Trump Makes Racist Puerto Rico Joke 10 Times Worse With His Reaction
Donald Trump’s response to a comedian making a racist joke about Puerto Rico at his New York rally at Madison Square Garden came up very short.
On Tuesday morning, ABC News’s Rachel Scott asked Trump about Tony Hinchcliffe’s joke on Sunday where he called Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage,” and Trump denied knowing anything about him or the joke.
“I don’t know him; someone put him up there. I don’t know who he is,” Trump said. The former president also claimed he had not heard the comments, despite widespread news and TV coverage and campaign spokespeople disavowing the joke Sunday and Monday.
Trump then went on to call the New York rally a “lovefest” during a rally later on Tuesday.
Trump: I don't think anybody has ever seen anything like what happened the other night at Madison Square Garden. The love in that room… It was like a love fest and it was my honor to be involved. pic.twitter.com/umW3VvUF3g
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 29, 2024
Trump pointedly refused to condemn or disavow Hinchcliffe’s joke directly, which will not help with the fallout his campaign is receiving. In the battleground state of Pennsylvania, which boasts a 500,000-strong Puerto Rican population, the “joke” has quickly spread through social media and WhatsApp and drawn backlash from a nonpartisan Puerto Rican organization urging its members not to vote for Trump.
Trump’s nonapology won’t go over well with some of his more influential critics, particularly the Catholic Archbishop of San Juan, who has demanded a personal apology from the former president along with the chairman of the Puerto Rico Republican Party.
JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, didn’t bail out the former president either, claiming that he hadn’t “actually seen the joke” Monday and complaining about people taking offense.
“I’m not gonna comment on the specificity of the joke … but I think that we have to stop getting offended at every little thing in the United States of America, I’m just so over it,” Vance said.
With Puerto Ricans making up a large population in the U.S. mainland, including several battleground states like Pennsylvania, Georgia, and North Carolina, Trump’s response could end up costing him key votes that he needs to win. The right (and smart) thing to do would be for Trump to clearly and categorically apologize and disavow Hinchcliffe and his “joke,” but Trump isn’t known for his willingness to take responsibility when things go badly.