Idiot Trump Has a Ridiculous New Defense for Racist Puerto Rico Joke
Despite the evidence, Donald Trump is still trying to convince voters that no one cared about the racist joke made about Puerto Rico at his Madison Square Garden rally.
During an interview with Fox News on Tuesday evening, the Republican presidential nominee claimed that he has “really great relationships” with “Hispanics”—so much so that they shower him with physical affection every time he runs into them.
“Every time I go outside, I see somebody from Puerto Rico, they give me a hug and a kiss,” Trump said.
Trump: "Every time I go outside I see somebody from Puerto Rico. They give me a hug and a kiss." pic.twitter.com/VUoCLq4wR9
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 30, 2024
But in the same breath, Trump recalled the apparently fond memory of throwing paper towels to a crowd of pleading Puerto Ricans after the U.S. territory was devastated by Hurricane Maria, leaving the vast majority of the island without power, food, water, and medical aid.
“I got in trouble for that too, because we were having fun. We had a lot of people, and I was throwing paper towels to the back, they were all having fun,” Trump told Fox before complaining that the media negatively covered the stunt. (At the time, San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz called Trump’s 17-minute meeting “abominable” and described him as the “miscommunicator-in-chief.”)
The comments are a continued effort by the Trump campaign to clean up the former president’s image after comedian Tony Hinchcliffe joked at Trump’s Manhattan campaign stop that Puerto Rico was a “floating island of garbage.”
“I don’t even know who put him in. And I can’t imagine it’s a big deal. I’ve done more for Puerto Rico than any president, I think that’s ever, that’s ever been president,” Trump told Fox on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, behind the scenes, Trump’s campaign is working overtime to separate the former president’s image from the racist joke, which has drawn condemnation from across the political spectrum. Other Republicans have also spoken out about the gross insult, including Senator Rick Scott and Representative Maria Elvira Salazar.
During an interview with ABC News on Tuesday, Trump made the whole situation worse by outright denying knowing anything about the unsavory joke, telling the network that he hadn’t even heard the line and that he didn’t know the comedian before “someone put him up there.”
Trump’s failure to personally condemn Hinchcliffe’s comments has also cost him with Puerto Rican voters across the country—particularly in Pennsylvania, where Puerto Rico–connected nonpartisan groups are circulating a letter urging members to vote against Trump.