‘ABSOLUTE LOVE FESTIVAL’: Trump defends rally marked by insults

Contents of the article

PALM BEACH, FL. With some allies calling for an apology for racist comments made by rally speakers over the weekend, Donald Trump took the opposite approach Tuesday, saying he was “honored to participate” in such an event and calling the scene a “love fest” – the same term , which he used to describe the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Contents of the article

Trump gathered supporters and reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort two days after the massive rally at Madison Square Garden featured a series of crude remarks from various speakers, including an appearance by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe in which he joked that Puerto Rico is a “floating island of garbage.” Some of Trump’s top Republican allies condemned the remarks, and his campaign took the rare step of publicly distancing itself from Hinchcliffe’s joke but not the other comments.

But given the opportunity to apologize both at Mar-a-Lago and in an earlier ABC interview, Trump leaned in instead. Speaking from his Florida resort, he said “there has never been such a great event” as his rally Sunday in his hometown of New York.

Contents of the article

“Love is in this room. It was exciting,” he said. “It was like a love celebration, a real love celebration. And it was an honor to be a part of it.”

Just a week before Election Day, some Trump allies expressed dismay that a rally that was supposed to showcase the Republican presidential nominee’s final message in grand New York style was instead serving as a distraction, even a hindrance, given the electoral importance of Puerto Ricans. living in Pennsylvania and other key swing states.

Later Tuesday, Trump was scheduled to hold a rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, a city with a large Latino population, where he will be joined by Puerto Rico’s shadow U.S. Sen. Zoraida Buxo, according to a campaign official who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the rally. official announcement.

Contents of the article

Contents of the article

Buxo, who does not have a vote in the Senate because Puerto Rico is not a state, expressed her support for Trump in a post on social media site X. She said Trump is the “strong leader” that Puerto Rico needs.

The fallout from the Madison Square Garden event could highlight voters’ concerns about Trump’s rhetoric and his penchant for controversy in the final stretch as both campaigns battle for votes. Speakers at the rally also made racist comments about Latinos, blacks, Jews and Palestinians, as well as sexist slurs about Trump’s Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

On Tuesday, Trump tried to overcome differences and return to Harris, criticizing his rival’s record on the border and inflation, declaring that “on every issue she broke them” and “I’m going to fix it and fix it.” it’s very fast.”

Contents of the article

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Play video

Trump, who did not take questions at the event, accused Harris of running a “campaign of absolute hate” and said she continues to “talk about Hitler and Nazis because her record is terrible.”

In recent interviews with The New York Times and The Atlantic, Trump’s longest-serving chief of staff said the former president praised Adolf Hitler while in office and suggested the Nazi leader “did some good things.”

In an interview with ABC News earlier Tuesday, Trump tried to distance himself from Hinchcliffe but did not condemn his comments.

“I don’t know him. Someone put it there. I don’t know who he is,” Trump said, according to the network, insisting he had not heard Hinchcliffe’s comments. When asked what he thought of them, Trump “did not take the opportunity to condemn them, repeating that he had not heard the comments,” ABC reported.

Contents of the article

The comments sparked outrage among Puerto Rican leaders.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Play video

The archbishop of Puerto Rico called on Trump to disavow them, saying it was not enough for the campaign to say the joke did not reflect Trump’s views. The president of the Puerto Rican Republican Party called Hinchcliffe’s “poor attempt at comedy” “disgraceful, ignorant and completely reprehensible.”

In Pennsylvania, where Trump was scheduled to campaign later Tuesday, the number of eligible Latino voters has nearly tripled since 2000. More than half are eligible voters from Puerto Rico.

Angelo Ortega, a longtime Allentown resident and former Republican who plans to vote for Harris this time, said he couldn’t believe what he was hearing about Trump’s rally.

Contents of the article

“I don’t know if my jaw dropped or I was just so annoyed, angry. I didn’t know what to feel,” said Ortega, who was born in New York but whose father came from Puerto Rico. Ortega campaigned for Harris and said he knows of at least one Latino GOP voter planning to switch from Trump to Harris as a result of Hinchcliffe’s comments.

“They got it. They had it. They listened (to Trump) but said they thought it was like the straw that broke the camel’s back,” said Ortega, a member of the advocacy group Make the Road PA.

Contents of the article

Still, some Republican Puerto Ricans were unfazed. Lydia Maldonado, who attended Trump’s event in Florida on Tuesday, said in Spanish that it was important to note that the comment about Puerto Rico was not made by the former president.

“He’s a comedian. He tries to be funny and says a lot of nonsense. The man is stupid. He has no idea about Puerto Rico and doesn’t know our culture. He screwed up. We have to forgive and let it go,” said Maldonado, who is Puerto Rican.

Harris’ campaign released an ad that will air online in battleground states, targeting Puerto Rican voters and highlighting the comedian’s remarks.

— Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in New York, Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Nicholas Ricciardi in Denver and Michael Rubinkam in Allentown, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.

Contents of the article