Former U.S. President Donald Trump closed his Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday with an ominous 80-minute speech denouncing his political rivals, assailing immigrants and promising to invoke an 18th century law to pave the way for mass deportations, CNN writes.
One Republican House candidate labeled Harris “the antichrist.”
The rally began with Tony Hinchcliffe, a comedian and podcast host, assailing Puerto Rico – in the city that’s home to the largest Puerto Rican population on the U.S. mainland. About 500,000 Puerto Ricans also live in battleground Pennsylvania, where Harris campaigned on Sunday.
“There’s a lot going on, like, I don’t know if you know this but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now,” Hinchcliffe said. “I think it’s called Puerto Rico.”
Trump, himself, has recently taken to calling the U.S. “a garbage can for the world” when he rails against undocumented immigrants.
“This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” Trump campaign spokesperson Danielle Alvarez said in a statement to CNN.
But Harris’ campaign had already seized on the comments about Puerto Rico, quickly clipping the video and posting it on social media channels. The vice president on Sunday visited a Puerto Rican restaurant in North Philadelphia, where she discussed her vision for the island along with plans to lower costs and create opportunity in Puerto Rican communities on the mainland.
Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny, whose album “Un Verano Sin Ti” was the most-streamed album globally in 2023, posted a video of Harris spelling out her plan for Puerto Rico to his 45 million Instagram followers shortly after Hinchcliffe left the stage.
Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, whose reelection campaign depends on sizable support from the state’s Puerto Rican community, joined the backlash, writing of the “joke” on X, “It’s not funny and it’s not true. Puerto Ricans are amazing people and amazing Americans!”
