The rally in New York was a real love fest: Trump

Asked by some allies to apologize for racist comments made by speakers at his rally over the weekend, Donald Trump took the opposite tack on Tuesday, saying he was “honored to be part of” the event and calling the scene a “love fest” – the same term that he used to describe the January 6 uprising in the US Capitol.

Trump gathered supporters and reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort two days after a rally at Madison Square Garden featured a series of crude remarks from various speakers, including comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, in which he joked that Puerto Rico — this is a “floating garbage island”. 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 at multiple events and in interviews on Tuesday, Trump bowed instead. Speaking at his Florida resort, he said there had “never been a more wonderful event” than his Sunday rally in his hometown of New York.

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

He told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Tuesday night that he didn’t know anything about Hinchcliffe, but said, “I can’t imagine it’s a big deal.”

With just a week to go before Election Day, some Trump allies expressed concern that the rally, which was supposed to highlight the Republican presidential nominee’s grand New York-style final address, had instead become a distraction and even a distraction, given the importance of the election to Puerto Ricans living in Pennsylvania. and other key states.

“This is not the time for anyone to criticize Puerto Rico or Latin Americans,” former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, who challenged Trump for the Republican presidential nomination and later endorsed him, told Fox News.

Trump later held a rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, a city with a large Hispanic population, where Puerto Rico’s shadow U.S. senator, Zoraida Buxo, joined him and defended the former president’s record.

“We need this person to be our commander-in-chief,” said Bucso, who cannot vote in the Senate because Puerto Rico is not a state. “He will make us feel safe and protect us.”

And yet there was anger in Allentown. 61-year-old Yvette Figueroa stood near the rally, holding a trash can with the words “Trash Trump” in her hands.

She said of the insult and Trump: “The person who said that was vetted by him. So that’s what he allowed, so he should be held accountable for what he said. It’s too late to apologize now.” I don’t want an apology, I want justice, and justice will come on November 5.”

The fallout from the Madison Square Garden event risked highlighting voters’ concerns about Trump’s rhetoric and his penchant for late-stage controversy as the two campaigns battle for votes. Speakers at the rally also made racist comments against Hispanics, blacks, Jews and Palestinians, as well as sexist slurs at Trump’s Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Earlier on Tuesday, in an interview with ABC News, Trump said that he did not know Hinchcliffe, but did not condemn his words.

“I don’t know him. Someone put him there. I don’t know who he is,” Trump said, according to the network, insisting he hadn’t heard Hinchcliffe’s comments. When asked what he said about them, Trump “didn’t take the opportunity to condemn them, repeating that he hadn’t heard the comments,” according to ABC.

In an interview with Hannity, Trump said people are trying to make the comedian’s appearance a “big deal,” even though it “has nothing to do with the party, nothing to do with us.”

The comments angered Puerto Rico’s leaders.

The archbishop of Puerto Rico urged 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 Republican Party of Puerto Rico called Hinchcliffe’s “failed attempt at comedy” “disgraceful, ignorant and absolutely reprehensible.”

In Pennsylvania, where Trump campaigned Tuesday night, the number of Latino eligible voters has nearly tripled since 2000. More than half of them are Puerto Rican voters.

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

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