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October 29, 2024 - 1:15pm
In the final week of a presidential election campaign, the Republican candidate’s message is derailed by the remarks of a speaker at a partisan gathering. The speaker makes an inflammatory statement that offends a key voter demographic; in the end, it is enough to cost the Republicans a crucial swing state and hand the election to the Democrats.
This may very well end up as the story of the 2024 election, but it is actually a description of an election that took place 140 years ago: the race of 1884, which saw GOP frontrunner James G. Blaine felled by the infamous remark of Rev. Samuel Burchard, who described the Democrats as the party of “rum, Romanism, and rebellion”. The demographic in question were Irish Catholics who, angered by Burchard’s insult, turned New York State blue by the slimmest of margins. Grover Cleveland consequently became the first Democratic president since the Civil War.
In 2024, Republicans are facing an eerily similar scenario. At a Donald Trump rally at a sold-out Madison Square Garden in New York on Sunday, comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean”. Puerto Rico is, of course, an unincorporated territory whose inhabitants are American citizens.
The fallout has been swift and far-reaching. In must-win Pennsylvania, where nearly 5% of the population are of Puerto Rican heritage, Spanish-language radio stations and informal social media have amplified Hinchcliffe’s joke among the local Borinquen community. A non-partisan civil society group, the National Puerto Rican Agenda, is set to publish an open letter urging the community not to vote for Trump, while Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny promptly endorsed Kamala Harris (his endorsement has previously moved the needle in the election for Puerto Rico’s governor).
Though Trump himself has yet to acknowledge the comments — he may do so at his Tuesday night rally in Latino-majority Allentown — his running mate, Senator J.D. Vance, simply shrugged it off. Privately, however, Republicans are worrying over the potential impact of this “unforced error” which could undermine Trump’s efforts at making inroads with the Latino vote.
The Republican nominee made historic gains with this demographic in 2020, including in North Philadelphia’s Puerto Rican-majority areas. Harris visited the same part of town on Sunday, touring Puerto Rican businesses and outlining her vision for the island. Hinchcliffe also made offensive remarks about Latinos in general and African-Americans.
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SubscribeSo what I’m hearing is the media and establishment is doing everything it can to make another huge nothing burger into proving Trump is racist, so business as usual.
Were any of these people going to vote for Trump on the first place? He’s a comedian he tells jokes, it reminds me of a YouTube video I watched recently where it depicted a man telling a racist joke, his white friend laughed, his black friend laughed, his Hispanic friend laughed, then a white woman loudly proclaimed she was offended.
Since this is the primary demographic the Democrats are trying to cater to it would make sense that they would view this as a huge issue, whereas everyone I know realizes it was a joke.
But hey maybe his association with a comedian that makes jokes about Puerto Rico will infact be the thing that finally does Trump in, because “the walls are for real 100% closing j for real this time.”
“it reminds me of a YouTube video I watched recently where it depicted a man telling a racist joke, his white friend laughed, his black friend laughed, his Hispanic friend laughed, then a white woman loudly proclaimed she was offended.”
I’m sure you spend a lot of your time seeking out racist jokes. The rest of this you obviously just made up though.
Give me a break. Where would we be without the self-righteous cult of the perpetually aggrieved and offended. If THIS is your deciding factor in this election, then I humbly request that you stay home and refrain from voting as you are far too ignorant on the issues at hand to screw things up for everyone else.
Across from Trump, there is an opponent who gives every indication of being less informed on everything from history to current events than the average person who only occasionally checks the news. She is part of an administration whose record will not be remembered fondly, but an off-key joke will negate that? Really?
I guess it’s okay when half the country is called fascists, racists, Christian nationalists, and every other name under the sun, but a non-candidate making a bad joke is a bridge too far. Just say that Dems have nothing else – no ideas, no uplifting message, no candidate who is ready for the job. At least that would be honest.
“Across from Trump, there is an opponent who gives every indication of being less informed on everything from history to current events than the average person who only occasionally checks the news. ”
And yet she annihilated your orange god in the one debate that he had the nerve to show up for!
Of course, he is less informed on everything than virtually everybody on everything on account of his being an utter moron who is clearly falling apart mentally.
LMAO
CS=troll.
What part scared you, punk?
We all know that he got slaughtered in that debate. Are you denying that? Are you really that deep in the cult?
I keep saying: stick to the insults and steer clear of argument. You’re not really capable of marshalling facts and logic in the way required to be a successful polemicist.
Trump cultists talking about logic is highly amusing!
The only news Trump clearly aware of is the news he makes. He is the only newsworthy one, ok, possibly Putin he sees as newsworthy.
Great historical analogy. It adds a bit of credibility to the thesis. In a very tight race, you never know what impact it could have. Very unlikely, but the author acknowledges that as well.
The ironic thing is no one at the rally even laughed at the guy’s inflammatory jokes. To call the comedian an idiot is far too generous. Why he would choose to say such off-colour jokes at a political rally is mind boggling.
There is zero chance any Republican will endorse a proposal to make Puerto Rico a state. By the way, the Free Press has an interesting article today about how the Democrats are rigging the referendum question to favour Peurto Rico becoming a state. The great defenders of democracy are very selective in their noble goal of free and fair votes.
You ask why he would choose to make such an off color joke at a political rally. The answer should be obvious- it was a Trump rally. And, of course, last nite at the Trump rally in Milwaukee, Trump created a visual image of f******o by using his microphone to do so. Now, some would ask why he would do this. The answer is…
This could definitely affect the outcome in tight swing states, there are over 5 million Puerto Ricans living on the mainland , it’s also an insult to Latinos in general. A blunder like that a week before the election in a tight race is incomprehensible. A rally is not a comedy show. Now they are in damage control. I would never vote for a party which insults my background, race or heritage, it’s simply not acceptable
“A rally is not a comedy show” comment. We’ll except this rally was a comedy of the absurd.
Yet if your name is any indication, everytime you vote for any of the woke parties you are voting for a party whose leadership reviles you.
Nah, I lived in PR, love the place, and admit it is all too often a dump. And I know for a fact folks from other parts of Latin America aren’t too impressed.
This really is the big IQ test of the american voters, including the puerto rican american voters.
While waiting for the result, I dwell in shame for my european compatriots, who fail the same IQ test time after time, so we find ourselves in a situation where our freedom and prosperity prospects depends on the intelligence of our american friends.
I’ve no idea what point you are trying to make but I don’t think you understand how IQ tests work. By definition only half the population has a higher than average IQ.
About 40 people turned up to protest about the Puerto Rico joke in Allentown, PA – a majority Hispanic town.