Donald J. Trump and his allies are trumpeting his chances of victory in the final stages of the 2024 campaign. But there are signs publicly and privately that the former president and his team are worried that his opponents’ portrayal of him as a racist and fascist is getting through to some voters.
That fear became evident after Trump’s six-hour event at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. Sunday’s inflammatory speech included an opening act by a comedian known for his history of racist jokes, deriding Puerto Rico as a “floating island.” The amount of garbage,” he said of a black man cutting up a watermelon.
Backlash from Puerto Rican celebrities and performers quickly spread on social media, and the Trump campaign issued an unusual statement of defense distancing itself from the offensive comments. Which district could be the deciding factor in a close race, and the battleground state of Pennsylvania’s large Puerto Rican community was on the minds of Trump supporters.
Trump campaign senior adviser Daniel Alvarez said in a statement that the Puerto Rico joke “does not reflect the views of President Trump or his campaign.”
Trump’s ethos has generally been one of never apologizing, never admitting mistakes, and trying to ignore controversy. Mr. Alvarez’s statement marks a rare break from that tradition, reflecting renewed concerns that Mr. Trump risks reminding undecided voters of the dark tendencies of his political campaign in the final stages of the 2024 campaign. Ta.
Some of Trump’s Republican allies appear to have similar concerns, and were quick to criticize the joke and the comedian who made it, Tony Hinchcliffe.
Trump’s unofficial adviser David Urban, who has long ties to Pennsylvania, which has a large Puerto Rican electorate, told Posted with tags. Trump loves PR. ”
The pushback also comes from officials in Florida, the home of Trump’s campaign and where several of his advisers spent their careers.
“It’s not funny and it’s not true,” Florida Sen. Rick Scott wrote on X on Sunday. South Florida Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar condemned Hinchcliffe’s comments, calling them “disgusting” and adding that they do not reflect Republican values.
“Puerto Rico is not trash. It is the home of our fellow citizens who have contributed so much to our country,” Florida Sen. Marco Rubio posted on Monday’s X. But he also stressed that “those are not President Trump’s words.” They were jokes made by offending insult comics. ”
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment about concerns expressed by Mr. Trump’s allies that some attacks were being breached.
But Mr. Trump’s running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, dismissed the concerns. “Like you said, it’s probably a stupid, racist joke,” he told reporters on Monday. “Maybe not. I’ve never seen it.” But he added, “We need to stop getting angry over the smallest things in America.”
Chuck Rocha, a Democratic strategist who specializes in mobilizing Latino voters, on Sunday publicly asked for $30,000 in small donations to a PAC to send videos of offensive comments to Puerto Rican voters in Pennsylvania. .
By Monday morning, he had reached his goal and sent out a blitz of 250,000 texts, including 15 seconds of a comedian’s set disparaging the island.
“Puerto Ricans have a unique affinity for their homeland,” Rocha said. “When you attack an island, you have a deeper relationship with the community.”
Vice President Kamala Harris echoed the remarks, telling reporters at Joint Base Andrews on Monday morning that Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden was yet another evidence of the former president’s divisiveness. She said Trump is “stoking the fuel of hatred and division. That’s why people are tired of him.”
Democratic candidate Harris is preparing to give a speech at the Ellipse near the White House as the final argument of her three-month campaign after being elected to replace President Biden. This is the same location where Trump addressed his supporters on January 6, 2021, calling on Congress to reject President Biden’s electoral votes. Hundreds of supporters then marched to the Capitol and violently disrupted the certification.
Mr. Trump’s current escalation line is being challenged by longtime political veterans, elected officials who voted against him, and a country in a domestic fight for survival, where the end justifies the means to victory. It is a collection of operatives who espouse the New Right’s views.
Most in the Trump camp believe that the attacks on Trump over the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and the dispute over whether he is a haven for racists have led to Trump’s provocations and the government’s insurrection. They believe it is already known to voters who are paralyzed by the threat of weaponization. .
Mr. Trump’s advisers and close allies have privately marveled that so far nothing has come out that would harm Mr. Trump politically, leading many to believe that Mr. It gives you a sense of invincibility, that you can do anything. And in a fragmented media environment in which non-traditional news outlets have significant influence, they believe such headlines and stories are less important than they once were.
Some of them saw Sunday’s rally as a success, with Trump filling the deep blue Manhattan arena to demonstrate his political power to voters across the country. claims.
But few of Mr. Trump’s own events contained as much overt racism and misogyny as his rally at Madison Square Garden.
“She’s a fake – I’m not here to invalidate her – she’s a fake, a fraud, an imposter,” said the businessman and internet celebrity. One Grant Cardone told the audience. “She and her whores will destroy our country.”
And some of Mr. Trump’s own close allies argue that the headlines about the event came at a troubling time, when a small number of voters of all persuasions across the country are paying attention to the election, and that the Some people have privately expressed concerns that this poses an unnecessary risk when voting. Many states are already voting during early voting.
There were other moments that suggested the Trump team was concerned.
Trump’s allies often publicly argue that voters are ignoring warnings against Trump’s authoritarianism, but Trump’s former chief of staff, retired four-star Marine general John John There were clear signs that he was concerned about F. Kennedy’s comments. Kelly. In the interview, he described his former boss as a fascist and claimed that Trump had spoken compliments about Adolf Hitler. Trump and others who worked for him deny the accusations.
Ahead of the rally, Trump’s campaign has mobilized all its efforts to counter Kelly, indicating it was concerned that the attack could appeal to the roughly 5% of voters it rates as undecided.
After Harris called Trump a fascist, the campaign released a video featuring Holocaust survivor Jerry Wartzky rejecting comparisons between Trump and Hitler and demanding an apology from Harris. . Mr. Walski also attended Mr. Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden, where several speakers squarely addressed accusations about Mr. Trump’s character.
Steve Witkoff, a real estate developer and longtime friend, said from the stage that Trump respects all faiths and that “charges of extremism could not be further from the truth.”
New York talk radio host Sid Rosenberg responded to Hillary Clinton’s likening of Trump’s event to a pro-Hitler rally in 1939, saying Rosenberg “speaks at a Nazi rally.” That’s not appropriate, and I was like that,” he joked. Just in Israel. He said a vote for Trump was a vote for an administration that “cares about Jews” and called Democrats “Jew-haters.” To put it more simply, Hulk Hogan looked at the crowd and said, “There are no stinking Nazis here.”
Mr. Trump himself sought to demonstrate his strength with diverse groups, citing Jews, Muslims, and Catholics alike lining up behind him. “The Republican Party has truly become the party of inclusion,” he said.
Perhaps most strikingly, just days before the rally, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Republican Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell released a joint statement urging Harris to stop calling Trump a fascist. That’s what you asked for. They accused her of inciting political tensions, ignoring Trump’s history of demonizing his opponents.
Mr. McConnell’s presence in this statement was particularly noteworthy.
Despite supporting Trump several months ago, McConnell told biographer Michael Tackett that former President Donald Trump had not spoken out about his role in the January 6 attack on the Capitol. “I hope they will pay the price,” he said. McConnell called Trump “insane” and said American voters made a wise choice in voting him out of office, according to Tackett’s biography. He also said he viewed Trump’s actions related to the Jan. 6 incident as “as close to an impeachable offense as you can imagine,” but he did not vote to convict Trump in the impeachment trial. , said the criminal justice system would be treated unfairly. A place to deal with it.
Shane Goldmacher contributed reporting.
