Trump’s offensive Madison Square Garden rally triggers fears of an overshadowed message and fallout with Puerto Rican voters

CNN

By Kristen Holmes and Steve Contorno, CNN

(CNN) — The violent and vulgar rhetoric at Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally Sunday has prompted finger-pointing within the former president’s inner circle and deep concern that his message was once again eclipsed by controversy.

Several of Trump’s allies expressed dismay at the language used by speakers at the New York City event, particularly an off-color joke about Puerto Rico by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who opened the event and set the tone for an evening of disparaging and divisive remarks.

“I’m livid,” one source close to the former president said, noting that they were stunned the remarks had not been thoroughly vetted before speakers took the stage.

Throughout Sunday afternoon and evening, a parade of speakers roused the crowd at Trump’s pre-election MAGA celebration, adopting the anything-goes tone of the Republican nominee. Some lobbed racist barbs about Latino and Black Americans; others deployed misogynistic attacks against Trump’s female political adversaries, past and present.

Many of these remarks appeared to be read from teleprompters, indicating they had been approved by someone within the event’s planning team. One campaign adviser told CNN that speeches were supposed to be vetted ahead of time and was uncertain as to how the overtly racist language had made it to the stage. Another senior adviser said the speeches were vetted but insisted that the more offensive remarks were adlibbed and not on any draft given to the campaign.

By Monday, there were still disputes within the campaign over who approved Hinchcliffe’s set, which was replete with racial tropes. One adviser suggested no one had reviewed Hinchcliffe’s remarks in full. Another said the campaign was not given a draft that included some of the comedian’s more indecent jokes but did flag one calling Vice President Kamala Harris a “c*nt” as “in poor taste” and nixed it from the set.

The program diverged sharply from the meticulous staging of this summer’s Republican National Convention, where every speech was carefully scrutinized and tightly choreographed. During the convention, campaign advisers routinely edited and, in some cases, rewrote the remarks of invited speakers, with minimal room for improvisation. Campaign aides acknowledged to CNN that the level of preparation exercised at the Milwaukee convention was not applied to Sunday’s rally.

Since the RNC in July, a period marked by an extraordinary series of events — including Harris replacing President Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket — Trump’s advisers have struggled to keep him focused, and his public appearances have grown increasingly erratic has he veers further off message. Some allies have at times publicly questioned whether the former president was striking an appropriate tone to win over the voters needed to carry the election in battleground states.

Sunday began with Republicans optimistic that Trump’s campaign was, at least, striking the right tone with a new advertisement that looked ahead to the prospect of a second Trump presidency.

“President Trump fights for you. His strength kept us safe. Trump cut taxes for families. Prices were lower, and the border secure. Now, President Trump can do it again, and we are going to a new golden age of American success for the citizens of every race, religion, color, and creed,” a narrator intoned.

Scott Jennings, a Republican strategist and CNN political commentator, praised the ad as a “perfect closing argument” from Trump’s campaign. But by 8 p.m., any hopes that Trump would build on that message at Madison Square Garden had evaporated.

Yet, the offending comments that evening were not altogether out of place in the context of a Trump rally, where the use of crude slogans, explicit anthems from Kid Rock, and offensive nicknames for political opponents has been the norm. Many of his supporters express themselves through crass messages on T-shirts. Trump himself has often adopted nativist language and increasingly uses profanity in his speeches.

For nearly a decade, Trump has endured — if not thrived — on the lack of a filter that defines his political brand, leaving Democrats with no clear path to exploit it in the closing stretch of the race. In a similar vein, Future Forward, the leading super PAC supporting Harris’ presidential campaign, recently cautioned that Democrats risk diluting their final message by spending time labeling Trump a fascist.

Still, the timing of Sunday’s event — so close to Election Day and with a high-profile New York backdrop — has prompted a new wave of concern from Republicans.

The controversy largely centers around Hinchcliffe’s joke about Puerto Rico, which he called a “floating island of garbage.” A handful of Republicans, some closely aligned with Trump, issued statements condemning the remarks. Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, the state with the largest Puerto Rican population, described the comments as “neither funny nor true.” Rep. Byron Donalds, also from Florida, said, “Nobody agreed with that.”

Allies expressed worry that the remarks could have political repercussions, especially given Puerto Ricans’ growing influence in battleground states, with about half a million residing in Pennsylvania alone. Sources close to the former president confirmed that a number of calls had been made to campaign officials stressing the need to respond to the remarks.

Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, a New York Republican and Puerto Rican who is facing one of the toughest reelection battles in the country, wrote on X, “The only thing that’s ‘garbage’ was a bad comedy set.”

“Stay on message,” D’Esposito advised.

The Trump campaign, generally unapologetic about inflammatory statements, swiftly released a statement on Sunday night distancing itself from Hinchcliffe’s remarks.

“This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” campaign spokeswoman Danielle Alvarez said.

Trump’s distancing from Hinchcliffe did not extend to the comedian’s other inflammatory remarks — including a stereotype about Black people and watermelons, as well as a crude assertion about Latino immigrants’ sex lives. Nor did the campaign acknowledge other speakers who have drawn condemnation, such as one who referred to Harris as “the devil” and “the antichrist.”

As of Monday, there were not plans for Trump to address the comments during his upcoming appearances. The former president held an event Monday in Georgia and travels to Pennsylvania on Tuesday.

Democrats quickly seized on the outwardly offensive display Sunday. In the aftermath of the rally, Puerto Rican music super star Bad Bunny signaled his support for Harris to his 45 million followers on social media, which her campaign quickly promoted.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is of Puerto Rican heritage, called Trump’s Madison Square Garden event a “hate rally” and suggested the campaign was in damage control mode over Hinchcliffe’s comments.

“They’re just realizing that they might have made a big error by saying out loud what they’re thinking,” she told MSNBC on Monday.

It remains to be seen, though, if Trump faces electoral consequences for the remarks disparaging Puerto Rico. Trump himself once called the territory “one of the most corrupt places on earth.” He accused local officials there of inflating the death toll from Hurricane Maria – estimated at 3,000 – to make him look bad.

Democrats attempted in 2020 to mobilize Puerto Ricans in some battlegrounds by attacking Trump’s handling of the response to Maria. Spanish-language ads and billboards in Florida featured Trump tossing paper towels to survivors who had lost their homes and highlighted his past criticism of the island. In Osceola County, where the population surged after Maria and one in three voters identifies as Puerto Rican, Democrats enlisted storm survivors to reach out to other Puerto Ricans against Trump.

In the end, Trump won Florida and, in Osceola County, his performance improved by 7 points.

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