Trump says it was ‘my honor to be involved’ in controversial Madison Square Garden rally

By Eric Bradner, CNN

(CNN) — Donald Trump on Tuesday defended his controversial Madison Square Garden rally, telling supporters that the event was “an absolute lovefest” and that it was “my honor to be involved.”

The former president’s comments come amid backlash over disparaging and divisive remarks at his Sunday event in New York City, which included a comedian describing Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.” Allies expressed worry the remarks could have political repercussions, especially given Puerto Ricans’ growing influence in battleground states, with about half a million residing in Pennsylvania alone. But Trump at his Mar-a-Lago rally did not directly address the criticism of that remark.

“I don’t think anybody has ever seen anything like what happened the other night at Madison Square Garden,” Trump told a crowd of supporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida as he addressed criticism of his rally for the first time. “The love in that room – it was breathtaking. And you could have filled it many, many times with people that were unable to get in.”

He claimed that veteran politicians told him there had “never been an event so beautiful.”

“It was like a lovefest, an absolute lovefest, and it was my honor to be involved,” he said.

CNN reported Monday that several of Trump’s allies expressed dismay at the language used by speakers at the event, particularly the Puerto Rico remark, which set the tone for an evening of disparaging and divisive comments. The violent and vulgar rhetoric at the rally has prompted finger-pointing within the former president’s inner circle and deep concern that his message was once again eclipsed by controversy.

In an interview that aired Tuesday night, Trump said that the comedian behind the offensive comments about Puerto Rico, Tony Hinchcliffe, probably shouldn’t have attended his Madison Square Garden rally.

“Yeah. I mean, I don’t know if it’s a big deal or not, but I don’t want anybody making nasty jokes or stupid jokes. Probably he shouldn’t have been there,” Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity.

Earlier in the day, Trump tried to cast himself as an ally of the island, saying at a roundtable in Pennsylvania, “No president’s done more for Puerto Rico than I have.”

He was responding to a woman who said she moved from Puerto Rico and told Trump, “I want you to know that Puerto Rico stands behind you, and Puerto Rico loves you.”

Trump said: “Well, we love it. I know it very well and we helped you through a lot of bad storms.”

In 2017, after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico and caused a humanitarian crisis, Trump was criticized by both Democrats and Republicans for being slow to respond to the crisis. The Trump administration ultimately deployed a Navy hospital ship to the island.

Puerto Rico Shadow Senator Zoraida Buxo spoke at Trump’s rally Tuesday night in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Speaking at Mar-a-Lago, Trump mocked Democrats for drawing parallels between his rally and a Nazi rally held at Madison Square Garden in 1939. Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, said before the rally that Trump’s campaign knows “exactly what they’re doing there.”

“They started to say, ‘Well, in 1939, the Nazis used Madison Square Garden,’” Trump said. “How terrible to say, right? Because you know, they’ve used Madison Square Garden many times. Many people have used it. But nobody’s ever had a crowd like that. And I tell you what, right now, nobody’s ever had love like that. That was love in the room, and it was love for our country.”

The comments about Puerto Rico by Hinchcliffe, a comedian and podcast host, were swiftly condemned by Harris’ campaign, which used them in an advertisement portraying Trump as having “abandoned” the US territory in the wake of Hurricane Maria in 2017. Trump’s own campaign distanced the former president from the remark in a statement Sunday evening.

“These are fellow citizens he’s talking about,” former President Barack Obama said at a rally for Harris on Monday. “Here in Philadelphia, they are your neighbors. They are your friends, they are your co-workers. Their kids go to school with your kids. These are Americans.”

Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny signaled support for Harris moments after Hinchcliffe’s remarks, sharing a clip on social media of the vice president’s plans for the island.

Republicans have sought to brush off the backlash. Trump said Tuesday that he didn’t hear Hinchcliffe’s comments and that he didn’t know who the comedian was, despite the fact that Hinchcliffe kicked off the high-profile campaign rally.

“I don’t know him; someone put him up there. I don’t know who he is,” Trump told ABC News.

Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, on Monday described criticism of the joke about Puerto Rico as a “fake outrage cycle.”

“A comedian told a joke, and I don’t think that’s news worth making. I think what is news is that Americans can’t afford their groceries because Kamala Harris has been a terrible vice president,” Vance said at an event in Racine, Wisconsin.

Trump’s comments Tuesday downplaying the controversy over his Madison Square Garden rally came at a campaign event in which he criticized Harris and President Joe Biden for their administration’s handling of the economy and border security.

“We’re going to fight like hell for the next seven days,” Trump said, as the crowd chanted “fight,” the word he’d shouted moments after surviving an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania in July.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

CNN’s Kate Sullivan, Kristen Holmes, Steve Contorno, Kit Maher, Priscilla Alvarez, Veronica Stracqualursi and Jack Forrest contributed to this report.

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