Republicans worry 'the latest outrage du jour will hurt Trump': report

29 October 2024

After comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico "a floating island of garbage" during his appearance at Donald Trump's Madison Square Garden rally Sunday, the MAGA hopeful's team rushed to announce that kind of rhetoric does "not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign."

In a Tuesday, October 29 Wall Street Journal article, reporters Natalie Andrews and Vivian Salama pointed out that "it is rare for the Trump campaign to show concern over words spoken at one of the campaign’s rallies, which are usually raucous and often traffic in dark rhetoric."

But even Trump-allied Republican leaders — like Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) and Cuban-American Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-FL) — condemned the comedian's comments as "not funny" and "disgusting".

Furthermore, Andrews and Salama report that some Trump aides, and "one top Republican donor supporting Trump’s campaign worried the rally could cost him votes."

The WSJ reporters note that "many people of Puerto Rican descent live in the U.S. mainland, particularly in Florida and New York, but also in the swing state of Pennsylvania, which the donor said was particularly concerning."

Former Republican National Committee communications director Doug Heye isn't convinced Trump will lose votes at all.

"We keep asking ourselves if the latest outrage du jour will hurt Trump," Heye told the WDJ. "Nine years into this, going back to the 'Access Hollywood' tape, the glaring answer is no."

Seven days before Election Day, 2024 Democratic nominee Kamala Harris' campaign is seizing on the moment.

"On Sunday before the Trump rally, Harris rolled out a plan for Puerto Rico that included modernizing the island’s energy grid," the WSJ reports. "Puerto Rican rapper and global superstar Bad Bunny shared Harris’s plan on social media."

The vice president — who, on Tuesday is scheduled "to tape a radio interview on a Spanish-language station in Pennsylvania," according to the report —insisted that her MAGA opponent "is focused and actually fixated on his grievances, on himself and on dividing our country."

The Wall Street Journal's full report is available at this link (subscription required).

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