Speaker at Trump rally in NYC calls Puerto Rico ‘island of garbage’

NEW YORK – Opening speakers at Donald Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden, billed as a marquee event to showcase his broad-based support in the home stretch of his presidential campaign, lobbed sexist, racist and otherwise demeaning insults at a variety of targets.

One speaker used a metaphor that cast Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris as a prostitute, while Tony Hinchcliffe, host of the “Kill Tony” comedy podcast, called the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.”

Pennsylvania, perhaps the most critical swing state, is home to one of the largest populations of Puerto Ricans in the country.

At an earlier point in his speech, Hinchcliffe said that “believe it or not, people, I welcome migrants to the United States of America with open arms. And by open arms, I mean like this.” He waved his hands in a “stop” motion, then added that Latinos “love making babies” and made a crude sex joke about them.

Grant Cardone, a businessman, said Harris and “her pimp handlers will destroy our country.” David Rem, a childhood friend of Trump, called Harris “the Devil” and “the Antichrist.”

And former Fox News host Tucker Carlson mocked the attention to Harris’ racial identity: “She’s just so impressive as the first Samoan Malaysian, low-IQ, former California prosecutor ever to be elected president,” Carlson said. (Harris’ father is from Jamaica, and her mother was from India.)

Harris adviser David Plouffe predicted the comments would damage Trump politically. Republican incumbents in tight congressional races were conspicuously absent from the lengthy pre-program, as Democrats hope that tying them to Trump will alienate swing voters.

“Usually pre-game speeches matter little. Pretty remarkable Trump’s MSG warm up acts are all creating controversy and content that will hurt him. Cluster,” he wrote on social media.

Rep. María Elvira Salazar, a Republican congresswoman from Florida, denounced Hinchcliffe’s comments as “racist” and said on social media that she was “disgusted.”

“This rhetoric does not reflect GOP values,” wrote Salazar, who spent part of her childhood in Puerto Rico.

Harris supporters took note that Bad Bunny, the Puerto Rican pop star, shared a Harris video on Sunday detailing her plans for the territory.

The rally reflected Trump’s control of the GOP base, his fixation on his home state of New York, his efforts to project swaggering confidence in a tight race, and his campaign’s bet that flashy events in Democrat-dominated areas will grab national attention that will help him win more votes in more competitive states.

Rather than focus only on swing states with nine days until the election, Trump is going all out at a Manhattan venue that calls itself “The World’s Most Famous Arena.” He recently held an event in Coachella, California, – the site of the well-known music festival – and also plans to rally in Democratic-leaning Virginia the Saturday before the election.

Trump regularly predicts victory in states that analysts do not consider competitive, at one point claiming that he would win deep-blue California “if Jesus Christ came down and was the vote counter.” He has similarly declared he can win Minnesota, New Jersey and New York and held rallies in each state, sometimes suggesting without evidence that only election fraud could hold him back.

Trump’s slew of scheduled guest speakers included Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, who has poured well over $100 million into a political action committee supporting Trump and handling much of the door-knocking to turn out Trump voters. Others on the list included Carlson; pro wrestler Hulk Hogan; former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, who championed Trump’s false claims of election fraud; and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who suspended his independent presidential bid in August and endorsed Trump.

“This is the most iconic venue of venues in the United States,” Giuliani said. “This is where a Republican’s not supposed to come. Which is why Donald Trump came here!” The crowd cheered.

Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for vice president, on Sunday sought to link Trump’s event to a Nazi rally held at Madison Square Garden in 1939. “There’s a direct parallel to a big rally that happened in the mid-1930s at Madison Square Garden,” Walz said while campaigning in Nevada.

Madison Square Garden has been the venue for a range of political rallies, including conventions for both parties. But Trump’s critics have spent the past several weeks ramping up their warnings that Trump is an authoritarian. Trump’s former chief of staff, John Kelly, told the New York Times last week that Trump told him that Adolf Hitler “did some good things too” and told the Atlantic that Trump expressed admiration for “Hitler’s generals.” Trump denied making the comments, and his campaign has vehemently rejected comparisons between Trump and Hitler.

At the rally, multiple speakers addressed the comparison and pushed back.

“Out of character for me to speak at a Nazi rally,” said radio host Sid Rosenberg, who is Jewish. He called Clinton an expletive and said the entire Democratic Party is “a bunch of degenerates.”

New York has not voted for a Republican presidential candidate since 1984, when Ronald Reagan won almost every state.

New York does have competitive congressional races, and Republican upsets there helped the GOP retake the House in 2022. Trump’s visit to New York could help galvanize the party base, and on Saturday he joined a tele-town hall with GOP nominees for battleground House seats.

Some of Trump’s congressional allies, including House Speaker Mike Johsnon (R-La.) and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), spoke at Madison Square Garden on Sunday. But vulnerable Republican incumbents did not.

Trump fans flocked from all around the region to attend the rare GOP rally in New York City. Police closed many blocks around the venue to traffic. Protesters across the street blasted an an upbeat song featuring “Donald Trump’s a convicted felon.”

Elisa Moller, a New Jersey resident in her 50s who attended with her family, said the Madison Square Garden rally made sense because “Donald Trump is New York.”

“This is his hometown. This is where he’s from,” echoed Erin Chang, 49, who said she has been door-knocking for Trump in swing-state Pennsylvania and wore American-flag-patterned clothes from head to toe.

Some attendees believed that Trump could put blue states in play. “I have a feeling he’s going to turn New York red,” Gina Billera said as she waited in line.

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Leigh Ann Caldwell and Dylan Wells contributed to this report.