Donald Trump capped off a day of criticism surrounding his racism-filled rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday by digging his heels in deeper, telling supporters in Allentown, Pennsylvania, that it was the “greatest evening any one has ever seen politically.”
The comments came shortly after Trump appeared at a roundtable in the state, marking his first comments on Puerto Rico since comedian and podcaster Tony Hinchcliffe said the U.S. territory was a “floating island of garbage” while opening for the Trump at Madison Square Garden.
“No president has done more for Puerto Rico than I have,” he told one supporter—a woman who said she moved from Puerto Rico—who had told the former president, “Puerto Rico stands behind you and Puerto Rico loves you.”
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Trump added: “We helped you through a lot of bad storms, I tell you. We had some really bad ones,” before talking about the “hospital ship” which arrived two weeks after Hurricane Maria struck and faced a series of problems, including reports that suggested it admitted an average of six patients a day.
On Tuesday night, Trump ramped up his rhetoric—with no apology in sight–for the chorus line of campaign surrogates who hurled racist remarks and insults in speeches littered with threats to democracy and immigrants, legal or otherwise.
“The other day, Madison Square Garden—Sunday night—and we had them all. That was the greatest evening any one has ever seen politically. I mean Madison Square Garden is really big, it‘s big and it’s beautiful and it’s MSG," Trump said in Allentown.
The former president claimed lines went “all the way back to the river...and I don’t mean a single line...I mean like massive amounts of people went back to the Hudson River.
“The love was unbelievable,” Trump said, adding “we had incredible people.”
The Harris campaign was quick to point out the former president’s comments on social media.
Among those people: Hinchcliffe, who also made racist comments connecting a Black person in the crowd and watermelon; Tucker Carlson, who poked fun at Kamala Harris’s racial identity; and a crucifix-wielding 60 year-old man billed as a “childhood friend” of Trump who called Harris “the antichrist.”
Earlier Tuesday, Trump had appeared before the press at his Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago, and while making no direct comments about Puerto Rico, he said of the rally: “There’s never been an event so beautiful. Was like a lovefest, an absolute lovefest, and it was my honor to be involved.”
Trump‘s campaign initially sought to distance themselves from Hinchcliffe’s comments, telling The Washington Post: “This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign.” The campaign did not respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast at the time.
Trump later told ABC News of Hinchcliffe: “I don’t know him, someone put him up there. I don’t know who he is.”
On Tuesday night, the former president brought Puerto Rico’s Republican “shadow senator,” Zoraida Buxó, on the stage in a sign the campaign was quietly trying to clean up the MSG mess.
“It‘s an honor to share the stage with you...we have some unfinished business to do with respect to Puerto Rico and if there’s a leader than can get us through a final resolution, that is you,” she said. “The people of Puerto Rico trust you.”
Trump responded: “I’m so proud we’re getting support from Latinos like never before. We‘re setting every record. Hispanics. Latinos. Nobody loves our Latino community and our Puerto Rican community more than I do. Nobody.”
He repeated the same claims he made at the roundtable earlier Tuesday, including another reference to the “hospital ship.”
“I will deliver the best future for Puerto Ricans and for Hispanic Americans. Kamala will deliver you poverty and crime,” he said.
“I will keep your families safe,and Puerto Rico in itself will be very thankful.”
In an interview that aired later Tuesday night between Trump and Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Trump made his most pointed comments yet surrounding Hinchcliffe, claiming he has “no idea” who Hinchcliffe is and that he “never saw him, never heard of him and don‘t wanna hear of him.”
Trump added that while he doesn‘t think the comments were “a big deal,” the comedian “probably shouldn’t have been there.”
Trump continued: “They put a comedian in, which everybody does, you throw comedians in, you don‘t vet them and go crazy, it’s nobody’s fault, but somebody said some bad things.” Trump then blamed critics for taking “somebody that has nothing to do with the party, nothing to do with us–said something– and they try and make a big deal. But I don‘t know who it is, I don’t even know who put him in and I can’t imagine it’s a big deal.”
When asked directly if Trump wished Hinchcliffe was never there, he said: “Yeah, I mean I don’t know if it’s a big deal or not, but I don’t want anybody making nasty or stupid jokes. Probably he shouldn’t have been there.”
