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Dems Escalate Attacks After PR Comments10/29 06:01
Democrats stepped up their attacks on Donald Trump on Monday, a day after a
comedian opening a rally for the former president called Puerto Rico a
"floating island of garbage," a comment that drew wide condemnation and
highlighted the rising power of a key Latino group in the swing state of
Pennsylvania.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democrats stepped up their attacks on Donald Trump on
Monday, a day after a comedian opening a rally for the former president called
Puerto Rico a "floating island of garbage," a comment that drew wide
condemnation and highlighted the rising power of a key Latino group in the
swing state of Pennsylvania.
Vice President Kamala Harris described Trump's rally Sunday at Madison
Square Garden as "more vivid than usual" and said he "fans the fuel of hate"
before she flew to Michigan for a campaign event. President Joe Biden called
the rally "simply embarrassing." In a rare move late Sunday, the Trump campaign
distanced itself from the remarks on Puerto Rico made by comedian Tony
Hinchcliffe.
"The garbage he spoke about is polluting our elections and confirming just
how little Donald Trump cares about Latinos specifically, about our Puerto
Rican community," Eddie Moran, mayor of Reading, said at a news conference with
other Puerto Rican officials.
With just over a week before Election Day, the fallout underscores the
importance of Pennsylvania's 19 electoral votes and the last-minute efforts to
court growing numbers of Hispanic voters, mostly from Puerto Rico, who have
settled in cities west and north of Philadelphia.
Fernando Tormos-Aponte, an assistant professor of sociology at the
University of Pittsburgh who specializes in Puerto Rican politics and electoral
organizing, said the timing of the comments may spell trouble for the Trump
campaign.
"When you combine the events that took place yesterday with other grievances
that Puerto Ricans have, you really are not engaging in sound political
strategy," Tormos-Aponte said.
Trump did not directly mention the controversy during his appearances in
Georgia Monday, instead choosing to parry another critique of him -- that his
former White House chief of staff reports that Trump as president said he
wished he had "German generals." The Harris campaign has seized on the comment
and the vice president, in a radio interview last week, agreed that Trump was
"a fascist."
During a Monday night rally at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, Trump instead called
Harris a "fascist" and said: "I'm not a Nazi. I'm the opposite of a Nazi."
Trump also warned that Michelle Obama made a "big mistake" by being "nasty"
to him in a recent speech.
During his first appearance of the day, a National Faith Summit in Powder
Springs, Georgia, conservative activist Gary Bauer asked a question that
included offhand praise for Trump turning Madison Square Garden "into MAGA
Square Garden."
"Great night," Trump replied.
Trump's vice presidential pick, Sen. JD Vance, was asked about the insult
during an appearance in Wausau, Wisconsin.
"Maybe it's a stupid racist joke, as you said. Maybe it's not. I haven't
seen it. I'm not going to comment on the specifics of the joke," Vance said.
"But I think that we have to stop getting so offended at every little thing."
The Harris campaign released an ad that will run online in battleground
states targeting Puerto Rican voters and highlighting the comedian's remarks.
The comments landed Harris a show of support from Puerto Rican music star Bad
Bunny and prompted reactions from Republicans in Florida and in Puerto Rico.
Hinchcliffe also made demeaning jokes about Black people, other Latinos,
Palestinians and Jews in his routine before Trump's appearance. On Monday in
Pittsburgh, Harris' husband, Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish, delivered remarks on
antisemitism in America, a day after the anniversary of the Tree of Life
synagogue massacre.
"There is a fire in this country, and we either pour water on it or we pour
gasoline on it," Emhoff said.
Still, it was Hinchliffe's quip about Puerto Rico that drew the most
attention, partly due to the geography of the election.
From Labor Day to this past weekend, both campaigns have made more visits to
Pennsylvania than to Georgia, Arizona and Nevada combined, according to
Associated Press tracking of the campaigns' public events. The state has some
of the fastest-growing Hispanic communities, including in Reading and
Allentown, where more than half of the population is Hispanic.
Pennsylvania's Latino eligible voter population has more than doubled since
2000, from 206,000 to 620,000 in 2023, according to Census Bureau figures. More
than half of those are Puerto Rican eligible voters.
The comedian's remarks were played early Monday on Spanish-language radio in
Pennsylvania by one of Harris' surrogates based in Allentown, Pennsylvania, who
called out Trump for not issuing an apology beyond a statement from the
campaign saying "this joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the
campaign."
In central Florida, U.S. Rep. Darren Soto, a Democrat whose district covers
neighborhoods with large numbers of Puerto Ricans recently moved from the
island, noted Monday that there are "huge numbers" of Puerto Ricans in swing
states.
"We remember, and you know what, we are going to vote," Soto said at a news
conference called by Puerto Rican leaders. "That's the only thing we can do
right now."
Harris said Monday that none of the vitriol at the Madison Square Garden
rally will support the dreams and aspirations of the American people but
instead fans "the fuel of trying to divide our country."
She said Trump's event Sunday, in which speakers hurled cruel and racist
insults, "highlighted the point that I've been making throughout this campaign."
"He is focused and actually fixated on his grievances, on himself and on
dividing our country, and it is not in any way something that will strengthen
the American family, the American worker," the Democratic presidential nominee
told reporters.
Harris also said: "What he did last night is not a discovery. It is just
more of the same and may be more vivid than usual. Donald Trump spends full
time trying to have Americans point their finger at each other, fans the fuel
of hate and division, and that's why people are exhausted with him."
Harris also spoke about her proposals for Puerto Rico, such as creating a
task force to bring in private companies to upgrade the island's electrical
grid.
Trump planned to return to Pennsylvania on Tuesday with a visit to Allentown
after delivering remarks to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in South Florida.
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