Puerto Rican leaders in Philadelphia slam Trump campaign for racist remarks

More than a dozen Latino community leaders gathered in Fairhill Monday to condemn racist comments levied against Puerto Ricans at former President Donald Trump’s Sunday rally.

The dominant message: “Our frustration and our anger should be turning into voting,” said Reading Mayor Eddie Morán, who is Puerto Rican. He was flanked by Philadelphia City Councilmember Quetcy Lozada, State Rep. Danilo Burgos, and representatives from several community organizations.

Organized by Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, the last-minute convening was a response to racist comments comedian Tony Hinchcliffe made about Puerto Rico — and Latinos more broadly — to the fluff the crowd at Trump’s rally inside Madison Square Garden on Sunday.

”I don’t know if you know this but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it it’s called Puerto Rico,” Hinchcliffe said, to a tepid audience response.

The statement has become sort of an inverse rallying cry for the Harris campaign and its surrogates, who are capitalizing on the moment to urge Puerto Rican voters to head to the polls — especially in Philadelphia, which has one of the largest stateside Puerto Rican populations, second to only New York City.

”I need every Boricua on here to take that rally clip and drop in your family WhatsApps and group chats. ESPECIALLY [sic] if you have family in these states,” U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) posted on X above a list of Puerto Rican populations in swing states including Pennsylvania. Puerto Rican superstars Bad Bunny, Jennifer Lopez, and Ricky Martin also posted videos of Harris discussing her plan for the island to their Instagram stories within hours of Hinchcliffe’s comments.

The Trump campaign told reporters that Hinchcliffe’s “joke does not reflect the views of President Trump.”

The comedian meanwhile has stood by the bit: “I love Puerto Rico and vacation there. I made fun of everyone…watch the whole set,” Hinchcliffe wrote on X.

That defense fell flat with Latino community leaders in Philadelphia on Monday, who said they would “absolutely not” accept an apology from the Trump campaign over Hinchcliffe’s remarks.

As surrogates “all of these statements that we say up here are vetted by the campaign,” said Lozada, who represents Latino communities in Hunting Park, Fairhill, and Kensington as part of City Council’s 7th district. “Don’t be fooled. That is something that they are aligned with. The [Trump] campaign believes that we are garbage.”

Lozada went on to draw a sharp contrast between Harris — who visited Puerto Rican institution Freddy & Tony’s Sunday — with what she referred to as “Trump’s record.” She cited comments the former president made about wanting to trade Puerto Rico for Greenland and a 2017 photo op where Trump threw paper towels at Hurricane Maria survivors.

Sunday’s comments left Lozada and Morán so angry both politicians said they couldn’t sleep.

”This is Trump’s closing message,” Lozada said, “attacking our community for his own political benefit.”