Trump’s MSG rally: ‘Speakers came to out-racist him’
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A comedian appearing at Donald Trump’s New York rally drew backlash for offensive comments about Puerto Rico, but will this just be “water off a duck’s back” once again?
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Read time: 4 mins
In brief…
- Donald Trump’s campaign team has distanced itself from Tony Hinchcliffe’s comments made at a Madison Square Garden rally.
- The incident could cost Trump important votes from the Latino community in swing states where the margin for victory is narrow.
- The New Agents say that there is a good chance, however, that this has no impact on Trump’s popularity with his core voters.
What’s the story?
There are an estimated nine million Puerto Rican people in America, so it was a bold move by the Trump campaign to host a comedian at a New York rally making jokes about their country being a "floating pile of garbage".
Tony Hinchcliffe claims his joke, made at Madison Square Garden, was "taken out of context to make it seem racist". His routine also included sexual comments about Latino people reproducing and entering the US.
A string of tweets about buying slaves, black people, Hitler, and children with learning difficulties posted by Hinchcliffe have since been unearthed and shared widely on social media.
Following Hinchcliffe's comments, Latin music stars including Jennifer Lopez, Bad Bunny, Luis Fonsi and Ricky Martin all shared their support for Kamala Harris to their combined 331 million followers.
A statement from Trump’s team has said that his jokes do not reflect the views of the Republican candidate, or his campaign.
Why Donald Trump's New York rally was a 'vanity project'
Why is the Puerto Rico vote so important in this election?
Both Harris and Trump have recently been campaigning in the swing state of Pennsylvania, which has the third largest Puerto Rican population in America, behind Florida and New York. It is one of the most important states to win in this year's election.
As a swing state, margins can be slim and therefore won or lost on the smallest percentage of votes.
Wisconsin-based Latino political analyst Luis Sanchez previously told The News Agents about how Kamala Harris was losing ground to Trump when it came to votes from young Latino men.
So she'll be hoping what happened on the stage at Madison Square Garden can shift a few more votes her way in key swing states.
"There are hundreds of thousands of Puerto Rican Latino voters in Pennsylvania, which is, as we've said before, ground zero for this presidential election campaign," says Jon Sopel.
"Harris will be hoping that she can win support off the back of some of the things that were said at the Trump rally yesterday.
"And you just can't help feeling that there is a professional team running the Trump campaign, who must be really pissed off that the headlines are about crazy people talking about an island of garbage."
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Why was Trump campaigning in New York?
New York has been a safe Democratic Party state since 1988, and Jon describes Trump's Sunday rally as nothing more than a "vanity project".
"There was no real reason to do a rally in Madison Square Garden, yet Donald Trump wanted it because he wanted to be able to say, 'I played and sold out Madison Square Garden'," Jon says.
"I don't see what the upside of this is today, when all the headlines are about what some of the crazy people in Maga were saying on stage last night."
Lewis Goodall says he evidently has a "longing" to win the state back for the Republicans – having last turned red for Ronald Reagan in the 1980s.
"He was talking with this nostalgia about his time as a property tycoon there," says Lewis.
"And yet he was also talking, in those dark tones, about how crime-ridden it is, what an absolute cesspit it is, how there were immigrants everywhere.
"So it just sums up the weird duality of him and his politics."
What’s The News Agents’ take?
Sadly, the Tony Hinchcliffe comments were just the tip of the iceberg from Trump's New York rally.
Also speaking at the NY event was former Fox News host Tucker Carlson – who referred to Kamala Harris as "Samoan Malaysian". She is neither.
Elsewhere, a speaker referred to Hillary Clinton as "sick bastard" and a "sick son of a bitch".
"Trump was upstaged himself by some of these down-ballot speakers," says Jon.
"They came on stage to out-racist him, out-misogyny him, and just gave a whole host of headlines, which you would imagine are pretty harmful and damaging to the Trump campaign."
But we've been here before. During the campaign Trump has lied about migrants eating pets, Kamala Harris's heritage, Democrats affecting the weather – while more allegations have emerged about his behaviour during his time at the top.
And nothing has changed.
"One of the mistakes you make is to think that all the racism, or all the kind of dog whistle stuff, is hurting Trump – when obviously it isn't," says Emily Maitlis.
"There are lots of people who hear it and come running because they love the insults, they love the entertainment, they love the feel of the unsayable being said out loud.
"And I guess you have to weigh that up with the real time damage it might be doing to individual votes."
Lewis describes it as "water off a duck's back".
"They just say it's a joke," he adds.
"They just accept it, whatever form it is."
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