Some Americans, particularly those of Puerto Rican descent, said that the racist remarks aired at Donald Trump’s Sunday night rally at Madison Square Garden in New York helped them decide who to vote for.
The speaker and comedian Tony Hinchcliffe took aim at Puerto Rico, in a series of racist jokes including one in which he called it “a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean”.
A Trump campaign spokesperson, Danielle Alvarez, claimed in a statement that “this joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign” despite the fact that the president did not apologise during the rally or later, and that the remarks had been vetted, and that Hinchcliffe was reportedly speaking from a teleprompter. But for some, the damage had already been done.
David Silva, 62, from Santa Fe, New Mexico, said he was “disgusted that Hinchcliffe believes this is comedy and appalled that the audience agreed and cheered”.
Others responded to our callout with their reactions to this weekend’s events.
Juan Ruiz from San Juan, Puerto Rico’s capital, said the remarks were “nothing more than a reflection of the deeply racist mentality of the sector represented by Trump in the Republican party”.
Ruiz, 37, said: “It reflects the way they think about Latinos in general. For much of the Republican leadership in the United States, Latinos are seen as trash. In their nationalist diatribes, they use us as scapegoats, attempting to blame us for the complex problems that American society faces instead of addressing the significant structural deficiencies of their social framework.
“As a Puerto Rican, subject to the colonial domination of the US government, I can only hope that comments like these generate enough anger for our people to commit to fighting for the decolonization and independence of our country once and for all.”
Thomas, 41, from Connecticut, called the jokes “racist and un-American”.
“Puerto Ricans have served in the US military in every major war. My uncle was a medal of honor winner in Vietnam who saved his whole platoon and gave up his life. He was born in Puerto Rico,” he said. “My grandfather came to the US and was a business owner … Many tech entrepreneurs are living on the island to enjoy the weather, beaches and tax breaks. This is a slap in our face.”
Hinchcliffe also made derogatory comments about high birth rates among US Latino populations – specifically, he said Latinos “love making babies”.
“There’s no pulling out. They don’t do that. They come inside, just like they did to our country,” Hinchcliffe said on stage.
Retired engineer Isabel Ximena Patino called that remark “beyond insulting and despicable”.
“We do not deserve this, but that is truly how the Trump party sees us. They’re not even bothering to hide it any more,” she said.
In the aftermath of the rally, some Puerto Ricans said the remarks inspired them to throw their weight behind Trump’s opponent.
Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez, Luis Fonsi and Bad Bunny expressed support for Kamala Harris for president.
An anonymous voter from Maryland said they were “optimistic” that Bad Bunny’s “timely endorsement of Harris” would “serve as a wake-up call for even more people, and hopefully get voters in the island to also reject the Trump-supporting gubernatorial candidate Jennifer Gonzalez and her corrupt party”.
The respondent added that Hinchcliffe’s comments were precisely the “type of hate my kids will be exposed to in the future should Trump get re-elected”.
For undecided voters, the racism they heard on Sunday helped them decide on who to vote for. Sylvia Perez, 54, said: “The insult left no debate. I’m 100% Kamala now. I’m upset.”
Isabella Escobar, a 46-year-old business development manager in Florida, said she made her choice “after hearing these remarks and them not being addressed until after the endorsements came in from other famous celebrities for Harris”.
Despite being US citizens, Puerto Ricans do not have the right to vote in US elections if they live on the island – a point of discontent for these taxpaying Americans. Now, after being directly insulted publicly, Puerto Ricans are outraged that they cannot protest at the ballot box.
“I was born and lived in Puerto Rico as a small child to parents from Mexico and Cuba (another island on the brink) … Puerto Ricans who are residents of the island do not get to vote in our presidential election. It makes no sense to me that I have more of a vote in this election than my sister who lives on the island and deals with the impact of US economic policy there,” wrote one San Francisco resident who asked to remain anonymous.
“US policies resulted in thousands of deaths after [Hurricane] Maria and continue to cripple the island. The crushing debt under which Puerto Rico lives is a direct result of US economic policy, which they have no say in. The remarks made by Hinchcliffe, and no doubt, approved by event organizers, are so hurtful and harmful, as well as racist.”
The San Francisco resident added they were “disgusted by what happened yesterday and remain hopeful that this will be the final straw and that people will come to their senses in this election and understand that they are choosing between evil and a presidential candidate who centers Americans and the fate of our country”.
Rachael, 44, from Dunedin, Florida, said Hinchcliffe’s words were “ignorant”.
“Would he call Pennsylvania a trash state? Probably not, since those citizens can vote. It seems easy to take shots of people when there’s no consequences. Oh, except for when you’ve just insulted Americans with Puerto Rican heritage,” she said.
Still, not everyone was upset by the remarks.
Juan Irizzary of Miami doubled down on his support for Trump and called the offense taken by Hinchcliffe’s jokes a result of the “woke era”.
“As a proud Puerto Rican American, I thought Tony was funny. Puerto Rico is not a race; it’s a place. We live in a woke era where everything from criticism of thoughts, ideologies and places is deemed racist by the opposition,” Irizzary, 31, said.
