Philadelphia Puerto Ricans react to ‘racist’ joke at Trump rally

For David Torres, a former Philadelphia GOP leader who now calls himself an independent, the comment was “very stupid.” He said Trump and his campaign should have immediately disavowed the comments made on stage that evening.

Torres, a Trump supporter, said the comments were not a “deal breaker” for him because he believes Trump’s other policies and because senior campaign adviser said “The joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign.”

“I think he should separate himself or be straight with the community,” Torres said of Trump. “He has a lot of good things. I believe in him more than (Kamala). I think there are a lot of things that she’s guilty of that I don’t like, but at the same time you have to take responsibility.”

He wanted Trump to apologize to the community at his rally Tuesday night in Allentown, a city where Puerto Ricans live. approximately 9% population.

Trump has not apologized for Hinchcliffe’s comments. Instead, he stated that he had “has done more for Puerto Rico than any president undoubtedly”.

“I’m so proud that we’re getting support from Latinos like never before,” Trump said.

Fuentes said she knows some people who are “standing their ground and basically saying it doesn’t matter… that they will vote for Trump, that it doesn’t matter, that it was a joke.”

But Morales, Vázquez and other Puerto Ricans in Philadelphia working in support of Harris say the comments tipped the scales among many undecided Puerto Ricans they know.

“A lot of people weren’t going to vote,” Morales said, adding that now is a different story. She said her phone was constantly ringing.

“We have all these people, they’re making a decision now, they’ve had enough, and now they’re coming out, and they actually came out yesterday and actually voted,” she said. “They went out and did early voting because they knew it was the last day and it was the last day of early voting. They came out and said, “Well, we help the Puerto Rican people, and we help the Latinos.” And we came and voted because we take out the trash now, we don’t wait for November 5th.”

Vázquez said she hopes more Puerto Ricans will now be motivated to vote, especially in Pennsylvania, where their numbers number in the hundreds of thousands, far exceeding Biden’s 2020 lead in the state about 80,000 votes.

“I think that… this is the most hobbies to tell the votar what is wrong, what we call, and what we do not see in our home, and what we say to show that we are very important people that we value.” , she said.

“I hope that… this will give them more emphasis on getting out and voting, not being silent, not staying in their house, that they come out to vote to show them that we matter, that we matter,” she said.