Democrats escalate attacks on Trump after comedian calls Puerto Rico 'garbage'

Trump did not directly mention the controversy during his appearances in Georgia Monday, instead choosing to parry another critique of him — that his former White House chief of staff reports that Trump as president said he wished he had “German generals.” The Harris campaign has seized on the comment and the vice president, in a radio interview last week, agreed that Trump was “a fascist.”

During a Monday night rally at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, Trump instead called Harris a “fascist” and said: “I’m not a Nazi. I’m the opposite of a Nazi.”

Trump also warned that Michelle Obama made a “big mistake” by being “nasty” to him in a recent speech.

During his first appearance of the day, a National Faith Summit in Powder Springs, Georgia, conservative activist Gary Bauer asked a question that included offhand praise for Trump turning Madison Square Garden “into MAGA Square Garden.”

“Great night,” Trump replied.

Trump’s vice presidential pick, Sen. JD Vance, was asked about the insult during an appearance in Wausau, Wisconsin.

“Maybe it’s a stupid racist joke, as you said. Maybe it’s not. I haven’t seen it. I’m not going to comment on the specifics of the joke,” Vance said. “But I think that we have to stop getting so offended at every little thing.”

The Harris campaign released an ad that will run online in battleground states targeting Puerto Rican voters and highlighting the comedian’s remarks. The comments landed Harris a show of support from Puerto Rican music star Bad Bunny and prompted reactions from Republicans in Florida and in Puerto Rico.

Hinchcliffe also made demeaning jokes about Black people, other Latinos, Palestinians and Jews in his routine before Trump’s appearance. On Monday in Pittsburgh, Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish, delivered remarks on antisemitism in America, a day after the anniversary of the Tree of Life synagogue massacre.

“There is a fire in this country, and we either pour water on it or we pour gasoline on it,” Emhoff said.

Still, it was Hinchliffe’s quip about Puerto Rico that drew the most attention, partly due to the geography of the election.

From Labor Day to this past weekend, both campaigns have made more visits to Pennsylvania than to Georgia, Arizona and Nevada combined, according to Associated Press tracking of the campaigns’ public events. The state has some of the fastest-growing Hispanic communities, including in Reading and Allentown, where more than half of the population is Hispanic.

Pennsylvania’s Latino eligible voter population has more than doubled since 2000, from 206,000 to 620,000 in 2023, according to Census Bureau figures. More than half of those are Puerto Rican eligible voters.