Puerto Ricans lash Trump after rally ‘racism’

View of Old San Juan, the historic colonial district, in the capital city San Juan, Puerto Rico, October 28, 2024. Residents of Puerto Rico, an American island territory in the Caribbean, cannot take part in US elections but the diaspora living in the United States numbers almost six million, according to Pew Research Center, and is eligible to vote. Agence France-Presse

NEW YORK — Puerto Ricans vented their anger after a comedian targeted them with racist jokes at a weekend rally for Donald Trump — and some warned the Republican former president could pay for it on Election Day.

On the same day that Democrat Kamala Harris unveiled plans to revitalize the US territory, Tony Hinchcliffe called it an “island of garbage” at a major Trump rally at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

Puerto Ricans living in the Big Apple, like 48-year-old Javier Diaz, said the insults would have “consequences for president Trump.”

READ: Latin superstar Bad Bunny backs Harris for president

“I’m going to vote for Harris,” Diaz, a paralegal living in Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood, told AFP.

Denis Castro, a 60-year-old retiree living in the same area, said the comments made by Hinchcliffe and others at the rally qualified as “racism.”

“You can’t be talking like that,” Castro said, suggesting that many people would be deterred from voting for Trump over the incident.

Residents of Puerto Rico cannot vote in US elections, but the diaspora population living in the 50 states numbers almost six million, according to Pew Research Center, and is eligible to vote. It is the largest Hispanic community in the country after Mexicans.

READ: Trump’s New York rally attacks Harris, draws criticism

As Trump’s rally unfolded on Sunday, Harris was in key battleground state Pennsylvania, visiting a Puerto Rican restaurant in Philadelphia and outlining plans to foster economic growth and create jobs on the island.

“Puerto Ricans deserve a president who sees and invests in (their) strength,” Harris said in a clip published on social media alongside a video of Hinchcliffe.

The vice president also earned key endorsements from Puerto Rican celebrities, including rapper Bad Bunny, singer Ricky Martin, and actress-singer Jennifer Lopez.

Bad Bunny, who has 45 million Instagram followers, reposted a video of Harris attacking Trump’s response to hurricanes that devastated the island while the Republican was president.

“He abandoned the island, tried to block aid after back-to-back devastating hurricanes and offered nothing more than paper towels and insults,” Harris says in the clip.

Harris also launched a new ad targeting Puerto Rican voters, promising “a new way forward.”

Sharing a clip from Trump’s rally, Martin wrote: “This is what they think about us. Vote for Kamala Harris.”

‘Cleared my mind’

Trump and Harris are in a dead heat in the seven swing states expected to decide the election, so infuriating Latino voters with a week to go before Election Day could prove damaging for the former president seeking a return to the Oval Office.

Though Trump’s campaign sought to distance itself from Hinchcliffe’s remarks, the Republican billionaire has repeatedly and aggressively attacked migrants, particularly from Latin America, on the 2024 campaign trail.

“They invited this rhetoric on their stage for a reason,” progressive Democratic lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is of Puerto Rican descent, said in a message.

Trump’s rally in the iconic New York arena was peppered with misogynistic, racist and foul-mouthed insults about Harris and Trump’s roster of enemies.

In an effort to limit the damage, Trump surrogates have sought to distance their party and its candidate from the joke.

But Hinchcliffe, who goes by Kill Tony, fired back against his critics, including Harris’s running mate Tim Walz.

“These people have no sense of humor. Wild that a vice presidential candidate would take time out of his ‘busy schedule’ to analyze a joke taken out of context to make it seem racist,” Hinchcliffe wrote.

Magda Serrano, 62, who is currently unemployed, nevertheless said the comment was a “nightmare” and made her question Trump’s plans to help her community.

“(The) joke left a very bad taste in my mouth,” she said. “I don’t feel like they’re going to do anything for us.”

For 41-year-old pediatrician Martha Arce, who moved to Miami after Hurricane Maria devastated her home island, the damage was done.

“For a while, I was undecided about who I would vote for in this election, but the comments cleared my mind,” Arce said Monday.

“I will vote for Kamala Harris.”