Puerto Rico’s insult by comedian Trump is going down badly with a crucial group of voters

A joke at a Trump campaign rally about the American island of Puerto Rico led to strong reactions. Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny immediately voiced his support for Harris and even Republicans criticized him. Trump’s own campaign is now also distancing itself from him.

In the time before speech by Trump comedian Tony Hinchcliffe came to warm up the crowd at Madison Square Garden. The host of the comedy theater show Killing Tony known for his crude jokes about everything and everyone.

“I don’t know if you know this, but there is literally an island of junk floating in the middle of the ocean,” Hinchcliffe joked. “I think it’s called Puerto Rico. “

He also targeted Latinos in general with a vulgar pun because they “like to make babies”. The jokes were well received by the audience.

Check out what Hinchcliffe had to say here:

The mockery is surprising because Latinos are an important voting group that both Trump and Harris are trying to win over.

Just yesterday, Harris stopped at a Puerto Rican restaurant in Pennsylvania. About half a million Puerto Ricans live in that swing state.

Because the margins between Trump and Harris are so small, the Latino vote could be decisive. This group of voters does not necessarily vote Democratic: an important part of it is religious and social entrepreneurs or small entrepreneurs, groups that feel at home with the Republicans. In addition, a large part of the opinion that Trump’s strong rhetoric about illegal immigrants does not deal with them.

The importance of these voters is evident in states such as Virginia and New Mexico. Once swing states, but due to demographic developments among Latinos, they now vote Democratic. This election year, the group can play a decisive role, especially in the swing state of Nevada.

What increases the importance of Latinos is that this population group has almost doubled since 2000, from 35 million to 65 million. The effect is reduced to some extent because fewer voters use their vote and the group is also young, traditionally a population group with a moderate turnout.

No wonder then that Democratic politicians react strongly to Hinchcliffe’s jokes. “If a bag like that calls Puerto Rico ‘floating trash,’ you know right away what they think of you,” warns Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, herself of Puerto Rican descent. Rican.

Puerto Rican celebrities are also dealing with concern. The biggest boost for Harris has been the response from rapper Bad Bunny, who expressed his support for the Democrat with a video of her. The Harris campaign had been seeking the support of the popular artist for some time, but he held off because he wanted to focus on the island’s own politics.

Other Puerto Rican artists shared Harris’ message with their tens of millions of fans, such as Ricky Martin and Jennifer Lopez. Slowlysinger Luis Fonsi adopted the strongest language and spoke hate.

“I like sharp jokes but this is not comedy anymore,” he wrote on Instagram. “You are allowed to have different opinions and I respect everyone who has different opinions, but that has nothing to do with this racism. I’m a proud Puertorriqueño and Latino!”

Trump has often been criticized in the past for his attitude towards Puerto Rico. For example, there was a lot of criticism when he withheld aid money after Hurricane Maria, which killed hundreds of people in 2017, and the island suffered power outages for months.

Even for some Republicans, the comments went too far. Representative María Elvira Salazar from Florida spoke about disgusting racism. “This rhetoric does not represent the Republican Party. “

“The joke was dead for a reason: It wasn’t funny and it wasn’t true,” said Senator Rick Scott of Florida. He is hoping to be re-elected as a Republican senator from that state with a minority. big Latino.

The Trump campaign also walked away from Hinchcliffe on short notice. “The joke is not President Trump’s position or the campaign.

Hinchcliffe himself dismisses it all: “These people have no sense of humour.”

“I love Puerto Rico and I even go on vacation there. I make fun of everyone, just look at my whole performance.”