His racist remarks drew swift rebuke from across the political spectrum, including from a pair of prominent congressional Republicans from Florida and New York. GOP Rep. María Elvira Salazar wrote on X that she was “disgusted” by his “racist” rhetoric that “does not reflect GOP values.” Sen. Rick Scott denounced the “joke” as “not funny” and “not true.” And Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-N.Y.) said on social media that “the only thing that’s ‘garbage’ was a bad comedy set.”
David Urban, a Republican strategist and Trump ally who is close to the campaign, posted to X, “I understand that his K*ll Tony podcast is wildly popular, but I thought he was unfunny and unfortunately offended many of our friends from Puerto Rico. #TrumpLovesPR.”
Democrats moved quickly to denounce the derogatory remarks — and to split screen them with Vice President Kamala Harris, who had spent the day courting Puerto Rican voters in Pennsylvania and who had cut a video blasting Trump for withholding hurricane relief to the island even before his allies began their disparaging its inhabitants. Puerto Rican music superstars Ricky Martin and Bad Bunny reposted the video, which also included mention of her plan to boost economic opportunities for Puerto Rico, on Instagram to their combined tens of millions of followers.
Danielle Alvarez, a senior adviser to Trump’s campaign, said in a statement that Hinchcliffe’s “joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign.”
But his derogatory comments and the slew of offensive remarks offered up by the pillars of Trump’s political movement throughout the hours-long program quickly overshadowed the spectacle of the event that drew thousands of MAGA faithful to the heart of Manhattan and was designed to serve as a capstone to the former president’s two-year attempt at a political comeback.
Trump supporter David Rem called Harris the “anti-Christ.” Businessman Grant Cardone claimed Harris has “pimp handlers.” Radio host Sid Rosenberg called Hillary Clinton, Trump’s 2016 rival and a former secretary of state, a “sick son of a bitch” and cast Democrats more broadly as “Jew-haters and lowlives.”
A Trump adviser said the speakers’ remarks weren’t vetted by the campaign.
No comments:
Post a Comment