Vice President Kamala Harris spent the day bashing former President Donald Trump over his Madison Square Garden rally.
Harris campaign surrogates seized on comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s remarks at the rally on Sunday, speaking several speakers before former President Donald Trump, when he joked that Puerto Rico was a “floating pile of garbage.” On Monday, Harris hit the rally more generally, saying it showed Trump was divisive.
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“Well, briefly, I think, last night, Donald Trump’s event in Madison Square Garden really highlighted a point that I’ve been making throughout this campaign: He is focused and actually fixated on his grievances, on himself, and on dividing our country,” Harris told a pool of reporters.
She praised the endorsements of celebrities such as Bad Bunny and Jennifer Lopez, who endorsed Harris after taking offense to Hinchcliffe’s joke.
“I’m very proud to have the support of folks like Bad Bunny and Jennifer Lopez and others, who were supporting me before that nonsense last night at Madison Square Garden and are supporting me because they understand that they want a president of the United States who is about uplifting the people and not berating, not calling America a ‘garbage can,’ which is what Donald Trump — those are the words he has used,” Harris said.
At another stop, she said that Trump’s message at the MSG rally wasn’t new.
“What he did last night is not a discovery. It is just more of the same, and maybe more vivid than usual,” Harris said. “Donald Trump spends full time trying to have Americans point their finger at each other, fans the fuel of hatred and division and that’s why people are exhausted with him.”
Latino Harris campaign operatives are betting on Hinchcliffe’s Puerto Rican jab translating to support for Harris, with Harris for Latinos’s Victor Martinez going so far as to call the joke an “October surprise” for Puerto Ricans.
“This is a gift with a bow from the Trump campaign,” he told Politico. “This is what we needed to energize the Puerto Rican community, remind the Puerto Rican community of who he is.”
The Trump campaign was quick to distance itself from Hinchcliffe’s joke, saying “This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” in a statement.
Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) brushed off the joke on Monday, saying that Democrats and Republicans alike should learn to “take a joke.”
Byron York reported that there was a substantial number of Latinos at the MSG rally, speaking personally with several Puerto Rican Trump supporters. He reported that although the joke bombed, the Puerto Rican supporters were largely unoffended.
“I honestly had no idea it would make headline news. It wasn’t until later I went on X and saw that AOC and Tim Walz were freaking out over it,” one Puerto Rican supporter at the rally, Engel Paulino, said. “I have many Puerto Rican friends that will be voting for Trump. I think it’s safe to assume Tony Hinchcliffe’s joke isn’t going to change that. No one at all is even talking about it in person. I’m still on the train with a lot of supporters. But for some reason, the internet can’t get over it.”
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The Harris campaign has now begun airing ads about Hinchcliffe’s remarks, even using audio from the event, and Harris saying, “I will never forget what Donald Trump did. He abandoned the island and offered nothing more than paper towels and insults,” referring to the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.
The Democratic National Committee has also launched targeted billboard ads featuring the comments, reported by Politico, in areas where Trump will be campaigning, including Allentown on Tuesday.
