Florida Republican officers had been offended by a comic’s racist and distasteful “joke” about Puerto Rico at Donald Trump’s rally in New York Metropolis on Sunday.
Miami’s U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar stated she was “disgusted” by Tony Hinchcliffe’s phrases, calling Puerto Rico a “floating island of rubbish.” U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, a former Miami-Dade County mayor, stated it was “utterly classless.” Florida U.S. Sen. Rick Scott stated the joke “bombed.”
It’s a bit of too late for his or her outrage when those self same Republicans continued to help and defend Trump as he accused immigrants of “poisoning the blood of our nation,” amongst many different insults aimed toward minority teams.
Much more to the purpose right here in South Florida, the place had been these officers when the previous president repeated a baseless and repeatedly debunked declare on the talk stage that Haitians had been consuming folks’s pets in Springfield, Ohio?
Scott even gave credence to that vicious conspiracy idea. When requested in regards to the “Haitians in Springfield, Ohio” throughout an interview with right-wing information outlet Breitbart Information in September, Scott stated, “Isn’t that scary for the those who reside there?” He added that “We obtained an exquisite Haitian neighborhood in Florida,” however these tepid phrases aren’t sufficient from Florida’s senator.
Now, the outrage over comic Hinchcliffe’s phrases — he additionally made the unoriginal and stereotyping joke that Latinos “love making infants” — feels opportunistic and selective. That is the second Salazar chooses to write down on X that “This rhetoric doesn’t mirror GOP values” — after Trump spent months on the 2024 presidential marketing campaign accusing immigrants of invading the nation, spreading conspiracy theories and utilizing pejoratives for opponents, similar to “gradual,” “extraordinarily low IQ individual” and “silly,” phrases he’s used to explain Vice President Kamala Harris. That’s not solely infantile name-calling; it additionally reeks of racism and sexism.
Had Trump — and never a surrogate — known as Puerto Rico a “floating island of rubbish,” would his allies in Florida been as forceful of their rebuke, or would they do what they’ve finished for this whole marketing campaign: rationalize and justify Trump’s unjustifiable phrases? Would they’ve spoken up if there wasn’t the likelihood that such feedback and their repercussion may sway an election occurring in a matter of days?
Puerto Ricans, born on an American territory, are U.S. residents and allowed to vote in presidential elections in the event that they transfer to the mainland U.S. With 5.8 million Puerto Ricans residing within the nation as of 2021, in keeping with Pew Researc h, they signify a big share of the Latino voters in swing states like Pennsylvania. In Florida, they’re the second-largest bloc of Hispanic voters after Cuban-Individuals.
The GOP has gone to nice lengths to court docket Hispanic voters, seeing leads to Democratic bastions in South Florida and, significantly, in Central Florida, the place numerous Puerto Ricans reside. Haitians, in the meantime, have traditionally leaned extra Democratic. Many are within the nation on Momentary Protected Standing and can’t vote, so that they don’t rank as excessive on the GOP’s electoral precedence record.
Given this political actuality, it’s no marvel then that even the Trump marketing campaign denounced Hinchcliffe’s phrases about Puerto Rico, saying they don’t “mirror the views of President Trump or the marketing campaign.”
Trump’s true colours had been seen in his feedback about his hate-filled Sunday rally: “It was like a lovefest… It was my honor to be concerned.” That’s the identical Trump who, in keeping with a former Division of Homeland Safety official, as soon as stated Puerto Rico was “soiled” and puzzled whether or not the American territory could possibly be swapped for Greenland.
Puerto Ricans mustn’t overlook the photographs of then-President Trump tossing paper towel rolls to a crowd whereas visiting the island ravaged by Hurricane Maria in 2017.
We’ll purchase Florida Republicans’ outrage when it’s throughout the board. Let’s hope that, any further, they’re as immediate to defend each group that’s attacked by Trump and his sycophants.
This editorial was revealed by The Miami Herald and distributed by Tribune Content material Company.
