A comedian has done Donald Trump a disservice with his appearance in New York's Madison Square Garden: His line about Puerto Rico infuriated potential voters. That could be expensive.
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- Donald Trump held a campaign rally at New York's Madison Square Harden on October 27.
- The American comedian Tony Hinchcliffe described Puerto Rico as a big pile of garbage in the sea.
- Celebrities with links to the island such as Jennifer Lopez, Bad Bunny and Ricky Martin are angry.
- "The View" presenter Sunny Hostin settles the score with Trump.
- Some Republicans as well as the Trump campaign are now distancing themselves from Hinchcliffe.
It was Donald Trump's great wish to hold a campaign event in Madison Square Garden. Yet the 78-year-old has no chance of winning in New York: The state traditionally votes Democratic. The Republicans were more than 20 points behind in the last polls.
The appearance is costing Trump a "fortune", according to the Independent. Why is the ex-president paying? A confidant tells The Bulwark that Trump "has been obsessed with it for at least a year. It's his campaign. So it's happening."
But the event could cost the Republican more than just a fortune: it could cost him his election victory. And it's not even Trump himself who is to blame, but Tony Hinchcliffe: The comedian was probably booked because he is known for politically incorrect insults. Hinchcliffe is practically the opposite of woke.
56-year-old settles accounts with Trump
Trump's campaign knew who it was asking to the dance. And the 40-year-old is promptly stepping on the toes of an entire population group. "There is literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean," says the comedian in New York. "I think it's called Puerto Rico."
The reactions are not long in coming.
It's obvious that celebrities with Puerto Rican roots will counter: according to "Variety", musicians Bad Bunny, Jennifer Lopez and Ricky Martin have responded with voting recommendations for Kamala Harris and posted a video from the TV show "The View" in which presenter Sunny Hostin settles the score with Trump.
The 56-year-old is furious. Hostin, who was born in the Bronx in New York, says her family is from the island. "Puerto Rico is garbage? We are Americans, Donald Trump. We volunteer to serve disproportionately in the military, while you have a bone spur." It was because of this that Trump had himself invalided out so he wouldn't have to go to Vietnam.
Many Puerto Ricans in the swing states
Hostin reminds Trump's campaign of who it has messed with: In Pennsylvania, she said, there are around 500,000 Americans with Puerto Rican roots. In North Carolina there are 150,000, in Georgia 100,000, in Arizona 64,000, in Wisconsin 61,000, in Michigan 43,000 and in Nevada 27,000.
These seven states are the swing states where the race is so close. And the numbers the presenter quotes are significant in view of the small margins: if these people actually all vote for Harris now, the election could be over for Trump.
The artists who, like Lopez and Martin, are now speaking out against the 78-year-old have a combined 345 million followers on social media. "I think you only have 26 million," Hostin shoots in Trump's direction. "Because size is so important to you."
The community is in a rage: "We know how to take out the trash, Donald Trump. Garbage that has been collected since 2016. And that's you, Donald Trump. Fellow Puerto Ricans, trash collection day is Nov. 5." Hostin's eyes sparkle with anger as she says this.
"The campaign has hurt itself so much"
People on the street are also angry. "The campaign has hurt itself so much," representative Ivonne Torres Miranda in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, tells the BBC. "I think it's crazy. Even if [Hinchcliffe] was joking, you don't make jokes like that. We are Puerto Ricans. We have dignity, and we are proud."
"Everyone has their own opinion," adds Dalma Santiago. "But no one will forget that." It is statements like these that are now ringing alarm bells among Republicans: Some politicians are now trying to limit the damage. From Florida, for example, Republicans Rick Scott, Maria Elvira Salazar and Carlos Giminez are criticizing the insult.
Even the Trump campaign has distanced itself from the comedian. And Hinchcliffe himself? He has not yet fully grasped the extent of his statement. In response to criticism from Democrats Tim Walz and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, he said: "These people have no sense of humor."
Will Hinchcliffe now cost Trump the election? What is certain is that Donald Trump, at least, has probably just lost his sense of humor.