MAGA’s closing argument: Racist attacks on a critical bloc of swing-state voters

Republican officials are panicking after a comedian made racist jokes about Latinos and the territory of Puerto Rico during a rally for former President Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden Sunday night, fearing it might cost them votes in swing states.

Since making gains among Latino voters in 2020, the Trump campaign has invested heavily in outreach to the Latino community and voters of color broadly. Polling suggests that seems to be helping him with Latino men in particular, who are evenly split between supporting him and Vice President Kamala Harris. It’s not yet clear to what extent the comments at the rally might undo those efforts, but in swing states where the margin of victory is expected to be narrow, even small shifts in support could have large consequences.

At the rally, Texas-based comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” and said that Latinos “love making babies,” adding, “There’s no pulling out. They don’t do that. They come inside, just like they did to our country.”