaign has tried to distance itself from comedian Hinchcliffe’s comments, saying they don’t reflect their views.
Several Republicans have spoken out against the jokes, including Puerto Rico Republican Party Chairman Angel Cintrón, who called Hinchcliffe’s comments “unfortunate, ignorant and completely reprehensible” and “racist.”
Tony Hinchcliffe speaks in front of former Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden on October 27, 2024 in New York.
Evan Vucci/AP
Residents of Puerto Rico, as a US territory, do not vote for president in general elections, but the Republican Party of Puerto Rico held primaries in April as part of the Republican presidential nominating process. Donald Trump won the primaries and netted the representatives of the territory.
Puerto Ricans living in the United States, however, make up the largest Hispanic group in seven states across the country, including the critical battleground state of Pennsylvania, according to U.S. Census data.
In Pennsylvania, where President Joe Biden won in 2020 by just over 81,000 votes, 3.7% of the state’s population, or about 486,000 people, were of Puerto Rican descent. Pennsylvania is expected to be a very close race between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, with Trump leading Harris by 0.2 percentage points, according to an average of 538 polls as of Oct. 29.
Overall, the number of Latino eligible voters in Pennsylvania has more than doubled since 2000, from 206,000 to 620,000 in 2023, according to WNTM. the analysis Figures from the US Census Bureau.
