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.