Puerto Ricans in must-win state say Trump rally joke won’t be forgotten

The US island territory’s red, white and blue flag adorns homes and businesses, and the sounds of salsa and reggaetón boom from passing cars and restaurants selling fried plantains and spit-roasted pork.

The area is the beating heart of Philadelphia’s more than 90,000-strong Puerto Rican population and forms a key part of Pennsylvania’s Latino community, which both the Democrats and Republicans have sought to woo ahead of the 5 November election.

But on Monday morning, many locals were left seething at a joke made at Donald Trump’s rally the night before in New York, in which comic Tony Hinchcliffe described Puerto Rico as an “island of garbage”.

The joke, some said, could come back to haunt the Republicans in a key swing state that Democrats won by a narrow margin of 1.17% – about 82,000 votes – in 2020.

“The campaign just hurt itself, so much. It’s crazy to me,” said Ivonne Torres Miranda, a local resident who said she remains disillusioned by both candidates – Republican Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris – with just eight days to go in the campaign.

“Even if he [Mr Hinchcliffe ] was joking – you don’t joke like that.

“We’re Puerto Ricans. We have dignity, and we have pride,” she told the BBC, speaking in rapid-fire Spanish with a strong Puerto Rican accent.

“You’ve got to think before saying things.”

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In the aftermath, the Trump campaign was quick to distance itself from Mr Hinchcliffe’s joke, with a spokesman saying the remark “does not reflect the views” of Trump or his campaign.

The Harris campaign pounced on the joke, with the vice-president pointing to the comment as a sign that Trump is “fanning the fuel of trying to divide” Americans.

Her views were echoed by Puerto Rican celebrities Bad Bunny and Jennifer Lopez, who both endorsed Harris on Sunday.

A campaign official told CBS, the BBC’s US partner, that the controversy was a political gift to the Democrats.

Some Puerto Rican residents agree with that assessment.

“[The joke] just put it in the bag for us. He literally just gave us the win,” said Jessie Ramos, a Harris supporter. “He has no idea how hard the Latino community is going to come out and support Kamala Harris.”

Residents of Puerto Rico – a US island territory in the Caribbean – are unable to vote in presidential elections, but the large diaspora in the US can.

Across Pennsylvania, about 600,000 eligible voters are Latino.

More than 470,000 of them are Puerto Ricans – one of the largest concentrations in the country and a potential deciding factor in a state where polls show Harris and Trump in an extremely tight race.

North Philadelphia in particular has been a target for Harris, who on Sunday made a campaign stop at Freddy & Tony’s, a Puerto Rican restaurant and community hub in Fairhill.

The same day, Harris unveiled a new policy platform for Puerto Rico, promising economic development and improved disaster relief and accusing Trump of having “abandoned and insulted” the island during Hurricane Maria in 2017.

Whether or not this will sway Puerto Rican voters remains to be seen.

Freddy & Tony’s owner, Dalma Santiago, told the BBC that she is not sure whether the joke will make a difference but that she believed that it was heard “loud and clear” in Fairhill and other Puerto Rican communities.

“Everybody has their own opinion,” she told the BBC. “But nobody will be forgetting that one.”

Similarly, Moses Santana, a 13-year US Army veteran who works at a harm reduction facility in Fairhill, said he is unsure of the joke’s impact.

In an interview with the BBC on a Fairhill street corner, Mr Santana said the area is traditionally weary of politicians of all kinds, with many believing that both parties have failed to address socio-economic issues, crime and drug abuse there.

“Folks around here tend not to get what they ask for,” he added. “Even when they vote.”

On Tuesday, Trump will campaign in Allentown, a town of about 125,000 in central Pennsylvania where about 33,000 people identify as Puerto Rican.

But even among Trump supporters in Pennsylvania’s wider Latino community, the joke was poorly received.

That included Republican voter Jessenia Anderson, a Puerto Rican resident from the town of Johnstown about 240 miles (386 km) west of Philadelphia.

Ms Anderson, a military veteran who was born in New York’s heavily Puerto Rican Lower East Side, is a frequent attendee of Trump rallies in Pennsylvania.

She described the joke as “deeply offensive” and said the routine felt “wildly out of place” – and implored her fellow Republicans to engage in “thoughtful and respectful conversations”.

But Ms Anderson has no plan to switch her vote.

“My belief in the party’s potential to make a positive impact remains strong,” she said.

“I hope they will approach Latino voters with the respect they deserve.”