Trump says his rally in New York marked by vulgar and racist insults was an “absolute love fest” – Boston News, weather, sports

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) – Urged by some allies to apologize for racist comments made by speakers at his weekend rally, Donald Trump on Tuesday, he took a different approach, saying it was an “honor” to attend such an event and calling the scene a “love festival” – the same term he used to describe the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Trump gathered supporters and reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort two days after… mass rally at Madison Square Garden it featured a number of crude remarks from various speakers, including a set by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe in which he joked that Puerto Rico was a “floating garbage island.” Some of Trump’s top Republican allies condemned the remarks, and his campaign took the rare step of publicly distancing itself from Hinchcliffe’s joke, though not from the rest of the comments.

But given the opportunity to apologize at multiple events and interviews Tuesday, Trump instead leaned in. Speaking from his Florida resort, he said there had “never been an event as beautiful” as his Sunday rally in his hometown of New York.

“Love in this room. It was breathtaking,” he said. “It was like a love fest, an absolute love fest. It was an honor to take part in it.”

He told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Tuesday night that he knew nothing about Hinchcliffe, but said, “I don’t imagine it would be a big deal.” But he later agreed that he “probably shouldn’t have been there.”

Just a week earlier Election daysome Trump allies expressed concern that the rally, which was intended to highlight the GOP presidential nominee’s closing message in grand New York style, instead instead diverted attention and even responsibilitytaking into account electoral importance of Puerto Ricans who live in Pennsylvania and other key swing states.

“This is not the time for anyone to criticize Puerto Rico or Latinos,” former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, who challenged Trump for the GOP presidential nomination and later endorsed him, said in an interview on Fox News Channel.

Trump later held a rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, a city with a large Latino population, where he was joined by Puerto Rican shadow U.S. Senator Zoraida Buxo and defended the former president’s record.

“We need this man to be our commander in chief,” said Buxo, who cannot vote in the Senate because Puerto Rico is not a state. “He will make us feel safe and protect us.”

Still, there was anger in Allentown. Ivet Figueroa, 61, stood outside the rally holding a trash can with the words “Trash Trump” written on it.

Of the insult and Trump, she said: “The person who said it was vetted by him. So he allowed it to happen, so he has to take responsibility for what he said. Now it’s too late to say “I’m sorry.” I don’t want an apology, I want justice, and justice will come on November 5.”

The fallout from the Madison Square Garden event threatened to highlight voters’ concerns about Trump’s rhetoric and propensity for controversy in the final stages as both campaigns battled for votes. Speakers at the rally also made racist comments about Latinos, Blacks, Jews and Palestinians, as well as sexist slurs directed at Trump’s Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harrisand former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

In an interview with ABC News on Tuesday, Trump claimed not to know Hinchcliffe but stopped short of condemning what he said.

“I don’t know him. Someone put it there. I don’t know who he is,” Trump said, according to the network, insisting he had not heard Hinchcliffe’s comments. When asked what he thought of them, Trump “did not take the opportunity to condemn them, reiterating that he had not heard the comments,” ABC reported.

In an interview with Hannity, Trump said that people were trying to make a “big deal” out of the comedian’s performance when “it has nothing to do with the party, it has nothing to do with us.”

Asked later in the interview if he would prefer the cartoon not be there, Trump replied: “Yeah, I mean, I don’t know if it’s a big deal or not, but I don’t want anyone telling nasty or stupid jokes. ” He added: “He probably shouldn’t be there, yeah.”

Later Tuesday, President Joe Biden, during a call organized by the Latino advocacy group Voto Latino, condemned the joke in the comic and said, “The only trash I see there are his supporters.” He later he tried to explain his statementclaiming he was referring to “hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico from a Trump supporter.”

The comments from the Madison Square Garden rally sparked outrage among Puerto Rican leaders.

The archbishop of Puerto Rico called on Trump to disavow them, saying it was not enough for the campaign to say the joke did not reflect Trump’s views. The president of the Puerto Rican Republican Party called Hinchcliffe’s “poor attempt at comedy” “disgraceful, ignorant and completely reprehensible.”

In Pennsylvania, where Trump campaigned Tuesday night, the number of Latino eligible voters has nearly tripled since 2000. More than half of them were Puerto Rican voters.

Angelo Ortega, a longtime Allentown resident and former Republican who plans to vote for Harris, said he couldn’t believe what he heard about the Trump rally.

“I don’t know if my jaw dropped or I was just so annoyed, so angry. I didn’t know what to feel,” said Ortega, who was born in New York but whose father was from Puerto Rico. Ortega is campaigning for Harris and said he knows at least one Latino GOP voter who plans to switch from Trump to Harris as a result of Hinchcliffe’s comments.

“They had it. They had it. They listened (Trump) but said they thought this was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” said Ortega, a member of the advocacy group Make the Road PA.

Still, some Puerto Rican voters weren’t surprised. Maricelis Torres, 24, a waitress studying to be a radiologist, waited to get into the Allentown rally and said she and her family laughed at Hinchcliffe’s joke.

“If you don’t understand humor, that’s what I’m saying. People are way too soft these days,” said Torres, whose father is from the island.

Harris’ campaign released an ad that will run online in battleground states, targeting Puerto Rican voters and highlighting the comedian’s remarks.

At a roundtable outside Philadelphia on Tuesday afternoon, Trump received praise from retired Puerto Rican occupational therapist Maribel Valdez. “Puerto Rico stands behind you and Puerto Rico loves you,” Valdez told him.

Trump thanked her and recalled his administration’s efforts to help the island after the storms. “I don’t think any president has ever done more for Puerto Rico than I have,” Trump replied, who delayed the release billions of dollars in hurricane damage relief for years in Puerto Rico until shortly before the 2020 elections.